The last several posts were about the great outdoor activities we enjoyed while living in Sioux Falls. While we thoroughly enjoy our time spent in nature, we also enjoy checking out local activities and festivals.
On Saturday, September 8 we drove to downtown Sioux Falls to check out two festivals that were taking place. The Sidewalk Arts Festival and German Fest 2018.
Sidewalk Arts Festival
The Sidewalk Arts Festival is a fundraiser for the Visual Arts Center at the Washington Pavilion. It is also the region’s largest one-day arts festival. Over 300 vendor booths were set up on the streets surrounding the Washington Pavilion in downtown Sioux Falls. There was a wide variety of art, crafts, jewelry, and food products.
We walked through the entire festival area, even the parking lot set up with children’s activities.
We enjoyed looking at all the products on display. Our only purchase was a pair of handmade earrings and a bag of kettle corn.
While walking around, we stopped at the booth outside the First Lutheran Church on S. Dakota Avenue. There, we learned the church was built in the late 1920s. The woman working the booth invited us inside the church to see the stained glass windows and pipe organ. Since we enjoy the architecture of older churches, we thanked her and went inside.
German Fest 2018
After walking through the arts festival, we drove the short distance to Fawick Park, where the German Fest was in progress. This free event is Sioux Falls’ way of celebrating the country of Germany and their long-standing partnership with the City of Potsdam. We are both of German descent and it just made sense that we check it out.
Stopping at the entrance to get our drink bands (proving we were over 21) and beer tickets, we headed towards the large tent. It was afternoon and we were ready for lunch and a cool beverage.
After purchasing our German beer, we went looking for food. We checked out all the vendors before making our choice. Ahead of us, we saw a long line forming at a red booth. Getting closer we could smell the melted cheese.
The vendor, Raclette Corner, was making a traditional Swiss raclette; a semi-hard cow’s cheese, melted and scraped over a plate of bread, potatoes or meat. The dish is also popular in Germany.
I am sure it tasted good, but I couldn’t get past the smell. After seeing what other vendors had to offer, we bought a couple of brats on pretzel buns, topped with the best sauerkraut ever!
With our beers and brats in hand, we walked towards the stage and tables. We enjoyed our meal while listening to music and chatting with strangers.
Dashound Races
Our beer and brats eaten, we were ready to walk around. It was almost time for the wiener dog races, so we headed towards the track.
A fundraiser for the Dakota Dachshund Rescue, the races are entertaining and very popular. The closer we got to the race track, the more wiener dogs we saw. Many were wearing costumes for the contest prior to the races.
Unfortunately, we were not able to get close enough for pictures of the costumed contestants. We walked around the back side of the bleachers and worked through the crowd to see the track.
After the first race, we backed out of the crowd and walked towards the Big Sioux River. Fawick Park is along the river, and we recalled floating past when we kayaked through downtown.
It was almost 6 pm and time to get back to our pups. It had been a nice day walking around downtown, looking at the artwork, wiener dogs and people watching.
Our next post will feature the famous Falls Park. We visited several times while living in Sioux Falls, both before and after the September flooding. If you like to receive an email when it is posted, just complete the subscribe form at the bottom of the page.
