The Stockyards Ag Experience completed its Sioux Falls Area Chamber of Commerce Community Appeal, co-chaired by Dana Dykhouse (First PREMIER Bank) and Mike Begeman (Sanford Health) with honorary co-chair Jim Woster. The fundraising effort exceeded its Community Appeals goal of $1.19 million, raising $1,258,735 to support development of the 3.63-acre Stockyards Ag Experience Plaza on the southwest corner of what was once the Sioux Falls Stockyards. The Plaza is the second phase of the Stockyards Ag Experience project.
The Plaza plans call for a design to walk visitors from “pasture to plate” through four experiential areas: cultivate, raise, tend and celebrate. The conceptual design honors our community’s agricultural roots by interpreting the history of the Sioux Falls Stockyards while celebrating the impact of contemporary agriculture. Programming, activities and collaborations at the Plaza will highlight farming both past and present will provide educational opportunities for all ages. Planned structures include a picnic shelter and public restrooms designed with farmyard thematic elements. The primary design & interpretative consultant on the project is Confluence of Sioux Falls.
“The Stockyards Ag Experience Plaza will have a transformative effect on Falls Park and the entire Sioux Falls Area,” said Dykhouse. “The destination is a quality of life enhancement and will provide educational opportunities for all ages that honor our community’s agricultural history while serving as an important gateway into one of Sioux Falls’ more cherished areas – Falls Park. We are grateful to 175 community appeals donors who share in our vision to recognize and celebrate the impact of agriculture in our community, state and region.”
The first phase of the project, the Stockyards Ag Experience Barn, opened to the public in March 2017. In its first season at the Barn, which bridges the history of agriculture beginning with the Sioux Falls Stockyards to contemporary agriculture, has welcomed guests from 47 states and 9 foreign countries.
The total project budget for both phases of the Stockyards Ag Experience is $4.1 million. The Community Appeal and funds raised in the region have already contributed more than $2 million to the project. The Stockyards Ag Experience will next undertake detailed interpretive planning and expects to construct the Plaza in 2019.
About the Stockyards Ag Experience
Stockyards Plaza Inc. (dba Stockyards Ag Experience) was founded in 2012 under the visionary leadership of former Stockyards employee and South Dakota icon Jim Woster. Stockyards Plaza Inc. incorporated as a 501c3 nonprofit organization in 2013. The Stockyards Ag Experience Plaza and Barn are being developed as regional attractions at Falls Park, Sioux Falls, South Dakota. The Stockyards Ag Experience communicates the story of agriculture in our economy and society – and showcase its impact on our region.
About Community Appeals:
Community Appeals is a program of the Sioux Falls Area Chamber of Commerce that serves to qualify and provide orderly scheduling of capital fund drives. Since the program began in 1953, more than $60 million has been contributed to community agencies by the Sioux Falls business community.