Category: On Our Radar

A comedian, a DJ, jugglers, flow artists, vendors, walk into a bar…

That’s not the setup for a joke. It’s what West River Comedy Club will look like Saturday night when THE DOSE rolls into Rapid City.

THE DOSE, a touring comedy production created by comedian Steven Gillespie, arrives in Rapid City on June 13 with a format that stretches well beyond a traditional stand-up show.

The event blends nationally touring comedians with live DJs, projected visuals, performance artists, and a festival-style atmosphere that begins before the first comic takes the stage.

Gillespie, whose comedy credits include CONAN and Amazon Prime, describes THE DOSE as a psychedelic comedy experience built around the idea of “set and setting” — a phrase often associated with psychedelic culture. Rather than focusing solely on stand-up, the production aims to create an environment where comedy, music, visual art, and audience participation all overlap.

The Rapid City stop will feature Gillespie as host alongside comedian and juggler Nic Dean and DJ N3ilFace. Doors open at 7 p.m., with the pre-show portion becoming an attraction of its own on many tour stops.

That early portion of the evening often includes live music, visual artists, vendors, flow performers, dancers, hoopers, and other festival-style acts. Organizers actively encourage local artists and performers to participate, turning each stop into something shaped partly by the community hosting it.

The concept arrives at a time when comedy audiences are increasingly looking for experiences beyond a comedian standing under a spotlight. Across the country, comedy has been moving into breweries, music venues, festivals, and unconventional spaces. THE DOSE pushes that idea even further by borrowing elements from music festivals, psychedelic art gatherings, and immersive events.

Whether audiences show up for the stand-up, the music, the visuals, or simply curiosity, they’ll find something a little different than the typical Saturday night comedy lineup.

June is Pride Month, and communities across the Black Hills are marking the occasion with a mix of live entertainment, community gatherings, fundraisers, art, and celebrations throughout the month.

Whether you’re looking for a family-friendly event, a night of live music, a drag show, an art exhibit, or simply a place to connect with others, you’ll find Pride events happening across the region all month long.

This guide brings together Pride-related events from around the Black Hills in one place. Check back throughout June as new events are added to the calendar.

Hosting a Pride event that isn’t listed? Submit it to the Black Hills Art Beat calendar so we can help spread the word.

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Now entering its third summer season, BHCT Summer Stage returns June 5–14 with a touring production of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Rather than performing inside a traditional theater, the company will take the show on the road with stops in Hill City and Rapid City, bringing live theater directly into parks, community spaces, and outdoor gathering spots around the region.

Directed by BHCT Artistic Director Merlyn Q. Sell, this year’s production has been specifically designed for touring. A small cast of local performers takes on Shakespeare’s tale of mischievous fairies, confused lovers, and magical mishaps using a streamlined production that can travel from venue to venue throughout the week.

Part of what makes Summer Stage different is the atmosphere. Audiences are encouraged to bring lawn chairs, blankets, and even a picnic dinner. Before each performance, members of BHCT’s Apprentice Company lead theater games and activities for younger audience members, including opportunities to create magical flowers and learn songs that may become part of the evening’s performance.

The production features local performers Anna Auchampach, Brady Jones, Jess Zemlicka, and Apprentice Company members Delanee Dame, Charlotte Grey, Willa Lecy, Leah-Anne Kjerstad, and Vienna Waby. Assistant directors Marissa Fosberg and Charlotte Grey, both former Apprentice Company participants themselves, join Sell’s creative team.

Summer Stage has become a different kind of theater experience than audiences might expect from a night at the Performing Arts Center. There are no rows of fixed seats, no lobby, and no curtain call inside a darkened auditorium. Instead, Shakespeare unfolds in parks, breweries, and community spaces where families can settle onto the grass, children can move around when they need to, and passersby sometimes discover a play simply by wandering into the park.

All performances are free and open to the public. This year’s tour includes stops at Cohort Brewery in Hill City, Robbinsdale Park, Roosevelt Park, the Dahl Arts Center, Raider Park, and the Performing Arts Center.

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The annual fundraiser fills The Custer Beacon on June 6 with live performances, local artists, a vendor fair, raffles, and support for programs serving women and girls.

The event runs from 4:00 to 8:15 p.m. and remains free to attend, with free-will donations encouraged. Proceeds from the evening help fund programs and initiatives that benefit women and girls both locally and through Zonta International.

Throughout the evening, visitors can browse a vendor fair featuring regional artists and community organizations. Wildlife photographer Deb Wallenberg, textile artist Rachel Haynes Pogorelski, stained glass artist Susan Scheirbeck, ceramic artist Emily Spencer, artist Jamie DeNoma, the Black Hills Film Festival, WEAVE, and several other organizations will be represented.

The Black Hills Film Festival will also offer a preview of upcoming films, including the South Dakota premiere of Catching Pinecones, a documentary about Jan and Herb Conn. Festival organizers are also partnering with the Custer Area Arts Council and Crazy Horse Memorial to present a series of Native American films connected to the Native American Tourism Summit.

Live entertainment begins with the Siouxland Youth Chorus, followed by performances from belly dance troupe Sultry Shimmy, South Dakota favorites Gumbo Lilies, The Abbey Leach Band, and Spearfish-based funk and soul group Betty Get Down.

A raffle held throughout the evening features prizes donated by local businesses and supporters, including Crazy Horse Memorial tours, theater tickets, artwork, jewelry, and other items. Winners do not need to be present to claim their prizes.

Food and beverages will be available for purchase through The Custer Beacon during the event.

Crow Peak Brewing is opening its taproom at 10 a.m. on Saturday so people can grab trash bags, drink beermosas, and head out to clean up Spearfish.

What started as conversations about doing something special for South Dakota’s unofficial holiday has grown into the first-ever 605 Music & Community Cleanup Fest, a four-day weekend of live music, local vendors, beer releases, community service, and a few uniquely Spearfish traditions.

Running June 4 through June 7, the festival is built around a simple idea: celebrating the place represented by South Dakota’s lone area code.

“The date June 5th represents the state’s single area code,” organizers said. “605 Day celebrates everything that makes South Dakota so great, the natural beauty, the people, the fun.”

The music lineup stretches across the entire weekend. BitterSweet Duo and Humbletown kick things off Thursday evening, followed by Maddy Ellwanger and Tommy Voorhis on Friday, along with Orion and Stacey Potter. Saturday features Andy Babb and Lara Elle, Ryan Little Eagle, and The Spine Stealers before the weekend wraps up Sunday with an open mic and mallory wilde taking the stage.

Eight local vendors will set up during Saturday’s market, bringing together artists, makers, and small businesses from Spearfish and across the Black Hills.

There will also be a silent auction featuring donated goods from local businesses, including pottery, coffee, honey, gift baskets, and other locally made items. Proceeds from the auction will benefit Beautify Spearfish.

One auction item carries a little extra history.

For years, the Funk Mug has sat inside Crow Peak’s taproom. Handmade by local potter Shawn Funk, the stein has become part of the brewery’s story. Organizers describe it as a symbol of the friendships, conversations, and pints shared over the years. During the festival, the mug will be auctioned off and sent home with a new owner.

Rather than assigning volunteers to specific locations, Crow Peak is encouraging people to clean wherever they feel inspired. Participants can stop by the taproom at 10 a.m. to pick up gloves and trash bags, then head out on foot, by bike, or by car to tackle their favorite corner of Spearfish.

There is no route, no finish line, and no clock, just bring back a full trash bag and Crow Peak will hand over a free pint.

The brewery will also open early Saturday morning, serving mimosas, beermosas, and tamales from Kaylani’s Garden before volunteers head out across town.

Throughout the weekend, Crow Peak will be pouring several seasonal releases, including Blueberry Lemon Wheat and Peachberry Blonde, while introducing a new lineup of wine slushies.

It’s the first year for the festival, but organizers already have their eye on the future.

If enough people show up for the music, the cleanup, the vendors, and the community photo on Friday evening, there’s a good chance the 605 Music & Community Cleanup Fest won’t just be a one-time celebration of South Dakota’s area code.

Opening this weekend

Catalyst Theater Company opens its run of Poor Clare on May 29, kicking off performances that continue through June 20. Written by Chiara Atik, the play follows an 18-year-old Clare of Assisi as she begins questioning the systems of wealth, faith, and power surrounding her in 1211 Italy. The script mixes medieval history with modern language and sharp humor, giving the story a contemporary rhythm without losing its historical setting.

The opening weekend includes Friday night’s opening performance, a pay-what-you-can show Saturday night, and a Sunday matinee. Later performances will also include optional “table work” discussions on June 6 and 14, where audiences can stay after the show to talk through the play and its themes.

One Night Only

Black Hills Community Theatre continues its Discovery Series with Stalag 17, a staged reading, running for one night only on Friday, May 29 in the Studio Theater at the Performing Arts Center.

Directed by Merlyn Q. Sell, and featuring 19 local male actors the play drops audiences inside a German prisoner-of-war camp during World War II, where tensions rise after the prisoners realize someone among them may be feeding information to the enemy. Unlike Poor Clare, there won’t be another chance to catch this production after Friday night’s performance.

Coming Soon

BHP Theater 605 (Black Hills Play House) opens its 2026 season of The Complete History of America (abridged) June 7. Written by Adam Long, Reed Martin, and Austin Tichenor, the comedy races through 600 years of American history in 90 minutes, bouncing from the Bering Strait to Watergate with the kind of chaotic pace the title promises. The production runs through June 21.

Summer Kick-Off Weekend at the Termesphere Gallery

Summer hours officially begin Friday at the Termesphere Gallery, where more than 50 rotating Termespheres hang inside the dome just outside Spearfish. The gallery will be open May 22 through 24 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., with free admission all weekend.

Each sphere is painted by Dick Termes using six-point perspective, turning every piece into a full environment rather than a single framed image. Visitors move through architectural interiors, surreal spaces, geometric experiments, and impossible viewpoints while the paintings slowly rotate overhead.

The gallery is also continuing its virtual reality experience this season, giving visitors the chance to step inside the paintings themselves.

Grand Opening for Face The Storm

Hill City’s 150th anniversary weekend will also include the grand opening celebration for Face The Storm on Saturday from 12:30 to 2:30 p.m.

The opening will feature performances by Robi Yellowhawk and family, followed by flute music from Sequoia Crosswhite. The event adds another creative space to Hill City’s already growing mix of galleries, studios, and artist-run storefronts.

LAND / BODY Opening Reception at Art House – Hot Springs

Saturday evening, Art House in Hot Springs hosts the opening reception for LAND / BODY, this year’s Spring Exhibition, from 5 to 7 p.m.

The exhibition runs through July 8 and brings together artists responding to ideas connected to landscape, physical presence, memory, and environment. Saturday’s reception includes light fare and a wine bar, along with a chance to meet the artists while the show is still fresh on the walls.

Other Exhibits Worth Catching Right Now

Not every worthwhile gallery stop comes with an opening reception attached to it.

Anastasia Smith

Work from Anastasia Smith is still hanging inside Aby’s followinga grand dance-heavy opening reception that mixed live drumming, figure drawing, watercolor activities, belly dance performances, and improvised music into one long community art hangout.

Dahl Arts Center

Several exhibitions are currently running simultaneously at the Dahl:

• BHSU Art Majors Senior Exhibition
  Works from graduating Black Hills State University art students across painting, sculpture, ceramics, photography, printmaking, and mixed media.
• Take Me To Your Moon: Journeys into the World of Dementia by Yoko Sugawara
  A deeply personal ceramic series exploring memory loss and dementia through sculptural forms inspired by lunar surfaces and shifting mental landscapes.
• Best of the West High School Student Exhibition
  Regional student work spanning painting, photography, collage, sculpture, ceramics, and traditional arts.

Looking Ahead

Next weekend, the Suzie Cappa Art Center hosts its Spring Open House on May 28 from 4 to 8 p.m., adding another stop to what is turning into a very full stretch of gallery season across the Hills.

By Saturday evening, somebody could realistically start the day standing underneath rotating spheres in Spearfish, hear flute music in Hill City by lunch, and end the night drinking wine beside fresh paint in Hot Springs.

Lynn Hill’s appearance at the Elks Theatre brings one of the most important figures in climbing history to a region with deep roots of its own.

On May 10, one of the biggest names the climbing world has ever produced is coming to Rapid City.

Elks Theatre will host an evening presentation with Lynn Hill at 6:30 p.m. on Mother’s Day weekend. The event is built around a live talk from Hill, whose climbing career changed the sport in the late 1980s and early 1990s and still carries weight with climbers around the world.

Even people outside climbing circles have probably seen images of El Capitan in Yosemite National Park. The massive granite wall rises nearly 3,000 feet above the valley floor and contains one of the most famous climbing routes in the world: The Nose.

For years, climbers treated a full free climb of The Nose as unrealistic. Then in 1993, Hill became the first person to do it… Not the first woman. The first climber, EVER.

A year later, she returned and climbed it again in under 24 hours.

Her career stretches well beyond Yosemite. Hill dominated competition climbing through the late ’80s and early ’90s, winning international titles at a time when modern climbing gyms barely existed and most training happened outside on actual rock. She became known for climbing that relied less on brute strength and more on balance, efficiency, footwork, and composure under pressure.

The evening at the Elks is expected to focus on Hill’s climbing career, stories from Yosemite and the international climbing world, and the evolution of climbing culture over the last several decades. For longtime climbers, there is obvious nostalgia tied to that era. For newer audiences, especially younger climbers who came into the sport through gyms and competitions, it is a chance to hear directly from someone who helped shape modern climbing before most of that infrastructure existed.

And for people who have never touched a climbing rope, the event still works as a rare live appearance from someone whose accomplishments crossed over into broader sports history.

The timing also gives the night a slightly different atmosphere than a standard climbing lecture. Organizers are positioning the presentation as part of Mother’s Day weekend, widening the audience beyond core climbing circles and turning it into more of a shared night out than a niche industry event.

For newer climbers, it is a chance to hear from one of the people who shaped the sport. For older climbers, it is probably a name they have been hearing for decades. The Black Hills has always understood climbing a little differently than most places. Lynn Hill walking onto the Elks stage on May 10 is part of that story now too.