Fernweh, An Ache for Distant Places

Rapid City, South Dakota is the gateway to the Black Hills region and its many attractions like Badlands National Park, Wind Cave National Park, Custer State Park, the Crazy Horse Memorial, Jewel Cave Monument, Spearfish Canyon, the Mammoth Site, and Mount Rushmore.

Around 75,000 people call Rapid City home, making it the second most populated city in South Dakota. Thousands more attend the Black Hills Pow Wow each year.

Rapid City is known for its rich Western heritage and presence of Native American culture, especially of the Lakota people.

Learning more about the Oglala Lakota and seeing the Badlands National Park were my primary reasons for visiting the Black Hills, but we found so many more reasons to love it there.

The best part about this trip was all the Lakota art; from the authentic Lakota-made shops to the murals and sculptures outside, and of course the NDN Collective. 

A couple years ago, I became very interested in the NDN Collective, the loudest voice for the Land Back movement. They are based in Rapid City and I was super excited to see the HQ and meet a few folks in person. 

To catch you up to speed, watch this Landback.org video:

NDNC’s mission is to provide the “most ambitious systemic approach to empowering Indigenous communities in the history of philanthropy and impact investing” and they do that through grants, low-interest investments and loans, community organizing, and other campaigns. 

Learn more about their principles and events by checking out their Tactical Media team’s videos, their blog, newsletter, and podcasts. 

The Black Hills and Badlands National Park are sacred to the Lakota, a subtribe of the Great Sioux Nation, and other tribal nations. This land is and always has been their home.

There has been an ongoing land battle for over a century now because the US Government seized their land, made and broke multiple legal treaties where they “gave” it back but took it again.

Check out my blogs about Badlands National Park and Wind Cave National Park to learn more. 

PRAIRIE EDGE
After NDN Collective, my most anticipated place to visit in downtown Rapid City was to Prairie Edge, a Lakota-made gift shop and gallery. 

Its gallery features the world’s largest collection of glass beads with more than 3600 varieties. 

The store is brimming with paintings, carvings, sculptures, leather goods, home decor, dry goods, herbs, books, clothing, blankets, craft supplies, and more from Indigenous makers. 

I bought a beautiful ring with a black mother of pearl stone set in silver that is carved to look like moths on either side, and it is the one piece of jewelry I can keep on my hands all the time. 

Our other favourite shop is He Sapa Vintage, which had just opened that week.

Dakota Drum was another favourite stop, featuring buffalo-hide drums that are handmade and painted by Lakota artist and owner, Sonja. 

I felt pretty lucky that she was in the middle of painting when we visited, and that she did not mind an audience. 

Dakota Drum is also a gallery for other types of wall hangings and other artwork. 

 There are so many other amazing shops downtown, but I will note that the others are less Lakota-focused.

Still, each place is full of countless rare and unique items, mostly made by local or regional artists. 

Aqua & Acre Market and Black Hills Vinyl were two of the coolest.

I complain in my blogs about having to go shopping, but this was one trip that I was excited about checking out each new place.

It was very easy to accumulate a substantial amount of stuff from the Black Hills region to take back home and share with loved ones.

ART ALLEY
Downtown Rapid City lies along Main Street and on Saint Joseph street, one block south. 

The two streets stretch between Mt. Rushmore Road and 5th Street, with Art Alley in the center. 

The specific murals and graffiti in Art Alley is always subject to change, but the space is consistently used to reflect the work and concepts of local Indigenous folks. 

I thought it was a given that “NDN” is another way of saying “Indian” but after being asked by other tourists a few times, I realized that many think it is some kind of acronym. Nope. 

Keep your eyes open for other murals downtown, like this Community Building Event Project by Focus Smith. 

This enormous mural wraps the entire backside of Aby’s Bar & Venue!

This buffy boy is a chalk drawing in the Cookie Shop.

There were so many more murals we saw in passing. 

Rapid City has some amazing sculptures to honour Indigenous people, as well, from the airport to the heart of downtown. 

Main Street Square us framed by the Passage of Wind and Water project sculpture. 

Mixed in with that are a few presidential statues which I will tell you about next. 

 

CITY OF PRESIDENTS
Rapid City is often called the “City of Presidents” because it has sculptures of all 44 American presidents on every corner and tucked into other public spaces around Main and St. Joseph Streets. 

James Van Nuys is a sculptor and painter in Rapid City, best known for his work City of Presidents.

His gallery is the James Van Nuys Gallery across for the Elks Theatre.

Van Nuys has been creating works of art in the Black Hills region for over 30 years.

The current President (gag) is inside the visitor center instead of outside, fair warning.

The Visitors Center has a photo scavenger hunt brochure with clues found at each statue, and you can turn in your completed search for a prize.

The brochure also has a QR for the self-guided audio tour, or you can scan QR codes on each individual statue.

We arrived at the Visitors Center in time to meet Bonny of BONZEYE Studio as she was completing her newest art installation inside the exhibition windows. 

She and her friend were rad, and they gave us some great recommendations on where to go (and not go) while visiting Rapid City. Thanks, Bonny!

I did not pick up any intense vibes about Rapid City’s culture. It has a clean and medium-sized historic downtown, but it often felt like we were just there on the way to somewhere else.

To be fair, most of the time, we were. 

HISTORIC PRESERVATION BUILDING WALKING TOUR
Rapid City has a “Historic Preservation Building Walking Tour” that I found a brochure for in town, but the website has expired between when I first started this blog and the couple months that passed.

If you can not find a brochure at the Visitors Center, consider booking a guided walking tour with them.  

The buildings we found most interesting are the Rapid City Fire Department, the Elks Building, and the Hotel Alex Johnson. 

Hotel Alex Johnson was a fun stop, especially to the adjacent gift boutique. I will not link the hotel since it is now operated by a chain, but the building itself is a German tudor-style, so you know I was into it.

The hotel has been featured on Syfy Channel and other outlets for its famed title as “Most Haunted in South Dakota.” 

There has been much controversy about what looks like swastikas carved into the lobby ceiling, but the hotel’s website states that they are Native American symbols. You can decide for yourself. 

Having a drink at the rooftop lounge is the place to be around sunset. 

Most of the view of this region is relatively flat, but serene.

WHERE TO EAT & DRINK
We made friends with the owners of Speed Goat Coffee over the course of our multiple visits, and this is our pick for best coffee in town. 

The same couple owns The Cookie Shop a couple blocks away, famous for their quarter-pound specialty cookies. 

We each picked out one to share and sporadically munched on them for the following three days. 

The Sour is another place to find the most decadent baked goods. 

We went crazy over their gouda cheese and paprika sourdough, and had to go back for more. 

We took breakfast sammies to go on the morning of our flight. Below is the lox croissant with pickled veggies.

I would easily fly back just for another one of these and a Dirty Chai from Speedy Goat. 

Kathmandu Bistro perfectly hit that craving for Indian food. 

We shared the garlic naan, chicken Saag, and Tandoori mushrooms. 

After gorging ourselves, we still had enough takeaway for another meal later. 

Bars and breweries are abundant in Rapid City, but we were so busy we did not have much energy for nightlife. 

Firehouse Brewery & Restaurant was the most impressive due to its history as a fire station, murals on its exterior, and actual fires lit up all over its courtyard. 

Other pubs like Thirsty’s, Murphy’s, The Brass Rail Lounge, Aby’s, and Woodland Brewing all caught our eyes. 

BEAR COUNTRY
Since 1972, the Bear Country wildlife park has been a safe haven for animals to roam freely in their natural habitats, divided by cattle rollers instead of cages.

I am not a fan of zoos or confining animals like curiosities, and I always question the care they receive, but we felt okay about visiting Bear Country since its animals are mostly free range. 

Bears, reindeer, elk, wolves, reindeer, buffalo, bighorn sheep, mountain lions, and many other species can be observed t

here. 

Wildlife Walkway is a 1/4 mile paved loop you can drive around as many times as you like during open hours. 

We were beside ourselves watching all the sleepy teddies lounging around. 

Other popular attractions I should mention that are located in Rapid City include the Journey Museum, South Dakota Mines & Museum of Geology, the South Dakota Air & Space Museum, Reptile Gardens, Dinosaur Park, Cosmos Mysteries, Caverns, and the Dahl Arts Center. There is also Chapel in the Hills, an exact replica of the famous Borgund Stavkirke in Norway. I hope to visit all of them next time.

In the area for a while? Follow me to other Black Hills spots like the Badlands National Park, Wall Drug, Wind Cave National Park, Custer State Park, Spearfish Canyon, Hot Springs, Lead, and Deadwood (in progress). 

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