The Dell Rapids Board of Education members meet in session tonight (Monday June 25th) beginning at 7pm. Some policies will be reviewed including dangerous weapons in school and reporting child abuse plus others. New business will include discussion of the establishment of a qualified school construction bond investment and authorizing the transfer from capital outlay fund to high school capital projects fund. One of several items to be discussed include the changing of the school start time.
Quarry Days Comes to an End
After a beautiful weekend in Dell Rapids, the 25th Annual Quarry Days celebration came to an end on Sunday. The weekend was full events from the Tour de Kota riders returning to Dell Rapids on Friday to go along with the golf tournament, Take Me out to the Ballgame, and Kory and the Fireflies concert. Saturday saw vendors in the park all day, along with a parade, 5K walk/run, burnout, mud races and street dance by 90 Proof. Sunday wrapped up the celebration with train rides, car show, Little Miss Quarry Days pageant and a fireworks display at the end of the day.
Pictures of this year’s celebration can be found on our <a href=”https://bigsiouxmedia.com/photos/>Photos page.</a>
Kory and the Fireflies Rocked the Park
Several dozens of concert fans crowded to the front of the stage at Friday night’s Kory and the Fireflies concert in Dell Rapids. The raw energy displayed by this four-piece rocker ignited the crowd into a sing-along, feel good atmosphere leaving your problems somewhere else enabling the fans to escape into a summer night in the park enjoying a mixture of rock. The concert had doubters throughout the community as the campground had been shut down to camping by the city council, and some questioned having a concert following the annual Take Me Out to the Ballgame for fear of vandalism to the baseball diamond by concert goers. The crowd was one of the best-behaved and respectful crowds, yet they were able to be energized and feed off the band while enjoying the concert at the park till shortly after midnight. One Baltic fan’s name, Brett Teveldal, was even drawn for a brand new guitar given away by the band with all the members autographing it. Kory and the Fireflies played songs from their previous four CD releases, and a handful of new songs from the Fireflies upcoming 5th CD with a mixture of cover songs ranging from Collective Soul to Elvis (ah, yes—the King and also Costello). This is one concert if you missed, you still have a chance to see and hear it (just not up close and personal). Big Sioux Media streamed the concert live, and will have an archive of the event up on the website. Just go to webcasts and click on the concert to view it.
Saturday Night Street Dance
As Quarry Days begins and continues throughout the weekend in Dell Rapids, there’ll be even more entertainment Saturday night at the Events Center as 90 Proof is the band that will be entertaining during the street dance. This four piece band has been jammin’ for just less than a year together, but the four talented musicians have been playing in other bands and at times with one another for many years. 90 Proof describes themselves as a ‘straight up bar band’ that plays a wide variety of music genres from country rock to classic rock, and some oldies mixed in as well. This all ages street dance will start at 8pm Saturday night, and the music will start out ‘slow to mellow’ and as the night wears on, the beat picks up as the dancers hit the floor.
Dell Rapids Little League Coach a Legend Camp Leader
Every year the HyVee/Sanford Legends Camp is held which provides free specialized training in multiple sports. These sessions are conducted by professional athletes and the region’s best college players and coaches. One such Dell Rapids Little League coach is Jeff Holm. Holm has been coordinating the baseball portion of the Legends Camp for the past 11 years. He is responsible for organizing and coordinating the coaches that will help put on the baseball clinic. Holm said that lining up the help can be challening especially in recent years as the camp time has moved to Fridays from 3:30 to 5:30, and typically Fridays have become the make-up date for local baseball teams which can take away coaches and participants in the camp.
Holm said that he doesn’t make the final decision on who the legend will be for the baseball clinic, but does provide suggestions. He said that it all comes down to the timing of schedules, who’s available, what the budget is, and who might be a good regional draw for this area. This year’s baseball legend was Jack Morris.
While Holm’s main duty prior to the camp is to line up the coaches that assist the legend in the baseball clinic, he is the coordinator with the legend during the day of the clinic. He can be seen ushering the legend around to the different stations throughout the afternoon, assigning the coaches to the different stations, and being the overall center of command during the afternoon.
This year along with Holm, six other Dell Rapids Little League coaches took part in helping with the legends camp. They were Jody Schumaker, Danny Miller, Jeff Welbig, Nate Henry, Greg Gullickson and Matt Larson.
Quarry Day Excitement Building
The excitement is already underway in Dell Rapids as Quarry Days officially gets underway Friday, June 22nd. The Tour De Kota started their annual bike trek in Dells and will conclude in Dell Rapids Friday which may lead to some participants to hang around for the Friday night baseball game and the concert with Kory and the Fireflies (which will be streamed live at Big Sioux Media). Then Saturday afternoon at the Dutch Inn the Mud Races will be held. According to Tom Herding, owner of the Old Dutch Inn and host of the Saturday afternoon events, registration for the ‘Burn Out’ begins at 1pm and competition at 2pm while registration for the Mud Races will be from 2pm to 3pm and the competition for the Mud Races start at 3pm. If anyone has any questions ahead of time, contact the Old Dutch Inn.
Dell Rapids Starting Point for Tour de Kota
This year’s Tour de Kota has officially kicked off as riders were making their way out of Dell Rapids this morning. Registration was held yesterday at the city park from 5:00 – 7:00 along with a supper feed. After a night of camping at the city park, riders were heading out on the first leg of the 464-mile trek…a 69-mile ride to Beresford. Riders will finish the Tour de Kota back in Dell Rapids on Friday, June 22nd in the final stage, an 84-mile ride from De Smet.
Upcoming June Webcasts
Big Sioux Media made a commitment to the community of Dell Rapids to stream more community events besides sporting events. In May, both high school graduation ceremonies were streamed live on the internet (and are archived still for a short period of time), plus the Memorial Day Parade and the Memorial Day program from the city park. In June, the Little League Championship game was a live stream/broadcast. Other events that will be streamed in June include: Sunday, June 17th—The Internationally acclaimed African Children’s Choir performance from River Community Church beginning at 7pm; Friday, June 22nd—Quarry Days Baseball game between Dells PBR and the Mudcats beginning shortly before 8pm; also on Friday night, June 22nd—the Kory and the Fireflies concert will be streamed live over the internet on Big Sioux Media.com; Saturday, June 23rd—the Quarry Days Parade at 11am. We’ll keep you posted on our live streaming events, plus there could be other community events still in June and then of course, July will also be a busy month. You are encouraged to spread the word close to home and also far away (especially to any of our military personnel stationed overseas or elsewhere). All of the live and archived webcasts can be found on the Webcast tab.
City Council Meeting Monday
The Dell Rapids City Council will meet in regular session Monday, June 18th beginning at 7:30 pm. There will be a public hearing for renewal of malt beverage licenses and South Dakota wine license plus a special events alcohol license request for the Chamber of Commerce. In new business, the Department of Transportation community access grant application for phase-2 for the 15th street project will be discussed plus any other new business on the agenda.
Kory and the Fireflies Coming to Dell Rapids for Quarry Days
As busy as we can be there is one event in Dell Rapids that is fast approaching that always provides entertainment, food, baseball, and alot of people. Quarry Days 2012 is June 22nd, 23rd, and 24th and one new piece of entertainment is a concert that takes place right after the baseball game, June 22nd. Kory and the Fireflies, a band that has regional and local appeal, has been performing for more than 18 years (the newest member, Al Berven, has been with the band for 10 years). Founder, Kory Van Sickle, told Big Sioux Media the music written, composed, and performed for crowds has a positive energy to it and if there are large numbers of people listening he would rather have their performances ‘lifting spirits rather than crushing them’. Other members that the Quarry Days crowd will see include Chris Beyer and Jason Vetos. Van Sickle says the chemistry and input from the other members when putting down a base line, or a lead guitar part is essential in their success. The concert will begin following the baseball game on Friday night, June 22nd, between the two amateur Dell Rapids baseball teams (PBR and the Mudcats) with special guest, Shawn Coles, opening up the concert. As the baseball fans walk over to the concert area the music will get underway….and a few songs later, Kory and the Fireflies will take the stage performing songs from their four previous CD releases, and songs from their upcoming 5th CD.