Next week (April 8-14) is American Indian Awareness Week at Black Hills State University in Spearfish. Events include the Kevin Whirlwind Horse Memorial Walk/Run, a free buffalo feed, a roster of speakers and the week’s premiere event – the 30th annual Lakota Omniciye Wacipi (pow wow). It’s all open to the public and offers many [...]

Lloyd Shelton is the Food & Beverage Director with Xanterra Parks & Resorts, Inc., the park concessionaire that operates the dining and shopping facilities at Mount Rushmore National Memorial. Dining facilities at the Memorial include the Carver’s Café, Memorial Team Ice Cream, and a summer season outdoor kiosk. Back in February, I spent part of [...]

“The Buffalo King,” an hour-long documentary by native South Dakotan Justin Koehler and Aaron Pendergast, is one of several dozen films that will be shown during the Black Hills Film Festival, scheduled for May 1-5 in Hill City. The film tells the life story of James “Scotty” Philip, a Fort Pierre area rancher in the [...]

All through the Hills, the ice is going out. On Spearfish Creek, Rapid Creek, Box Elder, Spring and Castle Creek, the cold, clear mountain water is bubbling through the cracks and over the thin sheen of spring ice. And in the deeper stream pockets, browns and brookies are stirring as newly hatched swarms of insects [...]

Nothing better than the smell of the awakening forest, as the pines begin to scent the air and translucent pasque flowers shyly show themselves in the sunlit nooks and crannies along the trail. In fits and starts, spring is coming to the Black Hills. And while every season in the Black Hills is beautiful, spring [...]

A few weeks ago, I visited Dave Geisler out in Murdo, whose Pioneer Auto Show I consider a phenomenon particularly attune to the South Dakota way of life. There’s something about living under our vast prairie skies that brings out the exceptional side of human nature. Dave’s roadside attraction of 42 buildings filled with remarkable [...]

Flowers are romantic, and so is candlelight. Love notes, dancing, long walks together, snuggling in front of the fire, eyes meeting across a crowded room, weak knees and racing pulses. Oh, forget it. Not saying I won’t probably receive some flowers from my sweetie, but staring into each other’s eyes and heaving soulful sighs? Not [...]

It’s February in the Black Hills. The glow of the Christmas holidays has faded, and we still have a solid two – maybe three and, Lord help us, let it not be more – months of winter ahead. Of course, snowmobilers are just getting revved up, but what about the rest of us? If you [...]

  Eating 12 grapes; a feast of boiled cod, stewed kale and cured saddle of pork; fortune telling by tossing melted tin or lead into cold water; neighborhood bonfires; red underwear and lentil stew; gifts of whiskey, lumps of coal or bread and cheese; men dressing as women; fireworks and singing Auld Lang Syne. Such [...]