Newell, South Dakota-questions

[Kathy]

I know we have some brave members who live in S. Dakota now and some may have lived there in the past. ;D I love S. Dakota but have only been there spring, summer & fall-never had the opportunity in the winter.

Does anyone know anything much about the Newell, S. Dakota area? I know it's north of Spearfish and is mostly prairie land. The town of Newell is small-675 residents but that's about all I know.

Any info, pitfalls or hidden/unreported issues with that area of S. Dakota? Would folks go to Rapid City for their main shopping?

Thanks for any info you can share.

[dlangland]

Until this summer, I always lived east river in South Dakota. Newell is west-river, but I have been to that area several times. I don't think of Newell specifically as a tourist town, but if I am not mistaken that is between 20-30 some miles from several of the real active tourist towns...Deadwood, Sturgis which gets quite wild once each summer when they have the big motorcycle rally and you don't even want to be on the highways most anywhere in the state during that time period if you can help it, Spearfish, Belle Fouche, Lead. I have never gambled, but it seems to me there is a lot of that out there, too. It's beautiful out there, though. I don't honestly know how far it is to Rapid City. Deb ;D

[Deleted]

Newell is exactly 48 miles west of our house. It's where we usually stop for gas! From Newell, it's another 25 miles to Sturgis, then 25 more to Rapid City. So if you went shopping in Rapid City it would be 100 mile round trip. Which is better than 200, which is what we have to drive.

There's not much in Newell except a few gas stations and one really good butcher. Oh, there's probably a little market or something in the "downtown" area, but we usually stay on the main road because that's where the gas station is, on the way Sturgis or Rapid.

Sturgis has a lot more options - restaurants, gas stations, grocery stores, feed stores, plant nursery, doctors, dentists, vets, etc. Sometimes, if we don't need to stock up on some item at Sam's Club, we'll just go to Sturgis. That's where our vet is, too (a very good one!). But like Deb said, you don't want to be anywhere near Sturgis during July and August. We always make sure we have enough food stocked up that we don't have to go shopping those two months. Normally, it takes 5 minutes to drive from one end of Sturgis to the other, but during bike week, I've heard it can take 2 hours or more for the same cross-town journey. And it's not just for a week, either. They start showing up the beginning of July (sometimes earlier than that), and it doesn't really slow down till the end of August. Everyone who has a motorcycle wants to make the trip, but a lot of them don't want to mess with the horrible crush of people during "Bike Week" itself, so they come before or after. It's still pretty crowded.

Did that help?

~Lannie

[Deleted]

Oh, Kathy, I forgot to say, the sign coming in to Newell says: "Welcome to Newell, the Sheep Capital of the World." I don't know about that, but they do have a lot of sheep there, as well as the ever-present cattle.

The land is still technically prairie, but they irrigate in Newell (there's a little river there), so it's mostly green pastures and cornfields. Lots of trees, too, so it's rather pretty.

~Lannie