As renovation efforts at the historic Cultural Heritage Center are underway, their annual history conference will be held at the Ramkota April 21 and 22. The theme for the conference is “Great Faces-Great Places, History Makers in South Dakota.” Dozens of history buffs will take part in seminars featuring a variety of history experts. While conference’s organizers hope to stoke interest in South Dakota history, businesses hope to stoke interest in their products and services.
Jim Protexter, PEDCO’s chief operations officer, explains the benefits of those who may plan on attending the event. "In February, SD Tourism provided a webinar breaking down leisure travel that I believe fits the history conference quite well. Boomers lead the way at 44% of visitors and an average age of 50. I believe that segment is also more inclined to pursue history-related activities. Throughout the year 60% of visitors stay in hotels, but for these wintertime events that percentage would be much greater since campgrounds are out of the picture. Spring accounts for one fourth of travel, so having a conference in that timeframe fills hotel rooms in a normally slower season. Visitors tend to stay about two days, which fits this conference and typical trip duration. Most of the boomer, history-seeking travelers come in pairs and spend $369 as a party," Protexter said.
The report was presented by Sindy Diab, MMGY Global, the world’s largest travel and tourism marketing company. The breakdown on spending has food and beverage leading the way at 27%. Transportation spending follows with 22% and lodging at 17%. "So clearly visitors benefit from the wide range of services and amenities a community can offer. That’s important because the top planning resource visitors use is their past experience. They come back to the Pierre area if they have a good experience, feel safe, meet friendly/helpful people, and see good value for their money, etc. Finally I would add, based on this report, that once visitors arrive, they spend a third of their time devoted to culture – sightseeing, historic sites, museums, art, music and movies. That sure fits into the history conference as well," Protexter said.
State historian Benjamin Jones, who will give the conference’s keynote address, said they hope to drive up membership numbers through the event. “I think the real headliner is Joseph Bottum, who spent part of his childhood here in Pierre and his grandmother lived here all her life,” Jones said. Bottum is an accomplished writer and professor at Dakota State University. He’s going to discuss how one’s moral compass is affected by their community.
Other presenters include Cathleen D. Cahill, an associate professor of History at Penn State University, who will discuss indigenous feminist. “She went east to get educated. She became quite a poet and artist herself,” Jones said.
Kalyn Bergeson, executive director of the Casey Tibbs foundation, will also discuss the preservation of rodeo through Casey Tibbs and Mattie Newcombe. State historical society communications director Kevin Larsen explained how Newcombe was a trailblazer. “She was one of the first female rodeo professionals. She’s from South Dakota but she went out on the national rodeo circuit. She broke bridges getting into that rodeo circuit, cause you think of rodeo as male dominated,” Larsen said.
Registration is open now and can be found at sdhsf.org/historyconference/. The early bird discount is available until March 31.
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