How Sioux Falls summer tourism season is shaping up

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) — From concerts to food to art, there are lots of reasons people like to visit Sioux Falls.

John and Vinceen Riley took in the beauty of Falls Park on Labor Day.

The husband and wife from Kansas City were passing through Sioux Falls on their way to Keystone.

“We knew that Sioux Falls was known for The Falls and our daughter told us it’s a beautiful park and so we thought we’d stop here,” Riley said.

Experience Sioux Falls CEO Teri Schmidt says once the summer tourism season ends, Sioux Falls visitor numbers could end up being slightly down or flat compared to last year.

She says bad weather in parts of the U.S. may be a factor.

“If someone’s home was destroyed or some major thing happened maybe they can’t spend that money they were going to use on a 10-day vacation and they had to pull back and stay home,” Schmidt said.

Fatal crash near Fort Thompson

The upcoming presidential election could also be playing a role in visitor numbers.

“People tend to pull back a little bit until they know, what is the economy going to be like, depending on who wins, and we’ve tracked that long enough to see that’s kind of a pattern,” Schmidt said.

While the summer tourism season is winding down, there’s much more in store the rest of the year.

“We’ve got the Sidewalk Arts Festival coming up. We’ve got pheasant hunting, and the word is birds are great, so that means there’s going to be a lot more hunters coming, and the Pavilion has all kinds of things coming up,” Schmidt said.

That means even more visitors will experience what Sioux Falls has to offer.

“It’s a beautiful city,’ Riley said.

While Schmidt says the summer tourism season is winding down for families with children, she expects visitors without children to ramp up this time of year.