Happy Halloween! Enjoy the holiday.

By Barbara Soderlin

Bill Honerkamp, the longtime Black Hills, Badlands & Lakes Association president and CEO, will retire next October after 29 years with the association, he said Friday, but not before he kicks off a major rebranding campaign for the region’s tourism industry.
“The Great American Road Trip” was a brand recommended by tourism consultant Roger Brooks in his report last year to the local tourism and economic development industry. It will play up several of the region’s strengths, Honerkamp said.
“We know that the Black Hills flourishes on the rubber-tire market,” he said, in an interview following the annual meeting of the association Friday at the Rushmore Plaza Holiday Inn. “People make road trips to the Black Hills.”
Second, he said, the Hills are known as a family-friendly destination, and finally the “road trip” is a fun part of the American lexicon that can be positively associated with travel in this region.
The brand and logo will be available for use by the region’s attractions and visitors bureaus.
“It will become essentially our signature,” he said.

By Barbara Soderlin

The Children’s Place opened today in Rushmore Mall, in time to provide party dresses and tiny clip-on ties to all those holiday-minded babies. It’s across from the Buckle and next to the former Scheels location that’s the Halloween Bootique for now.

By Barbara Soderlin

Just got back from an event the Chamber of Commerce and South Dakota Voices for Children put on about the economic return that comes from investment in early childhood education.

Lawmakers, for the third year in a row, are planning to approach the Legislature with a bill that would create a structure for some state support of quality preschools for children. Very low-income parents would receive “scholarships” they could use to buy better quality care than they can currently afford, and the scholarships can be used at any program, public or private or faith-based or whatever, that would meet certain quality criteria.

This year’s bill wouldn’t require an appropriation, but just having the structure in place would open the program up for federal dollars that are currently going to the majority of states, which already fund early childhood education.

A Sioux Falls businessman spoke about a similar pilot program going on there that is dramatically boosting the literacy, math and social skills of children in poverty, putting them on a path to starting kindergarten as ready to learn as their classmates from middle- and upper-class families.

Speaker Art Rolnick described his research that shows a dramatic return on investment that comes from investing in education, rather than the “zero sum game” that comes from trying to convince established companies to move from one city to another.

The South Dakota House education committee has killed earlier versions of the program but those pitching it say the plan addresses concerns about interference in the private market. One day care provider said he’s worried this could put him out of business, but proponents said it would actually put more children into the market for preschool, and it would help day cares have the income to provide the educational curriculum necessary to qualify to receive the funds.

I was trying to think about it in terms of other places public and private services compete — we publicly fund K-12 education but private schools have a niche. Of course they either charge a fortune or have a church subsidy. We publicly fund the swim center and golf courses but country clubs have a niche. Of course, day care is much more labor-intensive than lifeguarding and greenskeeping, but I’d like to hear everyone’s thoughts on this proposal.

By Barbara Soderlin

The Iron Mountain Coffee Shop that opened at Rushmore Mall on Saturday will lease the space until at least February, said Mike Franke, who owns the shop with his wife, Joanna.

Mike is retired from Assurant and Joanna is a CPA. They opened the first Iron Mountain this spring in Keystone, along with an attached gift shop called On Eagle’s Wings Inspirational Gifts.

They’re combining the coffee and gift shops in the mall location, which sells all varieties of coffee drinks, along with ground and whole bean coffee, plus the Life is Good line of T-shirts and other inspirational gifts.

They’re in the JCPenney wing near where Santa will set up his workshop in a few weeks. They have free WiFi so you can sit and check your e-mail while you drink your coffee. For information call 343-4444.

By Barbara Soderlin

Looks like the Alex Johnson is planning a New Year’s Eve ball drop event for the second year in a row. They’ve applied for a special event permit to hold the ball drop from 6 p.m. Dec. 31 to 2 a.m. Jan. 1.

City staff recommended the event be approved, even though they’ll probably have to assign more than the four police officers the AJ requested.

“In 2008 there were several hundred people at the event with alcohol infractions and some unruly behavior,” staff wrote in the memo.

By Barbara Soderlin

Retired Rapid City police officer Gary Larson and his wife, Susie, a retired school counselor, have moved their rock engraving business from their home to a new shop and showroom in Black Hawk.
Shooting Star Designs is now at 7601 Black Hawk Road, unit 5.
Gary says they can engrave pretty much anything on any size of rock – “We do anything that I can carry,” Gary said.
They do pet memorials, address stones, anniversary stones and more. Some people choose thoughtful or funny sayings, like a favorite joke or prayer. And they’ll also engrave scenes, like a forest scene with a moon and animals. The design is created on a computer, then cut into a vinyl stencil that Gary lays across the rock before sandblasting the design in.
Shooting Star also sells smaller, pre-drilled stones for crafters and jewelry makers as well as home décor items such as oil candles made from rocks.
The Larsons started the business after they retired.
“Like a hobby gone wild,” Gary said.
A grand opening open house event is set for Saturday, Nov. 7. There will be drawings for personalized stones.
Hours are 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday and Saturday. Call 391-2304.

By Barbara Soderlin
Christine Riegel has a number of special events set up to celebrate her move into a new space. She moved her Unique Photography business out of her home and into a temporary space earlier this year, and has now moved into what she hopes is a permanent home at 609 Mount Rushmore Road, between the Traditions furniture store and Staple & Spice. The space was formerly home to another photography studio, Image Design Photography, and Riegel said she’s not sure if people realize she’s new there.
She hopes the new location affords her better visability, and more room in the studio for a wider variety of props and setups.
Unique Photography does family portraits, weddings, Christmas cards and other types of photo shoots, handles matting and framing, and sells leather photo accessories like albums and frames.
Store hours are 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday. For information call 716-1288.
Here are the events:
This Friday and Saturday, Oct. 30 and 31, she’s doing photos of kids in their Halloween costumes for a reduced sitting fee of $10, plus big discounts on print prices, she said.
The grand opening open house events will run from Nov. 12 through Nov. 21.
A two-part amateur modeling contest starts at 7 p.m. Nov. 12, with sign-up from 5 to 6:30 p.m.
The second night is Nov. 18, with the same hours. People can call ahead to make an appointment for a hair and makeup session with a stylist, and once the shoot starts, the contestants will take turns walking the catwalk. The contest will be judged by Fierce Modeling and the winner, announced Nov. 21, will get an $800 modeling package including a photo portfolio.
Riegel is also having a baby photo contest Saturday, Nov. 14, starting at 10 a.m. Bring your baby – 0 through 3 years old – in for a free photo that will be posted online so people can vote on the cutest baby.
The winner gets a $500 photo package including free sitting fees for a year.
There will also be free sitting fees during the grand opening week, from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. on Nov. 13, 15-17, and 19-20.

By Barbara Soderlin

I’m working on a story about recent progress at Crazy Horse Memorial and had a fascinating visit there recently.

One fun fact I learned: the carving itself has a dollar value that’s used in the memorial foundation’s tax returns. Anyone care to hazard a guess? The value is based on the value of the land itself plus all the labor and materials that have gone into the sculpture over the years.

By Barbara Soderlin

It’s almost 10:30 p.m. and I just got done with my story about tonight’s business improvement district meeting downtown. The story was longer than I’d told the copy desk it would be and still I felt I couldn’t completely capture the meeting, which had a lot of new information and a lot of people trying to absorb it. I had to leave about 8:45 so I hope anyone who was there longer than I was will write in and let us know if I missed something.

I was impressed that even though it seemed most in the audience still are against the plan that the tone of the meeting was respectful, if a little tense. It was cool to see people like Mike Brummer (Armadillo’s) and Gene Williams (Rapid City Laundry) take on this leadership role when they were needed, even if negotiating tax plans isn’t their thing. It will be interesting to see how the BID proponents proceed and how the city council members will decide how to vote. We’ll be reporting more about that this week. The city council members I saw at the meeting were Deb Hadcock, Aaron Costello, and Malcom Chapman. Mayor Hanks, too. There was impassioned support heard from those crafting the plan but little mandate from the audience for the plan.

How did you think it went? What will come next?