Jon Ellis with the Argus Leader notes that Governor Kristi Noem’s move with the Governor’s Hunt, shifting it to Sioux Falls in 2020, is anything but ‘Business as usual:’
The announcement was a surprise, even to some of Noem’s closest supporters. The administration says the hunt will be refocused on economic development. But now, the hunt won’t be just about wooing a few out-of-state business executives. It will be about highlighting the state’s sports culture. The administration hopes to make it a destination event for the industry, as well as out-of-state business leaders.
And, importantly, the public will be invited to participate. You won’t have to be a bank president anymore to be involved. Besides a trade show, the event will have other public features, including a concert.
“They most definitely want it to become a family event,” said Teri Schmidt, the executive director of the Sioux Falls Convention and Visitors Bureau. Schmidt, it should be pointed out, was having a lovely Monday morning.
and…
Some have cast the decision in a Sioux Falls versus the rest of the state narrative. But that is the wrong take. The correct take is that Noem promised to change Pierre, and this is one of those moves.
Personally, in observing it over the years, ‘the Hunt’ seemed to have gotten a little stale, as if they were simply going through a script to put it on. I don’t think it’s entirely a bad thing to shake off the dust and try something new.
What are your thoughts?
Sioux Falls definitely shows better than Pierre for out of state businesses, but I have no idea where the hunting will happen. There is nothing any good within an hour of SF.
Agreed!
I was surprised the first time I was invited to the Governor’s Hunt because I had been told that the hunt was limited to the elite and that being a major GOP donor wasn’t a guarantee (I gave for reasons unrelated to the Hunt). This was the ’90s, and the Hunt included hundreds of people, few of whom were there for economic development purposes. When Bill Janklow returned to Pierre, he tried to cut back on the Hunt invitation list and received a lot of objections from state GOP fundraisers and past attendees. As a result, the event continued to be BIG.
I always believed that the pheasant hunt was a lower tier event when compared to events like the Buffalo Roundup. Even the hunt, I believe, had a hierarchy or “circles of influence” where the true VIPs were at or near the top/center and the rest were on the periphery. Still fun and valuable for all, even though few attendees got to visit with the governor personally. For example, I shot skeet next to Larry Pressler and first met then-Lt. Gov. Steve Kirby at the 1993 Hunt’s Friday afternoon events.
Making the hunt over into a trade show and concert is fine. The true VIPs will demand and get priority access in other ways. The hunters have always had to travel some distance from Pierre to access the fields (My team hunted south of Winner one year and some teams went to the Aberdeen area that year). Some hunt teams will need to travel far from Sioux Falls, but traveling a few hours is not a change from past practice. The public will get a trade show and concert that will also be an added attraction for invited guests.
All things great in this state begin and end in Sioux Falls. Mr. Ellis is a prime example of that. Really a kick in the teeth to the city of pierre but such is life I suppose.
I was coming back to SD a few years ago from LA. Stop over in Denver the day before hunting season. The plane was full of hunters I stood up in the plane about 15 minutes from Sioux Falls and told the hunters to look down out their windows. We are now flying over the Kongo club…..They all started laughing….they knew exactly what I was talking about.
I think it was a good move. The past hunts had actually gotten kind of boring. In fact, I’ve skipped two of the last three. It needed a new vibe, and this will certainly provide that.
Plenty of deer within the city limits. Why bother with pheasants?
No kidding! Right along Southeastern Avenue and the river is a great place.
The Governor lost Hughes County in the election. Retaliation??
No. She understands that Sioux Falls is probably easier to get to than Pierre and has more to offer due to its size.
I’m ok with it being moved from Pierre as long as cities other than Sioux Falls have the opportunity to bid to host it in the future. Personally I feel Aberdeen or Mitchell would of been a better spot for the hunt.
Ellis is pretty spot-on. The Governor’s Hunt might as well be called the Good Old Boys Club Annual Meeting.
We should just move everything to SF. The capital, all universities, all SD High School state events, Mt Rushmore or even the entire Black Hills? I know when you think pheasant hunting, you think Sioux Falls? Ya right
It is interesting that the Gov who wants everyone to think she is the king of rural, ag and hunting wants everything in Sioux Falls.
THE WHOLE WORLD REVOLVES AROUND SIOUX FALLS, SOUTH DAKOTA! HOW DO YOU NOT KNOW THIS??!! If there’s ever a contest of “ugliest city flag”, Sioux Falls would win.
This is silly. Most of the donors who are invited are from Sioux falls. The only people who actually live in Pierre are state employees who are carrying out the politicians’ bidding. Ellis can’t see with clear eyes on Sioux falls.
Too often there has to be a hidden reason.
How about they decided the current format didn’t adequately serve the purpose (bring business prospects together with in-state business owners so the prospects could hear firsthand directly the benefits of doing business here) for the cost and they decided to do something different?
35 years ago when I was at GOED we asked the above question because it was such a big cost item in the budget and we wondered if we couldn’t spend the money more effectively in other ways. But, instead of killing it, we addressed the impact on our budget by getting more sponsors.
I need more details to endorse the decision (or criticize it) but I do applaud the concept of trying new ways to do things. Innovation is never served by always doing things they way they have always been done.
Troy how much a year does is cost to fund GOED?
Is killing animals and birds all South Dakotans think of? What a sad culture.