SD CHISLIC FESTIVAL RETURNS SATURDAY

Day full of activities begins at 10 a.m.; 2025 will be the last year as an annual event as festival moves to every-other-year format

Chislic: a dish made popular primarily in Hutchinson County derived from the Turkic word shashlik, or shashlik, which means ‘skewered meats,’ and traditionally served using mutton or lamb, and often with crackers and beer. It was introduced locally following the Germans-from-Russia immigration from Crimea in the 1870s.

JEREMY WALTNER – PUBLISHER

One of the state’s more obscure culinary stars will again take center stage when the South Dakota Chislic Festival (SDCF) returns to Freeman this week. The event that celebrates the official state nosh will take place Saturday, July 26 from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. at the Freeman Prairie Arboretum — the 40-acre vista located on the southwest corner of the community.

Live music and a beer tent will help anchor the daylong festivities, with chislic and other fair-like food served from start to finish. A “kid zone” at Heritage Hall Museum & Archives will lend itself to families with young children, presentations about the history of chislic will cater to the curious-minded, and an estimated 300 volunteers will help with setup, day-of activities, and teardown.

“We’re ready,” said Andrea Baer, president of the six-member SDCF Board of Directors. “Every year around this time we’re all in panic mode trying to make sure everything is in place, but it’s all fallen in line, and we are very excited.”

While this year’s festival will look and feel very much like festivals of the past, it comes on the heels of a major announcement — that this is the last year it will be an annual event.

Starting in 2027, the SDCF will become a biennial event, a move that organizers say will help them curate an even better experience for the thousands of guests who attend.

“So we’ve taken the feedback we’ve gotten from the last several years, and there are a lot of great ideas,” Baer told The Courier. “However, with a limited amount of time each year, it’s tough to make those adjustments and to make those additions.”

Baer said the board spent several months exploring the future of the festival before deciding that an every-other-year format “would be the best way to facilitate making changes and allowing the necessary time to execute them very well.”

Baer said expanding the frisbee golf tournament and lining up bigger bands and additional entertainment are examples of how organizers hope to grow the festival.

“Those things are booked out quite aways, and take more preplanning,” she said. “I have probably 20 pages in a notebook filled with ideas of how we can make those improvements, but it takes a little time.”

Baer also said the board looked at other festivals that are similar to the SDCF across the United States — including the Sioux Falls Airshow, which is held every three years — “and we realized that, to really get the quality, you need to book out that far.”

“We just want everybody to have the best experience possible.”

Coming up Saturday …

As has been the case since the SDCF debuted in 2018 and was overwhelmed by an estimated 8,000 guests — that came less than six months after the South Dakota Legislature named chislic the official state nosh — there will be something for everybody this weekend. Here’s a closer look.

• The Freeman Lions Club will kick things off the night before the festival with a barbecue inside the Freeman Community Center. Pork loin sandwiches, baked beans, coleslaw, chips, a drink and dessert will be available for dine-in or takeout from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. the evening of July 25.
• On Saturday morning at 8 a.m., Freeman Regional Health Services (FRHS) will again host a Mutton Run featuring both a 5K and 1-mile run/walk. The fundraiser for the facility will begin in front of FRHS Assisted Living — formerly known as the Salem Home — and end on the grounds of the Prairie Arboretum. Preregistration is highly encouraged by visiting givebutter.com/muttonrun25.
• The Festival Family Zone will be open from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. inside Heritage Hall Museum & Archives (HHM&A) located just north of the festival grounds. This is a change from previous years, when the children’s activities were held on the west side of the arboretum. “The heat always tends to be a problem,” Baer said. “So we were looking for an alternative that was more practical with the weather we often experience at the end of July, so with the museum being right next door, that was the logical place to go, and they are very excited to take that on. It has become a beautiful partnership.” Read more about what HHM&A has in store for July 26 on page 6A.
• A bean bag tournament is being organized and hosted by Tegan’s Light, a mental health advocacy and suicide awareness organized named for Tegan Titze, a 15-year-old from Mitchell who passed away on Feb. 28, 2024. Preregistration is required by signing up at teganslight.org. Other yard games, including disc golf, will be available starting at 10 a.m.
• The Freeman Senior Citizens will host bingo from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.
• Four history presentations will be offered throughout the day: SDCF board member Ian Tuttle and HHM&A Executive Director Marnette D. Hofer will offer “From Ukraine With Love: The History of Chislic” at 11 a.m. and 3 p.m., and Tuttle will present “Chislic Food on the Frontier” at 1 p.m. and 5 p.m.
• Four live music acts will take the stage at the Prairie Rose Amphitheater at 10:30 a.m., 1 p.m., 3:30 p.m. and 6 p.m. Two of those are local; Freeman native Elliot Graber will play at 3:30 p.m. and Dawson Brooks Sayler out of Menno will close things out starting at 6 p.m.
• The Menno Volunteer Fire Department is once again manning the beer tent and will be slinging malt beverages for tips, and Marion FFA and Marion FCCLA will help with parking. Three lots have been designated for that: one east of the baseball/softball field complex on the northeast corner of Freeman and two along Cedar Street, which runs north and south along the western edge of town.
• The 2025 SDCF is being presented by Merchants State Bank with gold sponsorship support from CorTrust Bank.

Silver sponsors are Freeman Dental Center, Helena Agri-Enterprises, C&B Operations, Waltner Media, Silver Lake Association, Hootz, Beer Garden and Glanzer Pro Audio.