Rapid City goes ‘big’

Black Hills hub readies for busy tourism season

BY KRIS BEVILL

May is considered “tourism month” in Rapid City, S.D. Many of the city’s businesses are in the final preparation phase for the high season and the city’s organizational groups, led by the Rapid City Area Convention and Visitor’s Bureau, are offering customer service training and encouraging business owners to educate staff members so that visitors will find welcoming faces and helpful guidance no matter where they turn.

“Tourism is huge in our part of the state,” says Linda Rabe, president and CEO of the Rapid City Area Chamber of Commerce. “When people think about coming to the Black Hills, they think about Rapid City.” and in the city. Most of the city’s big events are held in the recently revitalized downtown, which is itself an extremely successful big renovation project led by downtown business owners. Main Street Square in downtown hosts regular events, including a summer concert series and outdoor movie showings. Other events held in Rapid City during the summer months draw thousands of visitors, including the Black Hills Fat Tire Festival and the Strider Bike U.S. Championships in June and, in July, the Hills Alive Music Festival, a Christian music gathering that attracts more than 40,000 over the course of a weekend.

Approximately 3 million people visit the Black Hills area of South Dakota every year, many of whom stay in Rapid City, S.D., while touring area attractions.

Of course, the Black Hills area encompasses other towns as well, and Rabe says the chamber’s approximately 1,200 member businesses include many in towns including Lead and Deadwood. But no matter which community they are based in, all are encouraged to do their best to help the approximately 3 million people who visit the region each year to have the experience of a lifetime while in the area. “We’re encouraging people to stop, take the time, thank them for being here and help get them where they need to go,” Rabe says.

Rapid City’s CVB has unveiled a new slogan — Do Big Things — that the group thinks pairs well with the “big” experiences visitors have at Mount Rushmore

Stacie Granum, director of marketing for the CVB, says most of the city’s businesses rely heavily on tourism and many make or break their year during the summer months. Fortunately, the last few years have been good for tourism. Hotel numbers were up about 5.5 percent last year over the previous year, and a survey taken of Mount Rushmore visitors determined that Mount Rushmore visitors spent $279 million within a 100-mile radius of the attraction in 2013, much of which was likely spent in Rapid City, as many of the monument’s visitors stay in the town.

“Last year we had a great tourism season — numbers were up — and this year, in talking with hotels and other area attractions, reservations are looking good and inquiries are coming in earlier than we have seen,” Granum says.

A number of new businesses have opened recently to further support the city’s tourism industry, including several restaurants, food shops and a winery known as Firehouse Wine Cellars. Other recently opened attractions include an exhibit featuring life-size models of the Declaration of Independence signers and the popular Museum of the American Bison.

Granum says that while downtown is definitely thriving, the northeast and south sides of the city are also growing, largely in response to tourism, and have positively impacted the local economy, sometimes through added businesses which may not immediately appear to have a tourism connection. Health care, for example, has expanded in Rapid City in response to increased needs during the tourism season, she says. Two urgent care clinics were added in the past year and another is scheduled to break ground this year.

Granum cautions that weather always impacts the tourism season, but for now, all signs point toward a successful season for business owners in Rapid City and throughout the Black Hills. “We’ve all had a tough winter,” she says. “People are just itching to get out there on vacation and travel, and just get out. I think that will help get people to the area.” PB

Kris Bevill Editor, Prairie Business 701-306-8561, kbevill@prairiebizmag.com