South Dakota
Black Hills Renaissance Festival moves to new location, doubles in attendance
RAPID CITY, S.D. (KOTA) – Thousands arrived at Recreational Springs Resort Saturday to celebrate the fourth annual Black Hills Renaissance Festival.
This is the festival’s first year at the resort, and Lead Area Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Jami Grangaard said the relocation was necessary due to the festival’s popularity.
“As much as we wanted to keep this event in the city of Lead, we basically outgrew the locations that we were able to have it,” Grangaard said. She also mentioned ticket sales on Eventbrite doubled last year’s totals.
Most attendees were dressed in medieval clothing and moved from attraction to attraction. The festival was originally supposed to debut in 2020, but the COVID-19 pandemic made Shareece Tatum, the festival’s executive director, need to change plans. When the Lead Area Chamber of Commerce members reached out to her the following year about creating an event, Tatum took her chance.
“I was like, ‘Well, I have a half-baked ren fair that was supposed to happen in 2020, you want me to give it a shot?’ And they’re like, ‘Let’s do it,’” Tatum said.
While Grangaard had received lots of positive feedback about the festival, she said some attendees had been frustrated by limited parking space. Grangaard explained attendees can ride a free shuttle bus to the festival from Lead, and they should not park alongside U.S. Highway 85, where they risk parking tickets and their cars being towed.
More information and a link to purchase tickets can be found on the Black Hills Renaissance Festival’s website.
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South Dakota
Republican businessman Toby Doeden advances to primary runoff in South Dakota governor’s race
Republican businessman Toby Doeden has advanced to a runoff in South Dakota governor’s race, NBC News projects.
Gov. Larry Rhoden, who replaced Kristi Noem last year when President Donald Trump nominated her to lead the Department of Homeland Security, was battling with Rep. Dusty Johnson and former state House Speaker Jon Hansen for a second spot in the July 28 runoff. The primary will go to a runoff because no candidate eclipsed 35% of the vote.
Trump did not issue an endorsement in the race. Doeden branded himself on his campaign website as “a total political outsider who’s tired of the government’s failure to deliver on its promises” and one of Trump’s “fiercest supporters.”
Rhoden, a former lieutenant governor, agriculture secretary and lawmaker, campaigned on property tax cuts and lowering crime in his bid for a four-year term.
Johnson is the state’s lone representative in the House, where he previously was chair of the Republican Main Street Caucus. Hansen, who was elected to the South Dakota House in 2010, held several leadership positions before he became speaker.
The Republican nominee will be the favorite to win the general election in the solidly red state this fall. A Democrat has not served as governor in South Dakota since the 1970s, and Trump carried the state by 29 points in 2024.
News
Agronomist: eastern South Dakota crops hit and miss
An agronomist in eastern South Dakota says corn and soybeans are hit and miss as the growing season begins.
Steven Zemlicka with AgTegra Cooperative tells Brownfield, “We’ve got corn anywhere from V1 all the way up to V4. Biggest stuff’s maybe touching V5. Corn’s coming right along, looks pretty good. A little bit of hail here too, but I don’t think it’s going to be much of an issue. Stands for the most part are pretty good, pretty solid.”
Zemlicka says soybean emergence has been slow due to the wet, cool conditions, and there are a few fields that still need planted.
“People were still working on planting soybeans when we got the recent rain.”
He says recent rain totals ranged from a half inch to as much as four inches in the northeast part of South Dakota; the southern part of the state has been drier.
South Dakota’s corn is rated 61 percent good to excellent, with soybean conditions rated 57 percent good to excellent, according to USDA’s first condition ratings of the season.
RAPID CITY, S.D. (KOTA) – The South Dakota Community Foundation is encouraging nonprofits to apply for funding this June.
Beth Massa and Ginger Niemann joined us live with what you need to know before applying.
Watch the full interview above.
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Copyright 2026 KOTA. All rights reserved.
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