The Alliance’s military milestone

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) — A favorite concert venue in Sioux Falls and gathering place for veterans is celebrating a military milestone this year.

Five years ago, the South Dakota Military Heritage Alliance opened its doors to the public as a one-stop location for veterans and active-duty members.

We look back at the Alliance’s five years of operation and find out what the future holds for the non-profit.

A flash of inspiration struck Stacy Kooistra one morning back in 2016 as he paid a visit to the sprawling Badlands Pawn building as the business was in the process of closing.

“And I just wanted to see it before it closed because it was such a unique, if not odd, facility and I just walked through and I think just from my army days to my Air National Guard days,it just triggered an idea of this could be a great military and veterans facility,” Kooistra said.

At that moment, the concept of what would become the South Dakota Military Heritage Alliance was born. An ambitious idea that, at times, overwhelmed Kooistra from the beginning.

“Fundraising was part of it. How do you eat this elephant? How do you operate a gun range, and a concert venue and a restaurant and a bar and then have tenants within it? The scope of the project would dawn on me from time to time,” Kooistra said.

Kooistra’s non-profit raised money to purchase Badlands Pawn and covert it into the Alliance. It’s official opening was set for March of 2020.

“And of course, we started with all these plans and ideas and the same week we wanted to do our grand opening, Covid,” South Dakota Military Heritage Alliance Executive Director Brian Phelps said.

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The coronavirus pandemic delayed the Alliance’s opening until later that year. Despite the setback, the Alliance would prove to be a popular destination not just for people with ties to the military, but for the entire community.

“Over the last five years, we’ve brought in over 500 thousand guests through our front door. That’s twice the population of Sioux Falls that’s come here in five years,” Phelps said.

The customer experience is a priority at the Alliance, to make sure people plan return visits here.

“We don’t worry about the hamburgers or the beers, we want people to come here, have the experience they can take home with them and share with their friends and family about, wow – this is what I did at the Alliance, this is very unique, I want to go there again,” Phelps said.

The Alliance also includes a converted armory that houses both the local American Legion and VFW posts.

“We can have veteran organizations in here who maintain their own identity and are distinct in that regard, but also can collaborate and that’s something I think we needed from the veteran community point of view,” Kooistra said.

The American Legion credits the Alliance, and all its services available, for boosting its membership, especially among younger veterans.

“Instead of being an old man’s club, we are trying to get more modern and recognize the fact that the younger generations of veterans who are coming and we want to make it… this venue is perfect,” American Legion Post 15 Vice-Commander Pat Branco said.

Alliance leadership is making plans for the next five years and that includes converting the former AAA building located next door into a museum honoring all branches of the military that fought in all U.S. conflicts.

“South Dakota does not have an all-eras, all-branches museum. We have some excellent ones. The Air & Space Museum in Rapid City. The National Guard museum in Pierre. But we don’t have one that covers everybody and we’re losing a lot of stories and South Dakota’s military heritage and so that’s what we want to pour into next,” Kooistra said.

Kooistra says the building’s horseshoe-shaped layout will make it an ideal location to house a museum to include rotating exhibits. But there’s still no timetable yet on when the project will begin. A 5-year-old facility that never even had a grand opening will expand its footprint and embrace more and more guests for years to come.

“It has room and opportunity for growth, I see nothing but great hope,” Branco said.

The South Dakota Department of Veterans Affairs was the very first tenant to move into the Alliance back in 2020.