Two Hill City events coincide to bring visitors to local businesses

RAPID CITY, S.D. (KOTA) – You wouldn’t expect to see a couple hundred people out and about on a snowy Saturday morning in a small town in the Black Hills. This was the scene in Hill City, where two events occurring at the same time drew quite the crowd.

One of these events was the Tour de Chocolate, sponsored by Turtle Town, a local chocolate and candy store. The rules for this event were simple: local businesses would provide free chocolate treats for whoever stopped by during the event. Restaurants, hotels, clothing stores, and even gas stations participated. Many people were seen hopping from store to store, enjoying a variety of sweets.

“We love doing it, we love giving back to those who come see us all year long,” said April Purdie, Turtle Town’s general manager. “This is one of our ways that we can really do that and treat them to chocolates.”

The other event was the Polar Bear Chili Cookoff, hosted by the Tin City Masonic Lodge. This event featured around twenty teams of chili cooks competing for cash prizes, with some of the proceeds going towards community service and development goals through the Masons.

“It means a lot, actually,” remarked Ranae Schrier, a Hill City local and contestant in the cookoff. “The Masons… they do a lot of community service and giving back to our community.”

Both Purdie and Harold Ireland, a Mason organizing the cookoff, spoke on how they loved having these events at the same time. Each mentioned that individual events drew individual crowds, but most people ended up partaking in both events – helping the tour and the cookoff each in reaching their goals.

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