The South Dakota Chislic Festival is an annual food festival I founded in Freeman, South Dakota. The planning began in May of 2018 and was ultimately executed on July 28, 2018. The project, completed in just under 45 days, exceeded all possible benchmarks with over 8000 attendees in a 6-hour timeframe, and had an additional 1000-2000 people spread across the region at restaurants and pubs due to the massive crowds coming to Freeman that day.

The second was executed on July 27, 2019, to critical acclaim across the region. The Festival has gained traction as a notable rural success story, with a reasonable projection of exceeding a six-figure budget in less than three operating years. This growth has been accomplished in a hyper-rural environment in one of the least populated states in the United States. The event catalyzes heritage, story, and forward-thinking innovation, drawing an average of 10,000 guests to a town of 1300 people.

Year one tabulated an economic impact of a minimum of $110,000 locally. The South Dakota Chislic Festival has been recognized in AAA World's national publication, the American Sheep Industry Association's national magazine, 605 Magazine, and a wide variety of media companies across the United States.

Information on the upcoming South Dakota Chislic Festival can be found here and on their Facebook page!

Additional Press

https://www.yankton.net/community/article_31583e9e-b1b1-11e9-8c47-07d0003262af.html

The Freeman Arts/Earth Center

In 2015, I led, organized, and co-developed the Freeman Arts/Earth Center concept with the late Dr. John Koch. The project was catalyzed by the successful writing, acquiring, and coordination of a $150,000 NEA Our Town grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. From there the project was conceived in collaboration with Boston & Western, the University of Arkansas’ Community Design Center and Center of Agricultural and Rural Sustainability. The project proposed to prepare a community master plan to coordinate connections among existing cultural facilities, proposed commercial agricultural facilities, and allied land uses related to possible new housing and improved public landscapes in which the Arts/Earth Center will serve as an anchor; and the design of a 16,000-20,000 square foot Arts/Earth Center housing a 400-seat theatre and 120-seat recital hall.