News

Buffalo Gap Blow Out is Saturday

Published by admin on Thu, 07/09/2020 - 9:14am
The fourth annual Buffalo Gap Blow Out will take place this Saturday, July 11, with a full day of events and live music.
There will be games and activities for children as well as for adults, including horseshoes, cornhole and human foosball. There will be food and drink vendors as well as a beer garden.  Dry camping will be available.
There will be a parade at 10 a.m. on Main Street and a free classic “Car n Park” all day.

Removal of Mount Rushmore: Not on Noem’s watch

Published by admin on Thu, 07/02/2020 - 11:28am
The afternoon of June 26, Gov. Kristi Noem took to Facebook and penned a post that she entitled: “Not on My Watch.”
The 545-word post was in response to some voicing their opinion on social media that Mount Rushmore National Monument should be removed.
“Now we’re seeing threats to Mount Rushmore,” Noem wrote. “To those who would threaten America’s Shrine of Democracy, I have one simple message for you: Not on my watch.”

Stay safe with fireworks

Published by admin on Thu, 07/02/2020 - 11:27am
Independence Day is here and, with the celebration of our nation’s independence comes fireworks.
Yes, there are the fireworks at Mount Rushmore National Memorial this year, but that’s not the only reason why fireworks are on the mind of the Pennington County Fire Administration.

Pladson is new Keystone chamber director

Published by admin on Thu, 07/02/2020 - 11:25am
The Keystone Chamber of Commerce has a new director.
Robin Pladson came to the chamber after a thorough search, which included a background check. 
Born in Hot Springs and raised on a ranch east of Buffalo Gap, Pladson made annual trips to the Hills. Last summer she and her husband bought a home between Keystone and Hill City.

All school reunion postponed one year

Published by admin on Thu, 07/02/2020 - 11:19am
 
Held every five years, the Hill City all school reunion is meant to bring alumni of the Hill City School District together.
However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the all school reunion scheduled to be held this year has been postponed one year.
“Because of COVID-19, we are postponing to the third week in September 2021,” said Ellen Jenter, who helps organize the event.

CCC Museum holds open house

Published by admin on Thu, 07/02/2020 - 11:18am
 
On a hot Saturday, the Civilian Conservation Corps Museum of South Dakota held an open house.
The open house was well attended, said Otto Bochman, executive director of the museum.
“The numbers were down from last year, but that’s to be expected with really hot weather and coronavirus,” Bochman said.
The museum had to close for two months because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Bochman said, but since reopening, people have been coming to the museum — albeit not as many patrons as last year.

Final preparations taking shape

Published by admin on Thu, 07/02/2020 - 11:14am
Keystone is preparing for the July 3 Mount Rushmore fireworks in a big way.
The town held the last of its special meetings for the event on June 24. Discussion centered on parking, crowd control and road closures. The town also decided not to designate the event as a special town event, which would have lowered the transient vendor fees from $800 to $25.
At the suggestion of Trustee Kwinn Neff, the board voted to extend the normal 30-day window allowing transient vendors to operate from July 1 to Aug. 16 without getting a second transient license. 

Novel virus creates novel graduation

Published by admin on Thu, 07/02/2020 - 11:02am
It was an unorthodox graduation ceremony for an unusual year, but the 2020 Custer High School graduation went off without a hitch Saturday. With the school year cut short by the novel coronavirus pandemic, the graduation which had been set for late May in the Armory was delayed until June 27 and moved to Wildcat Stadium to allow for social distancing. 

Old Time Country 4th starts Saturday

Published by admin on Thu, 07/02/2020 - 10:59am
Saturday is Independence Day across the country and the city of Custer will once again celebrate with several events Saturday, although somewhat scaled down because of COVID-19.
The fun will start at 10 a.m. with a B-1 flyover to start off the annual Children’s Parade, followed immediately by the Patriots’ Parade in downtown Custer.
In order to encourage spectators to spread out and maintain social distancing, the parade route has been extended to include Washington Street from 2nd to 5th streets and ending at the Veterans Memorial.

Council members: Pandemic a no-win situation

Published by admin on Thu, 07/02/2020 - 10:39am
For the vast majority of the time that COVID-19 has been in our stream of consciousness, Jeannie Fischer has been sick.
No, she hasn’t contracted the virus that has now taken nearly 130,000 lives across the U.S. Rather, she has been sick with worry.