NEW YORK CITY GETS TASTE OF CHISLIC
Opportunity through Travel South Dakota takes representatives from the South Dakota Chislic Festival to media blitz in Manhatten
The Big Apple recently took a bite out of one of South Dakota’s most recognizable foods — chislic — as Travel South Dakota attended a media blitz on a rooftop venue in the SoHo district of Lower Manhattan, New York City the second week of April.
Those representing chislic — and Freeman’s South Dakota Chislic Festival (SDCF) — were SDCF Board President Andrea Baer and vice-president Abby Streyle.
The Courier invited Baer to share her thoughts on the event and the opportunity to share information about the state’s unique lamb-on-a-stick tradition found almost exclusively in southeastern South Dakota — Freeman and Menno, specifically.
The sixth annual SDCF will be held all day Saturday, July 27.
From Andrea
This past fall, the South Dakota Chislic Festival received a message from a national media group inviting us to participate in a media blitz designed to promote travel in South Dakota. At first I thought it was a spam email, but did a little research and learned the event was being organized by Travel South Dakota. After discussing the opportunity with our board of directors, it was decided that this would be a great way to promote the South Dakota Chislic Festival. The next several months were spent working with event organizers to coordinate sourcing lamb in NYC, what our display would look like, and how to get those items to NYC, as well as media briefings and coaching on how to speak with heavy hitters in the media industry.
South Dakota Chislic Festival board members Andrea Baer (president) and Abby Streyle (vice president) traveled to NYC on Monday, April 8 and spent the evening setting up our display on the rooftop of a beautiful venue in SoHo along with CH Patisserie, Contraband Distillery, Crazy Horse Memorial, Fernson Brewery, Fleurish Flower Farms, The Ingalls Homestead, Lakota Music Project, Pheasant Restaurant & Lounge, Prairie Edge, Skogen Kitchen, Sonja Gloria Pottery and Sturgis Buffalo Chip, as well as representatives from Travel South Dakota. Each participant at the event had a unique story to tell about the history of their business or organization and its history in South Dakota.
Tuesday through Thursday from mid-morning until around 8 p.m. was spent speaking with dozens of social influencers, producers and writers from both television and print media. Attendees loved sampling the chislic and hearing the story of how the SDCF began. There was a lot of interest on how uniquely social the tradition of chislic is in our community and we were very surprised at the number of people that had already heard of the SDCF! An editor from a very large national publication that is known for producing stories featuring “The Ten Best” lists informed us that we had already been nominated for their next edition of “Ten Best Festivals to Visit!”
Friday we headed back to South Dakota with a new appreciation for our small towns, and lifelong memories of the big city. With a jam-packed schedule there was very little time for sightseeing, but we did have the opportunity to visit the 9/11 memorial before catching our flight home on Friday.
The best part of the experience was sharing the story of what we are so passionate about here in The Chislic Circle, the history and heritage of chislic, and seeing the reactions of those who were tasting chislic for the first time. As we told the story of the first South Dakota Chislic Festival, and how we have grown since, there was always a look of shock and amazement that a small town in South Dakota can put together such a successful event that draws visitors from all over the United States. Our hope is that our time spent at this event will help benefit rural tourism in the region, the South Dakota Chislic Festival and interest in attending festivals throughout South Dakota.
