Market returns to Rapid City for second season
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- Published on Monday, July 13, 2015
By Sheila Runions
Banner Staff
Last year, Rapid City Chamber of Commerce hosted a three-month community market and it was such a successful venture they have planned the same for this summer. Held for two hours one night a week, the first event of 2015 was July 2. Co-ordinator Lynne Miller admits there were fewer people than at last year’s opening, but wondered if the proximity to Canada Day kept some away. While shoppers were fewer in numbers, exhibitors were more.
“We have seven exhibitors tonight, plus the chamber table; last year we had four on our opening night. Last year we averaged eight to 10 exhibitors so I think we’ll exceed that this year. We have four that have paid for the season, the rest will pay as they are able to attend. We already have nine coming next week, which is more than tonight, so I think we’ll break last year’s average, or at least meet it.”
On the opening night chamber president Linda Black took pleasure in removing the rope which kept a long line of people outside of the pavillion until its opening time of 5:30 p.m. She also gave a welcome speech in which she thanked everyone for attending, “Lynne and crew for organizing —they spend a lot more hours than we think — these vendors and the more who will come as our season goes on. Without the commitment to your craft, this could not happen. Thanks also to the shoppers who come every week because without you, there’d be no support for our vendors. And a big thank you to our fire department who cooks up a storm each week. We are pretty proud of them and the great job they do.”
Last year the department raised “several thousand” toward their $12,500 goal to buy a wild lands vehicle. Based on that success, they agreed to once again sell burgers, hot dogs, drinks and chips as a supper meal each Thursday until Sept. 24, the night of the last market.
Lazy Creek Express is a family band from Brandon but when they released their debut album in 2013, they lived north of Harding. Although eldest son Peter is now living and working in Erickson, the five remaining Dyck members sang and played for nearly two hours. Dad Dave played guitar, mom Cathi adjusted sound and sang with her husband and daughters Anna (who also played guitar) and Talitha “Lily” (mandolin); son Brian also sang and played violin. Lynne admits the committee would still like to find musical acts each week but that this goal is even more difficult to achieve than last year; she hopes at a minimum she can convince a radio station to come with their community events vehicle.
The chamber table offers a 50/50 and trivia time. Co-ordinator of this is Gary Jones, who explained “the trivia is very flexible. Last year it was 10 questions with the highest answers right winning and if there was a tie, we’d split the money between the winners. It’s two bucks to enter the 50/50 and for every correct answer you have on the five questions, you get another entry, to a maximum of six entries per $2. Not everyone likes trivia and this gives equal opportunity because it’s a random draw to determine the winner.” The winner is officially announced at the next week’s market but Gary says they are phoned and told of the win so “there’s no need to come back to find out if they won. We also post it on Facebook.”
Rapid City’s chamber is an active group with dedicated executive. During her opening remarks, Linda explained they didn’t want to pressure people to fill committee heads or executive positions, rather that they are “looking for volunteers. Sometimes we need extra hands to help with our town-wide yard sale the first Saturday in June, or judging the floats in the parade. We host candidates night so there’ll be one in fall for our LUD and one in spring for the provincial election. We hold a Meet and Greet every other year so 2015 is it; Sept. 26 is our tentative date for this. Rapid City and Area Lions Club have graciously let us take over their trivia night as a fundraiser and we may have that in September and again in January. We also produce the Tel-It Gram [newsletter] and we have our old-fashioned Christmas the first Sunday of December; it’s always a great time for kids and adults with a movie, hay ride, etc., so if you want to volunteer with us, that’s all we’re asking.”
