Events

Aug 02

Livestock, horse and competitive art shows, food and commercial vendors, live music and carnival.

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 04

4-H exhibits and competition.

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 05

STEM Discovery Summer Camp for ages 3-5

PRICE PACKAGES
SDDC Member: $49
Partner Organization Member: $53
NonMember: $59

Through our STEM Camps, 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 the camp.

Parents and guardians are responsible for dressing their campers in appropriate clothing, especially for camps that are 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; campers, teachers, families, citizens.

Our teaching framework ensures a high-quality class standard that focuses on lasting effects to help campers 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.

STEAM Discovery Summer Camps utilizes Learning Pathways aligned with our teaching framework that facilitate individual growth of campers in different topics and specialty tracks. 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

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 03

Rodeo, bean bag tournament, food vendors and kids activities.

Aug 04

4-H exhibits and competition.

Aug 01

Make August awesome with our Arcade Special! Visit us August 1st – August 31st to get $5 in bonus cash for FREE when you buy a $20 Arcade Card. Buy online or in person.