Hill City Prevailer

Teaching teens driving

Published by admin on Thu, 08/06/2020 - 10:56am

Teaching teenagers how to drive can be a stressful experience — both for parents and teenagers alike.

The Boys and Girls Club in Hill City, though, is helping new drivers adjust to the road by offering its free driving tutorial once school starts again.

“This is a partnership between the Boys and Girls Club and UPS,” said Roni Prautzsch, unit director for the Boys and Girls Club in Hill City. “The UPS drivers teach the course.”

Summer reading contest results and more

Published by admin on Thu, 08/06/2020 - 10:56am

“If you want your children to be intelligent read them fairy tales. If you want them to be more intelligent, read them more fairy tales,” Albert Einstein

The Kids Summer Reading Contest began on June 8 and ended July 20. We had 37 registered contestants. Out of the 37 contestants only two did not finish the six weeks of reading. The winners of the Grand Prizes were:

Pre-K Girl Samantha Yoder/ Pre-K Boy Reid Holcomb. Each won a Strider bike and helmet courtesy of Colleen and Mikal Lewis

Music on the Green Saturday

Published by admin on Thu, 07/30/2020 - 10:56am

The first Saturday in the Park — Music on the Green — will be held on Aug. 1 from 4:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. on the lawn at the Hill City Visitor Information Center (VIC).

This came about thanks to matching grant dollars being made available from the Black Hills and Badlands Tourism Association to its members, said Janet Wetovick-Bily, executive director of the Hill City Area Chamber of Commerce.

Ingalls’ birthday is Aug. 3

Published by admin on Thu, 07/30/2020 - 10:56am

Aug. 3 marks Carrie Ingalls 150th birthday, and although the Carrie Ingalls Festival to celebrate the day has been postponed to July of 2021 due to COVID, the decision did not come easily.

“It was a difficult decision but making sure that residents and visitors would be safe was number one,” said Jeanie Kirkpatrick, vice president of the Keystone Area Historical Society (KAHS). “We wanted to make sure  all would be well and we would not become ill.”

This also gives KAHS more time to make the celebration “bigger and better,” Kirkpatrick said.

Crisman is new EDC director

Published by admin on Thu, 07/23/2020 - 11:01am

Hill City native Angela Crisman wanted a new way to give back to the town.

She had worked for the Hill City Area Chamber of Commerce in the past and had many different volunteering experiences, but she wanted to get involved again.

So she applied to be the newest executive director of the Hill City Economic Development Council (EDC) and was hired.

“This was a good way to get involved again,” she said. “This will be a good focus and will allow me to get to know the business owners better. I know most of them, but there are some I don’t know.”

Carver’s legacy on display

Published by admin on Thu, 07/23/2020 - 11:01am

The Keystone Museum has opened the basement for the first time in two years, showcasing a variety of displays, including one about the life of the late carver Nick Clifford.

The former storage space which housed old benches and cases was cleaned up by board members and museum director Casey Sullivan.

“One of the biggest goals was to open the basement here,” Sullivan said. “This was quite a big project for us. There were many artifacts in here pretty much going unseen. This is just as much of the history as anything upstairs.”

Broer featured at Dahl Arts Center

Published by admin on Thu, 07/23/2020 - 11:01am

Roger Broer of Hill City considers himself a contemporary artist.

His artwork will be on display at Dahl Arts Center in Rapid City July 17 through Oct. 17.

“I don’t do photographic stuff, generally,” Broer said of his art. “I have a camera that does that pretty well. It’s illustrative. It’s really kind of difficult to explain in a few words.”

Broer draws inspiration from Native subject matter; however, he said he doesn’t “necessarily paint Indians with feathers and in regalia.”

Pandemic threatens fragile rural health-care system

Published by admin on Thu, 07/02/2020 - 11:24am
Editor’s note: This article is the second of three parts of a special report by South Dakota News Watch. The “Small Towns, Big Challenges” series was supported in part by a grant from the COVID-19 Local News Relief Fund Grant Program sponsored by Facebook. Part three will appear next week and feature profiles of small towns on the cusp of change and highlight a pair of committed rural practitioners.
 

Prevailer Down Memory Lane July 1

Published by admin on Thu, 07/02/2020 - 11:18am
      5 YEARS AGO, 2015

Small towns in facing big challenges amid pandemic, historic declines

Published by admin on Thu, 06/25/2020 - 10:04am
The COVID-19 pandemic could not have come at a worse time for many of South Dakota’s small towns.
The deadly virus has further complicated the already herculean task of keeping cherished rural communities vibrant and reversing a historic downturn in population and economic stability.
Though mostly spared from major outbreaks, small towns that once served as the backbone of rural South Dakota have been stung by the indirect economic and emotional outcomes of the pandemic.