Events

Jul 31

Demolition derby, rodeo, kids’ activities and food.

Aug 01

Pancake breakfast, 4-H livestock shows, music, tractor pull, pie contest, fashion revue and royalty contest.

Aug 01

Black Hills Playhouse production.

Mar 23

For over 600 years, stringed keyboard instruments have served as repositories for human imagination, science, technology, craft, artistry, and music. They are admired for their stature – and oftentimes stunning beauty – alongside their ability to play both melody and harmony. Keyboard innovation has continuously expanded throughout the world, throughout time.



Opening in March 2024, the special exhibition “High Strung: Five Centuries of Stringed Keyboard Instruments” will explore the form, function and development of keyboard instruments from early harpsichords to the modern piano. The special exhibition brings together nearly 20 keyboard instruments from the NMM’s collections - some of which have never before been on exhibit.



Instruments that will be on display include:


• An octave virginal (NMM 4660), from the same workshop as the NMM’s Neapolitan harpsichord, c.1530 (NMM 14408)

• A highly decorated harpsichord by Andreas Ruckers, 1643 (NMM 10000)

• Harpsichord by Nicolas Dufour, 1683 (NMM 5943, pictured below), made in Paris in a native style that fell from popularity by the first decade of the 18th century

• French grand piano, Clavecin à marteaux, (harpsichord with hammers) by Louis Bas (NMM 4653) from 1781. This instrument, the earliest surviving French grand piano, is exceptional, retaining much of its original action parts

• Downward-striking piano by Nanette Streicher und Sohn (NMM 10298), and a small trapezoid hammer instrument by Gottfried Maucher (NMM 4570) – an example of a lesser-known instrument type, similar to the tangentenflugel by Späth and Schmahl, built c.1784 (NMM 4145), which was once a favorite instrument type of Mozart

• Grand piano by Erard (NMM 5984) and Chickering & Sons (NMM 5413), built at a time in which America led the way in piano technology, not only with grand pianos, but also with the large ”square” pianos by makers such as William Knabe & Company (NMM 14447)



“High Strung: Five Centuries of Stringed Keyboard Instruments” will open to the public on March 23, 2024 in the NMM’s Jason & Betsy Groves Special Exhibition Gallery. It will remain open through the calendar year. Support for the exhibition is provided by generous grants from the Clayton and Odessa Lang Ofstad Foundation and the City of Vermillion, SD.

Fee: $Included with Museum Admission

Jul 29

STEM Discovery Summer Camps for grades K-5

PRICE PACKAGES
SDDC Member: $79
Partner Organization Member: $89
NonMember: $99

Our campers EXPLORE with professional educators that EDUCATE using the hands-on SDDC Learning Pathways curriculum to EMPOWER a confident, curious science identity that prepares young people for the future.

The STEM Discovery Summer Camps provide an experience beyond an at-home Pinterest activity and get campers ready for a possible science career!

PLEASE NOTE:
Campers must check-in and out at the front desk and must be picked up within 15 minutes of the end of camp. A SDDC employee will open doors 15 minutes prior to the start of each camp day and all payments must be made in full prior to the start of camp.

Parents and guardians are responsible for dressing their student in appropriate clothing for being outside, including close-toed shoes, and applying their camper’s first round of sunscreen.

If a camp has fewer than 6 campers registered by noon on the Friday before the camp starts, it will be canceled (you will receive notification and a full refund).

Camp materials are provided by the South Dakota Discovery Center out of program fees and donations. Become a supporter today!

Our Teaching Framework: The Learning Pathways

All SD Discovery Center programs deliver fun, hands-on exploration that builds passion for and knowledge of science across generations; students, teachers, families, citizens.

Our teaching framework ensures a high-quality class standard that focuses on lasting effects to help students find their path and hone their talents beyond school while developing college and/or career readiness skills (collaboration, creativity, communication and critical thinking) to grow a STEM workforce for South Dakota.

STEM Discovery Summer Camps utilizes Learning Pathways aligned with our teaching framework that facilitate individual growth of students in different topics and specialty tracks. Classes are available from ages PreK through 8th grade, and real-world applications (such as leadership and volunteer opportunities, internships or citizen science projects) for high schoolers.

Our camps are divided into the following age levels:
Seedlings (PreK)
Sprouts (K-2nd grade)
Shoots (3-5th grade)
Saplings (6-8th grade)
Canopy (9th-12th grade interns & SDDC Educators)

Camps are offered in specialty tracks for every age level with specific camp availability rotating on a three-year cycle, allowing for age-appropriate lessons that build upon each other. Our campers can become experts in a real STEM field by taking a different class within a specialty every year.

Our Learning pathways tracks and specialties are:
EXPLORE: Naturalist, Storytelling, Environment
SCIENCE: Life Science, Physical Science, Space Science
TECH: Engineering, Coding, Entertainment
HEALTH: Fitness, Cooking, Gardening

Fee: $79 members

Jul 08

Member Price: $468
Nonmember Price: $562


Our Little Explorers Nature Preschool is South Dakota’s first fully outdoor education program based on Montessori principles that children learn best when they are given the freedom to move, to choose their own work, and follow their interests, operating within boundaries that include respect for themselves, others, and the environment.

Little Explorers Nature Preschool students learn from their environment through guided adventure and build skills with independent hands-on learning. Using Montessori methods, our teachers, with the help of local community guides, develop students’ exploration skills and their understanding of STEM concepts.

Session 2 is for students ages 4-5 and runs July 8-August 1, every Monday-Thursday from 8:00am to 12:00pm. Dropoff occurs within 15 minutes prior class and pickup within 15 minutes after the end of class.

Parents or guardians are responsible for dressing their student in appropriate clothing for being outside, including close-toed shoes, and applying their student’s first round of sunscreen. Session 2 students and their caretaker/s are expected to attend the Little Explorers Welcome on Tuesday, July 2, 2024, from 5:30-6:30pm at the South Dakota Discovery Center Launchpad, 300 East Capitol Avenue.

Payment plans available, please send inquries to info@sd-discovery.org.
Class materials are provided by the South Dakota Discovery Center out of program fees and donations. Shelter from inclement weather is made possible through a partnership with the Izaak Walton League and use of the Pierre Native Plant Arboretum and Nature Area is made possible through a partnership with the City of Pierre. Become a supporter today!

Fee: $468 members

Jul 28

4-H exhibits and competition.

Jul 29

Livestock showings, sheepdog trials, running ducks, flower show, movie night, talent show, youth rodeo, and live music.

Aug 01

Rodeos, music and food.

Jul 08

Our Little Explorers Nature Preschool is South Dakota’s first fully outdoor education program based on Montessori principles that children learn best when they are given the freedom to move, to choose their own work, and follow their interests, operating within boundaries that include respect for themselves, others, and the environment.

Fee: $Member Price: $468