Events

Aug 08

Parade, kids’ pedal pull, lawnmower poker run, bean bag tournament, car show, street dance and community church service.

Aug 08

Artists paint on the prairie at historic sites, reception, fiddlers' jamboree, workshops and wet sale.

Free Admission.

Aug 09

Street dance, rodeo, mutton bustin’ and parade.

Aug 02

Join fellow bikers for the annual Sturgis Motorcycle Rally - the largest motorcycle rally in the world!

The vent will include exhibitors, motorcycle shows, scenic rides through State Parks, racing, food and live concerts.

Aug 02

Motorcycle rides and tours, mayor’s ride and vendors.

Aug 10

Tractor pull, flea market, quilts, sawmill, demonstrations, tractor and machinery parades, music and food. Features Oliver Farm Equipment.

Aug 09

Three day festival.

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

Aug 02

Join us as we celebrate Fructus et Flores, the latest experimental film magic of Mercedes Nelson, on Friday, August 3rd from 7 pm-9 pm.

The exhibit runs through Sunday, August 25th.

In the beginning, this series was about experimentation and learning; taking various fruits and flowers and seeing what sort of effects different ones would have on the 35mm film cooked with them. As models came and posed with these fruit and flowers, it began to evolve as a connection was formed between each model and their various materials. The process for pairing models and props became a sort of intuitive ritual and set the mood for the shoot, which became its own form of ceremony. These photos presented here today reflect not only the play and exploration of the chemical discovery, but also a raw connection formed in the moment between artist, model, and organic matter to create a unique and spiritual energy documented on film. Magical things happen when the creation process starts from a place of play and asking “what would happen if..”

Aug 08

Rodeo, chili/rib cook-off, poker run and kids activities.