Big Sioux Media Sports Network
Your first stop for southeast South Dakota sports!
The Dell Rapids Quarrier football team served a little over 400 people at The Banquet on the evening of Tuesday, August 2nd. About 35 players, some of the coaches, their wives, and a few Quarrier football fans were on hand to serve the meal.
The money that was raised during the annual fall fundraiser, the discount card sold by the football players, was used to fund this wonderful opportunity. 
GoldenWest’s 100th Anniversary Tour of Independence celebration made a stop in Dell Rapids at City Park on Sunday, July 31st, from 12:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. The celebration included a free lunch cookout, giveaways, kids’ activities, and an interactive technology exhibit called “Fence Posts to Fiber Optics”.
The tour celebration started on June 11th in Hot Springs. The event has made stops in Custer, Pine Ridge, Mission, Freeman, Winner, Armour, and Hartford. The celebration tour will also make a stop in Murdo on August 20th and Wall on September 24th.
The 15th Annual Relay for Life event at Dell Rapids City Park was held on Friday, July 29th. The event started at 6:00 p.m. and ran until 6:00 a.m. on Saturday, July 30th.
Luminaries lined the park paths and were lit during the night. The Boys Scouts held a whopper feed, and the Cancer Crusaders held concessions throughout the event.
The Survivor Walk kicked off the event right at 6:00 p.m. on Friday. After the survivor walk, entertainment was provided by various individuals and groups throughout the evening. The event concluded with a sunrise service led by Pastor Rick Timmer. The emcee for the event was Erica Fersdahl.
The store has been open for a couple of weeks for customers, but the Grand Opening celebration for the Dell Rapids Shopko Hometown was held on Friday, July 22nd. A crowd gathered outside the store for the events that started at 8:45 a.m. with a ribbon cutting ceremony and Shopko Foundation presentations.
Dell Rapids Shopko Hometown manager Patty Ramsey said, “Our team and I are so excited to be in this community. I’ve found it to be very friendly. I love this community and couldn’t ask for a friendlier community. I’m really happy to be here.”
“We’d like to thank you for choosing Dell Rapids, for investing in Dell Rapids. I know the community as a whole appreciates you being here, and we’ll certainly show you our customer loyalty,” said Dell Rapids Chamber of Commerce President Dan Ahlers during the ceremonies.
Ramsey also presented two checks from the Shopko Foundations. The first check was for $2,500 to the Dell Rapids High School. The second check was for $1,000 to the Dell Rapids St Mary High School. Ramsey then told the crowd that Shopko really does care for the community, and anyone who has fundraising can work with her or the Shopko Foundation.
After the ribbon cutting, the first 100 customers through the door on Friday received a certificate for a $10 gift card. Customers could also sign up for the loyalty program throughout the day, and they were also treated to refreshments.
The Dell Rapids City Council approved the second reading and adoption of Ordinance 835, a water rate increase for 10th Street/Hwy 115 Funding during their regular meeting on Tuesday, July 5th. The city was given a loan in the amount of $705,000 for the 10th Street and Hwy 115 projects by DENR.
In order to get approval for the loan, the council had to increase the water rates for residents by $2.25 per 5,000 gallons. The base rate will be increased from $10.00 to $11.50. There will also be an increase per 1,000 gallon rate from $4.37 to $4.52.
The ordinance was approved unanimously.
Dell Rapids Ace Hardware celebrated one year in their new location with an anniversary celebration on Saturday, July 9th. The event was full of activities including a splash cage dunk tank, Zumba class, free hotdog meal, games, inflatables, and other activities.
All the proceeds from the Zumba class and dunk tank were donated to the Children’s Miracle Network. The event raised $944.66 for Children’s Miracle Network!
Dominic Holmes, a recent graduate of Dell Rapids High School along with Kaitlynn Umphleet from Rural Sioux Empire Coalition for Youth made a request to the Dell Rapids City Council at their regular meeting on Tuesday, July 5th, to make the city parks tobacco free.
“We would like the city to adopt a tobacco free policy for all city parks. We believe this is a great cause because it promotes cleaner air, ensures safer parks for children and animals, and models positive behavior for youth,” Holmes stated in his opening remarks.
Holmes also stated that other policies of not allowing alcohol and needing to clean up after pets help promote a healthy environment designed for parks. He mentioned that having a tobacco free policy would also contribute to better community wellness.
Umphleet added that the Rural Sioux Empire Coalition for Youth has funding to provide tobacco free signage to Dell Rapids if the city council approves a tobacco free policy. Umphleet also provided the council with information on a policy that is implemented in Minnesota that Watertown and Sioux Falls have also mirrored for their policies. The council was also told by Umpleet that the University of Minnesota did a study in 2004 on the policy in place in Minnesota and found that 80% of park directors reported no change in park usage, 71% reported less smoking, and 58% reported cleaner parks.
The city council referred the request to the Policy and Procedures committee at this time to review the information provided to the council to make a determination on adoption.
With the 4th of July just around the corner, the discharging of fireworks will soon be happening. The 2013 South Dakota Legislature changed the state law to allow the discharge of fireworks from June 27th until the Sunday after July 4th. However, individual cities have the option of adopting stricter limits to the use of fireworks. Dell Rapids passed Ordinance 668 on June 7th, 2004, limiting the discharge of fireworks to just July 4th between the hours of 8:00 a.m. and 11:00 p.m. within the city limits:
City and state officials also remind residents to be safe this holiday with a few tips:
Organizers of the 2016 ESA Quarry Days 5K/1 Mile event on Saturday, June 25th, said they had another successful year. This event is a fundraiser with proceeds going to local community organizations. This year 89 participants took part in the event with 77 running in the 5K.
The top overall female finisher was Christina Vogel with a time of 22:10. The top overall male finisher was Ben Devlin from Sioux Falls with a time of 19:40.
Top Female Finishers:
Top Male Finishers:
Dell Rapids, SD – Avera Dells Area Health Center and Community Blood Bank will partner up to save lives at a special summer community blood drive event held on Tuesday, July 5 from 7:00 to 11:00 am and 12:30 to 2:30 pm. The public will have an opportunity to donate blood to help local patients in the hospital during the month of July. All blood donations will go directly to saving patients’ lives in Dell Rapids. All who donate will receive a special All American blood drive t-shirt.
Every three seconds someone needs blood, and the only way to ensure that those needs are met is to rely on volunteer donors to donate blood. The need for local blood donors is immense. The Community Blood Bank supplies over 550 units of blood each week to people in the region. Among those who benefit from donated blood are trauma and burn victims, cancer patients and persons undergoing surgery.
“As we enter the summer months, it becomes extremely difficult to maintain an adequate blood supply for our community,” states Ken Versteeg, Executive Director, Community Blood Bank. “With many summer activities and vacations occurring, people forget to give blood throughout the summer. Summer is traditionally a time when there is a higher occurrence of accidents and injury as people travel on roadways and water ways, thus increasing the need for blood.”
Donors must be at least 17 years old (16 years old with a signed parent consent form found at www.cbblifeblood.org), weigh 110 lbs or more and be in good general health the day of the donation. Please bring an I.D. It is recommended that a person eat and drink plenty of fluid prior to donating. For more information log onto www.cbblifeblood.org or call Avera Dells Area Health Center at 428-5431.
Community Blood Banks is a nonprofit, cooperative of Sanford Medical Center and Avera McKennan Hospital and the sole blood provider to the Sioux Empire. Community Blood Bank is not associated with any other blood bank organizations.