South Dakota Department of Tourism to Hosts Monumental Celebration in Chicago
By Diane DeisJul 2, 2018 | 9:01 AM
PIERRE, S.D. – In an effort to continually market South Dakota as a travel destination and bring awareness to the state’s tourism offerings, the South Dakota Department of Tourism is bringing a scale model of Mount Rushmore National Memorial and a taste of South Dakota to Chicago.
In celebration of the upcoming Fourth of July holiday, The Mount Rushmore State is bringing a 22-foot tall model of America’s Shine of Democracy to Chicago’s popular Millennium Park. In addition to the monumental sculpture, the crowd will have the chance to conquer the on-site climbing wall modeled after Custer State Park’s famous Needles area.
Thomas Jefferson’s original vanilla ice cream, which is a popular dish on-site at Mount Rushmore, will also be served to the crowd and is anticipated to be a fan favorite.
“This type of ‘surprise and delight’ that we can offer in a city like Chicago produces very positive results for us,” said Jim Hagen, Secretary of the Department of Tourism. “This time, we’re bringing the sights and flavors of our unique state to Millennium Park. These events are inspirational to potential travelers to our state and inspire word-of-mouth marketing, which is one of the most powerful tools that we can use. The Chicago market has been performing well for South Dakota’s tourism industry and we’re excited to inspire more visitors from the Windy City to make South Dakota their vacation destination in the years ahead.”
The Department of Tourism added Chicago as a target market four years ago. Since that time, web traffic to TravelSouthDakota.com from Chicago shows an increase of 60 percent, with Vacation Guide requests from the same time period up 122 percent.
The event is taking place in Chicago’s Millennium Park’s South Promenade on Saturday, June 30, from 10 a.m. – 6 p.m. CDT.
The South Dakota Department of Tourism is comprised of Tourism and the South Dakota Arts Council. The department is led by Secretary James Hagen.