Chris and Sharon Hoerichs moved to Iowa from Maryland with a dream of farming and built an attraction that brings families back year after year.

The Little Sioux River winds roughly 258 miles from southwest Minnesota through the Iowa Great Lakes, where it meanders southwest before eventually emptying into the Missouri River north of Little Sioux in Harrison County.

Along Iowa’s northern border in Dickinson County near Milford, the river forms the building blocks for several businesses and organizations that take their names from the waterway running nearby.

There’s Little Sioux Stems flower farm, Little Sioux Gelbvieh Ranch and even Little Sioux Lutheran Church,...