Three local businesses honored

By: 
Gray Hughes and Leslie Silverman

Two Keystone businesses and one Hill City area business were awarded by the South Dakota Department of Tourism at this year’s conference on Jan. 21.

Big Thunder Gold Mine, Rush Mountain Adventure Park in Keystone and Prairie Berry and Miner Brewing Company located just outside Hill City won the Peter Norbeck Excellence in Tourism Innovation award.

The George S. Mickleson Award was given to Big Thunder Gold Mine in Keystone. This award honors businesses, communities or organizations that have done an exemplary job of customer service and exceeding visitor expectation.

“Big Thunder Gold Mine’s motto is to always look at the positive and make every day something you will always remember,” said South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem in a release.  “Their hospitality and passion for the industry radiates throughout their surrounding communities and the people they serve.”

Big Thunder Gold Mine owner Sandi McLain was going to skip the trip to Pierre until a “little birdie” told her she might want to come.

The award brought tears to her eyes.

“It means everything to me,” she said. “It’s my business but it’s our staff that’s so phenomenal.”

That staff worked tirelessly over the 2020 summer season to make every Big Thunder Gold Mine experience as positive as possible, she added.

McLain starts each day eyeing a plaque that embodies the new philosophy she has embraced over the last several years. It reads: “You have to have faith stronger than your fear.” This was especially true for the 2020 tourist season where McLain had fewer people on staff and myriad challenges caused by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

“We usually have 52 workers; we only had 30 people this summer,” McLain said. “Everyone had to learn everything.”

McLain knew the importance of following Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidelines when possible.

“Most visitors wanted to have fun and make memories in the Black Hills,” she said. “I took care of my guests. I didn’t get sick. My staff didn’t get sick. We practiced social distancing as much as possible. We had fewer numbers in mine tours and timed things perfectly.”

Visitors taking claim tours could spread out on the 20-acre site. At the adjacent restaurant McLain runs, most people opted to eat outside at the added picnic tables.

The Peter Norbeck Excellence in Tourism Innovation Award is given to an industry partner for their innovative thinking in making their destination, business or attraction even more appealing to visitors.” This year’s award honored Rush Mountain Adventure Park of Keystone and Prairie Berry and Miner Brewing Company just outside of Hill City.

“Both of these businesses have grown into incredible tourism attractions in South Dakota, all while providing top-notch customer service and new and varied experiences for visitors of all ages to enjoy,” Noem said in the release.

Tom and April Hagen, owners of Rush Mountain Adventure Park who normally attend the conference did not go this year. Although they “haven't missed a conference in many years” they didn’t go because their son was ill and the conference was shortened.

Tom jokes that “ we didn't go not having any idea we were gonna win anything.”

He recalls watching the live stream and hearing that Prairie Berry had won the award.

“I thought that was cool,” Tom said. And then they said something about a second award and they started to describe us and I was shocked and excited.”

The Hagens know good customer service gets recognized. They were winners of the 2017 Mickelson award.

“We’ve won both awards in the last three years,” said Tom. “We work on offering a quality and up to date experience.”

The Hagens strive to bring the latest and best attractions to their park, updating and adding thrills on a regular basis. In 2013 the Hagens opened the Soaring Eagle Zipride, which was only one of two commercial zip lines in the country to boast an automatic retrieval feature. In 2014 the park added the Gunslinger 7D Interactive Ride, the first of its type anywhere in the world.

“The company that made the theater wanted to put it in Disney,” Tom said. “We had the only prototype in the world. Imagineers from Disney came to look at it.”

Hagen jokes that Disney comes to look at Rush Mountain anytime they need a ride. The Rushmore Mountain Coaster, which was added in 2016, is the first mountain coaster in South Dakota. These types of coasters are “ usually built in high end ski areas.”

Like McLain, Hagen strives to meet the evolving needs of all his guests. He noticed many visitors traveling with their pets would come to the park and leave their dogs in the car, figuring they would stay for an hour or so.

“They ended up staying three to four hours,” Tom said. “It was upsetting to us to see the dogs in the cars so we cleared a space behind the gift shop.”

That space now houses kennels where visitors can leave their furry companions while they enjoy the park’s attractions. The space is shaded and Rush Mountain staff makes sure the dogs have fresh water.

The impact of these two award winning businesses have yet to be seen, but Keystone Chamber of Commerce Director Robin Pladson thinks that everyone is going to be watching Keystone.

“These two have put us in the number one position,” Pladson said. “People are going to be wondering what new things are going on here.”

Hagen agrees that this recognition helps to “legitimize” his business and the Keystone area as a leader of state of the art attractions and family fun.

For Prairie Berry and Miner Brewing Company, the Peter Norbeck Excellence in Tourism Innovation Award was the culmination of the hard work the marketing and leadership team put together to adjust to the changing world thanks to COVID-19, said Shanna Hockert, brand and marketing manager for Prairie Berry and Miner Brewing.

Hockert said this was done at Prairie Berry by offering services such as personalized individual wine tastings (all wine tastings at Prairie Berry now require a reservation), cutting seating in half to implement social distancing and expanding ecommerce.

“Controlling reservations, we were able to provide an even better experience because we were able to provide a one-on-one experience,” Hockert said. “We had a lot of the technology in place already for ecommerce, but we were able to elevate that offering to our guests as more people were ordering online.”

For those looking to limit time in public, expanding ecommerce also allowed for drive up and pick up options as well as extended to-go options the winery was able to offer its guests, Hockert said.

At Miner Brewing Company, many of the same steps taken at Prairie Berry were taken.

“We took out half of our seating options so the seating was spaced out and complied with CDC guidelines,” Hockert said.

Miner also put picnic tables outside on its concert lawn so families can enjoy the brewery while still being socially distanced. The brewery also installed outdoor heated tents for once the weather got colder where patrons could enjoy a safe experience.

But perhaps the thing the brewery is best known for is its igloos. Miner gained fame for its igloos offered during the winter season where patrons can rent out an igloo for themselves and their family and friends.

“We met weekly, especially in the beginning of the pandemic and adjusted accordingly as different guidelines and recommendations were happening,” Hockert said.

Prairie Berry and Miner Brewing Company are humbled and honored to receive this award, Hockert said, which was given to the company from its peers.

She said they are very thankful, too, that both Hill City and the team at Prairie Berry and Miner Brewing Company can be recognized.

“We are just going to continue to do our best to offer that experience for our guests and innovate,” Hockert said. “We want to look at what our industry is doing, and we are looking to see what we can do to offer the best experiences to our guests.”

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