Hill City Prevailer

It’s easy to feel a little blue this time of year.

But merchants in Hill City aimed to fix that with the annual Breakin’ the Winter Blues Chili Cookoff, and merchants are reporting strong numbers during the day.

“I heard rumor of a chili cookoff, and I had to come up and check it out myself,” said Michael Goad of Custer.

Close to 30 women gathered in the Keystone Community center gym for the annual Ladies Ornament Party.

The longstanding tradition is a staple of community and fellowship for local women in the area.

“I think everybody looks forward to it,” said Shanna Harris, one of this year’s event organizers.

She, along with Mary Triplett and Dot Lesewski hosted the party, which is organized by different women each year.

“It’s volunteers every year,” explained Lesewski.

Dahl’s Chainsaw Art in Keystone will be officially unveiling the world’s largest wooden Bigfoot on Dec. 19.

Affectionately named “Billie” and carved on site, the wooden carving is about 23 feet tall from its seated position to the top of its head.

As for its weight, carver Jarret Dahl estimates it might be as much as 30,000 pounds. “I’m just throwing a number out there,” he said. “It could be even more than that.”

The carving took about eight days to complete.

Dahl enlisted his own crew as well as a crew of guys from Kentucky.

The Christmas season got underway in Hill City on Nov. 25 with the unveiling of the Lane of Lights on Museum Drive.

This is the first year Hill City has undertaken an endeavor such as the Lane of Lights with the purpose of making Hill City the Heart of Christmas once again, said Hill City mayor Kathy Skorzewski.

“How did this get started? I moved here and heard Hill City used to be the Christmas capital of South Dakota,” she said. “I asked around why aren’t we any more? People didn’t know.”