On Our Radar is our editorial watchlist. These are the shows, exhibits, performances, and events that have caught our attention for one reason or another. Sometimes it’s the lineup. Sometimes it’s the venue. Sometimes it’s just a feeling that something special is about to happen. This is where we highlight what we’re excited about and why we think it’s worth your time.
Rapid City’s First Annual Punk Rock Garage Sale is this Weekend.
A few weeks ago, Jason Beert was hoping he could fill 20 tables for Rapid City’s first Punk Rock Garage Sale. Heading into this weekend, nearly all of them are spoken for, many for both days.
That means it’s time for the rest of us to go shopping.
The Punk Rock Garage Sale & Record Swap takes over the AFL-CIO Labor Temple Saturday and Sunday, Aug. 29 and 30, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Both days will bring a room full of people unloading records, CDs, clothes, band merch, collectibles and whatever other interesting things have been hiding in closets, garages and basements around the Black Hills.
And no, it doesn’t all have to be punk rock.
When we first wrote about the event, Beert was intentionally keeping his first attempt small: 20 tables, recorded music instead of live bands and a simple idea borrowed from punk rock flea markets and garage sales held elsewhere around the country. Fill a room with people selling their stuff, give everyone an excuse to dig through it, and use the proceeds to help support the Friday Meals served at Memorial Park.
The sellers appear to have done their part.
Now we’re curious to see what ends up on those tables.
If you’ve ever lost an hour flipping through a crate of records, can’t walk past a rack of old T-shirts without looking, or are the kind of person who wants to know what’s inside every weird cardboard box at a garage sale, set aside some time this weekend.
This is also the first year for the Punk Rock Garage Sale. Small local events don’t get much more grassroots than somebody renting a room, finding 20 people willing to fill it and seeing who walks through the door.
Punk Rock Garage Sale & Record Swap Saturday & Sunday, Aug. 29–30 9 a.m.–3 p.m. AFL-CIO Labor Temple 922 E. St. Patrick St., Rapid City
The event benefits the Friday Meals served at Memorial Park.To Reserve a Table: Email lotdradiokteq@gmail.com (Subject: PR Garage Sale) or message Left of the Dial Radio on Facebook.
What: Punk Rock Garage Sale & Record Swap
When: Saturday & Sunday, Aug. 29-30, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Where: AFL-CIO Labor Temple, 922 E. St. Patrick St., Rapid City
Benefit: Friday Meals served at Memorial Park
Vendor Tables: $20 for one day or $30 for both days
The Canyon Acoustic Series Has One More Night in It
The Canyon Acoustic Series closes its 2026 season Aug. 26 with three returning bands, one free show and a shared route toward Montana.
Spread the Tunes started the Canyon Acoustic Series in 2015 with two goals: bring more live music to Spearfish and raise money for the D.C. Booth Historic National Fish Hatchery and Archives. The Spearfish nonprofit is run entirely by volunteers and organizes music events to support local organizations.
“We want people to see music that isn’t around here and see something new and different every time,” Kliewer said.
That approach carried the 2026 park series through eight Wednesday concerts beginning June 10. The lineup included Taylor Scott Band, Humbletown, Jenny Don’t and the Spurs, Hot Dawg, Earl Nelson & The Company, Deltaphonic, North Fork Crossing and Joseph Huber Band.
The concerts remain free and family-friendly. Tips and proceeds from Crow Peak Brewing Company beer sales support D.C. Booth, while a weekly 50/50 drawing raises money for a different nonprofit. Eight additional organizations received a Wednesday in the park this summer.
Kliewer said the connection to D.C. Booth is personal for the group.
“We’ve been enjoying the fish hatchery our whole lives,” he said. “It’s such a huge part of Spearfish and something we want to see people enjoy for our lifetimes.”
The other nonprofit partners are selected during Spread the Tunes meetings. Members bring forward organizations they know and believe in, and the group chooses eight for the summer.
That structure gives each concert two beneficiaries. D.C. Booth receives support throughout the series, while the 50/50 drawings spread additional money and attention among organizations working across the Northern Hills.
Building the Lineup Around the Road
Booking the Canyon Acoustic Series begins long before the first lawn chairs arrive at the bandshell.
By the time Spread the Tunes starts planning a season, Kliewer said agents and bands have often reached out to ask about an open Wednesday. The organizers listen to the music before making any offers.
“We don’t book bands unless it’s something we like,” he said.
Spearfish’s location also shapes who can appear. Bands traveling between Colorado, Minnesota, Wyoming and Montana can use a Wednesday performance as a stop between larger weekend dates. That routing can bring musicians into town who might otherwise pass the Northern Hills without playing a show.
Spread the Tunes members also attend the Blue Ox Music Festival in Wisconsin, where they discover bands they may later invite to Spearfish. Other bookings grow from direct outreach, recommendations and relationships formed during previous performances.
Over time, some of those professional connections have become friendships. Kliewer said bands now call the group when they are passing through the area, sometimes even during personal trips. Several acts return to the Canyon Acoustic Series because they know the organizers, enjoy playing Spearfish and appreciate that the concerts raise money for local organizations.
The same routing that brings bands into town can also pull them away. A booking may look solid during early planning, only to fall apart when the rest of a tour changes.
Kliewer said audiences rarely see the meetings, messages and restarts behind each summer. This year, Spread the Tunes believed it had several bands booked before changing tour plans forced the organizers to begin again. In other cases, a routing conflict delayed a band’s Spearfish appearance by an entire year.
A New Stage for the Series
The physical setting has changed along with the series.
The former McClung Memorial Theater was built in the 1960s. By the time plans for its replacement developed, the foundation was sinking, the concrete was cracking, the wiring was outdated and the stage did not meet Americans with Disabilities Act standards.
Spread the Tunes spent years fundraising and working with the City of Spearfish on a replacement. The new McClung Bandshell was completed in 2025 through a partnership between the organization and the city.
The Canyon Acoustic Series now fills the lawn in front of a stage Spread the Tunes helped bring into existence. The work behind the series is visible before a band plays its first note.
Three Bands Find the Same Wednesday
Armchair Boogie, High Country Hustle and Front Porch were all headed to Creekside Revival at Pine Creek Lodge in Livingston, Montana. Each band had played for Spread the Tunes before, and each contacted the organization about another Spearfish show.
“All three bands hit us up to play, so we called it an encore,” Kliewer said. “People can expect three amazing bands who all love Spearfish and like what we do at Spread the Tunes.”
The resulting Canyon Acoustic Encore brings all three bands to Crow Peak Brewing Company on Wednesday, Aug. 26.
From Arkansas with clawhammer banjo, mandolin, guitar and fiddle at the center of a sound that pulls from bluegrass, old-time music, jazz and post-punk. Each member contributed songs to the quartet’s second album, Toolbox, allowing one track to lean traditional while the next takes a darker or more experimental turn. The band has also shared stages with Béla Fleck, Sierra Hull, the Infamous Stringdusters and Del McCoury.
A four-piece bluegrass band from Durango, Colorado. Guitar, mandolin, fiddle and bass give the group a traditional acoustic frame, but its music also draws from modern jamgrass and classic Western sounds. The band released its third album, New Old Roads, in 2026, leaning further into hook-driven melodies, powerful solos and the energy of its festival sets.
A Wisconsin quartet that pairs Augie Dougherty’s banjo and Ben Majeska’s acoustic and electric guitars with Eli Frieders’ electric bass and Denzel Connor’s drums. That lineup allows the group to move between fast bluegrass picking, funk grooves and country. Its Live at Pine Creek Lodge recording captures the longer jams and improvisation audiences can expect from the band, recorded at the same Montana venue hosting Creekside Revival.
For a free Wednesday show in Spearfish, it is an unusually deep bill. The three bands will appear at Creekside Revival between Aug. 28 and 30, but Northern Hills listeners can hear all of them in one evening without driving to Montana or buying a festival ticket.
Spread the Tunes will continue booking when the right opportunity comes along. Arkansauce is scheduled to play Spearfish Public House on Sept. 2 after returning from Creekside Revival. This winter, Spread the Tunes also plans to bring JAM-uary back to The Matthews Opera House on Fridays in January.
“If a band we think will be fun hits us up to play and we can make it happen, we will,” Kliewer said.
On Aug. 26, three of those bands will take turns on the Crow Peak stage before continuing north toward Livingston.
Rapid City’s First Annual Punk Rock Garage Sale Is Looking for Vendors
If you’ve got a stack of records you’ve outgrown, a closet full of band shirts, or boxes in the garage you’ve been meaning to sort through, Left of the Dial Radio has an idea for you.
On Aug. 29 and 30, the AFL-CIO Labor Temple in Rapid City will host the first Punk Rock Garage Sale & Record Swap, a two-day fundraiser benefiting the Friday Meals served at Memorial Park. Right now, organizers aren’t looking for shoppers as much as they’re looking for sellers.
Punk rock garage sales have become a familiar sight in cities across the country, blending record swaps, garage sales, vintage shopping and DIY marketplaces into one event. The “punk” isn’t about what you have to sell. It’s about creating something yourself, bringing people together, and supporting your local community.
That means just about anything is fair game. Vinyl records, CDs, cassettes and band merchandise are welcome, but so are vintage clothes, books, collectibles, household items, tools, games, old electronics and the boxes you’ve been promising yourself you’ll clean out someday.
Organizer Jason Beert is intentionally keeping the first year simple. The Labor Temple has room for just 20 vendor tables, giving the event a neighborhood feel while raising money for a good cause. If the idea catches on, there’s plenty of room for it to grow in the years ahead.
Tables are $20 for one day or $30 for the full weekend, with reservations required by Aug. 23. Businesses interested in sponsoring the event are also encouraged to reach out.
The garage sale and record swap will run from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. both Saturday and Sunday. Beert plans to keep music playing throughout the weekend, and he’s also exploring the possibility of bringing in local food vendors to round out the experience.
Classic cars, free concerts and a full weekend of events take over Deadwood through Sunday, Aug. 23
Classic cars built in 1973 and earlier are rolling into Deadwood this week for the 32nd annual Kool Deadwood Nites. The six-day gathering began Tuesday and continues through Sunday, Aug. 23, with car shows, live music, poker runs, an auction and a parade through Deadwood, Central City and Lead.
Thursday’s schedule includes driving poker runs from noon to 5 p.m., People’s Choice voting from 4 to 9 p.m. and the opening day of the Classic Car Auction at Deadwood Mountain Grand. Million Dollar Reunion will play the free 19th Annual Sock Hop on the Main Street stage at 8 p.m.
The auction continues at 9 a.m. Friday and Saturday. Friday also brings the 18th Annual Rod Run from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., followed by three free concerts on the Main Street stage. Stereo Trip begins at 5 p.m., Play Some Petty takes the stage at 6 p.m. and Hotel California closes the night at 8 p.m.
Saturday begins with classic-car judging at the Days of ’76 Event Complex from 7 a.m. to noon. Two walking poker runs will be held from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., with awards presented on the Main Street stage at 5 p.m.
Saturday’s free concert lineup includes Hot City Soul at 5 p.m., The Box Tops at 6 p.m. and FJ Tribute, featuring the music of Foreigner, Journey and other classic-rock acts, at 8 p.m.
Mr. Wu’s will also host free afternoon and evening concerts through Saturday, including The Long Run on Thursday, Thunderstruck on Friday and Long Live Rock on Saturday.
The weekend closes Sunday with the Kool Deadwood Nites parade. Lineup begins at 7 a.m. at the rodeo grounds and Ferguson Field, with the parade starting at 9 a.m. The route travels through Deadwood before continuing into Central City and Lead.
A final Show and Shine will take over Main Street immediately after the parade and continue until 2 p.m. Awards will be presented at 11 a.m. in the History and Information Center parking lot.
Free parking shuttles will operate Thursday through Saturday. Service from Cedar Rose Spa to the Deadwood Welcome Center runs from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Shuttles from Lead-Deadwood High School and the Sanford Lab Homestake Visitor Center to the Deadwood Fire Station run from 2 p.m. to 3 a.m.
Vehicle registration remains available at the Deadwood Welcome Center. Participating vehicles must be from 1973 or earlier, but the concerts and public viewing areas are free to attend.
Schedules are subject to change. The complete schedule and registration information are available at Deadwood.com.
Dates: Kool Deadwood Nites continues through Sunday, Aug. 23.
Admission: The Main Street concerts, parade and public car-viewing areas are free.
Vehicle registration: Participating vehicles must be from 1973 or earlier. Walk-up registration is available at the Deadwood Welcome Center.
Parking and shuttles: Free shuttles run Thursday through Saturday from Cedar Rose Spa, Lead-Deadwood High School and the Sanford Lab Homestake Visitor Center. No trailer parking is available at the shuttle sites.
Sunday parade: The parade begins at 9 a.m. and travels through Deadwood, Central City and Lead. The final Show and Shine follows on Main Street.
Schedule: Events, locations and start times are subject to change. Check the complete schedule at Deadwood.com.
Theatre 605 closes its summer season with a deeply personal American debate
Onstage at the Black Hills Playhouse this week, a grown woman steps back into the role of the 15-year-old who paid her college tuition by debating the United States Constitution.
In What the Constitution Means to Me, playwright Heidi Schreck returns to the competitions she entered as a teenager, when she traveled the country delivering speeches about the document’s amendments and the protections they promised. Years later, she brings those arguments back to examine a harder question: Who has the Constitution protected, and who has been left waiting for its promises to become real?
The play moves between Schreck’s teenage debates, her adult perspective and the experiences of four generations of women in her family. What begins with a teenager standing before an American Legion audience grows into a personal examination of citizenship, power, bodily autonomy and the ways laws reach into individual lives.
Theatre 605’s production stars Emily Wirkus as Heidi, Erik K. Larsen as the Legionnaire and Finley Nelson as the debater. Jayna Gearhart Fitzsimmons directs.
The production arrives during a year when the United States is marking 250 years since the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Rather than treating the Constitution as a finished historical object, Schreck puts it back under debate. The questions she raised as a teenager are reconsidered through what she later learned about her family, the country and the distance between a constitutional right and a person’s ability to exercise it.
What the Constitution Means to Me closes Theatre 605’s 80th summer season at the Black Hills Playhouse, following The Complete History of America (abridged), 1776 and Come From Away. Four performances remain before the curtain falls on Saturday night.
What:What the Constitution Means to Me by Heidi Schreck Where: Black Hills Playhouse in Custer State Park Remaining performances: August 13 and 14 at 7:30 p.m.; August 15 at 2 and 7:30 p.m. Recommended age: 14 and older Content advisory: Strong language and mature themes, including violence against women and abortion Runtime: Presented without an intermission Park entrance: A Custer State Park pass is required and may be purchased at the snack bar
If you’ve never been to the Black Hills Playhouse, plan a little extra time for the drive through Custer State Park. The theater sits in one of the Hills’ most scenic settings, and wildlife traffic is common along the route. Arriving early also gives you time to pick up concessions before the show.
Black Hills Hunger Fest Brings Hip-Hop Together for a Cause
Regional artists and national headliners will trade the usual merch table for canned food and school supplies on July 25.
There are plenty of concerts where fans leave with a T-shirt or a signed poster. At Black Hills Hunger Fest, organizers are hoping they arrive carrying canned food and backpacks full of school supplies.
The first-year festival comes to 707 Sports Bar & Nightlife on Saturday, July 25, combining a full evening of underground hip-hop with a donation drive benefiting the Pine Ridge Reservation. Anyone who brings canned food or school supplies will receive raffle entries for a television drawing around 7:30 p.m.
For organizer C-Critt Veda, the idea reaches back more than two decades.
“Back in the early-ish 2000s there was a metal festival in Rapid City called Hardcore for Hunger,” he said. “Black Hills Hunger Fest was my way of bringing that idea back to life.”
Originally, the plan wasn’t to build a hip-hop festival.
“It originally wasn’t supposed to be just a hip-hop festival,” Veda said. “It’s supposed to be a mixed genre festival. But next year we are planning to go way bigger with a campsite, a full weekend and multiple stages with multiple genres. This year it ended up being a hip-hop festival.”
That first lineup still stretches well beyond Rapid City, bringing together artists Veda has met while touring around the country.
National headliners Whitney Peyton and Kung Fu Vampire top the bill alongside Truly Veda, Half Dead & Guardian Angel, Filth and Foul, and more than a dozen regional performers from across the area. An EDM after-party will close out the night.
“I specifically chose these headliners because of how great they are live,” Veda said. “I’ve done multiple shows with Whitney Peyton and she is so good on the stage. Kung Fu Vampire is a legend in the underground. His energy on stage is a great experience. He’s truly been a pioneer in his sound and craft.”
The music may bring people through the door, but the donations are the reason the festival exists.
“The reason we’re doing the food drive and school supply drive for Pine Ridge is because our reservations need help,” Veda said. “We plan to do a lot more such as toy drives and mental health awareness events for the reservations.”
He hopes the festival becomes proof of what local artists can accomplish together.
“There’s a lot we can accomplish with our underground music community when working together towards a cause.”
That philosophy also shapes Hood Ninja Entertainment, the company behind the event.
“Ninjas are inherently good and we are doing good things for the hood,” Veda said. “Hood Ninja Entertainment will always try to wrap a cause around a music event.”
As for what he hopes people remember after the final set, the answer isn’t complicated.
“The one thing I hope people take from Hunger Fest is great memories,” he said. “That’s really what life is about, great experiences. That’s what we’re trying to create.”
Whether people come for Whitney Peyton, Kung Fu Vampire, or one of the many regional artists on the bill, organizers are encouraging everyone to bring a donation. The canned food and school supplies will head to Pine Ridge long after the last encore, giving the festival a purpose that extends beyond the stage.
A hometown comedy imagines the colorful characters behind a vanished Black Hills town.
Minnesela is an original western comedy by Belle Fourche writers Derek and Bob Olson, inspired by the ghost town that once stood just three miles east of town. Before Belle Fourche became the community people know today, Minnesela expected to be the railroad hub and county seat. Then the railroad chose a different route, businesses packed up and moved, and the town slowly disappeared from the prairie.
The play doesn’t try to recreate that history. Instead, it imagines a lively frontier town filled with outlaws, nuns, reluctant heroes, broken engagements, and enough mistaken identities to keep the laughs coming. Orphan Emma Williams arrives searching for legendary lawman Tom Bragg, only to find his reputation is a little more complicated than the stories suggest.
There’s another reason this production caught our attention. Belle Fourche Area Community Theater has become one of the few community theaters in the region regularly investing in new local writing. Executive Director Derek Olson has spent the past several years encouraging original plays, directing new works, and even launching a community playwriting festival where first-time playwrights develop scripts that are performed on stage.
Minnesela is part of that effort. It began life as a screenplay Derek Olson wrote in college before he and his father Bob adapted it for the stage. The show was first produced by Belle Fourche High School more than a decade ago and now returns with Belle Fourche Area Community Theater for a four-performance run after organizers added an extra show due to demand.
For anyone who has driven past the Minnesela cemetery, noticed the historical marker outside Belle Fourche, or simply enjoys seeing local stories told by local artists, this is one worth putting on the calendar.
Venue: Belle Fourche Rec Center Auditorium, Belle Fourche
Runtime: Approximately 2.5 hours, including a 15-minute intermission.
Tickets:
Adults: $15
Seniors (60+) & Veterans: $10
Students & Children: $5
What to Expect:Minnesela is an original western comedy written by Derek and Bob Olson. Set in the long-gone sister town of Belle Fourche, the story blends local history with fast-paced comedy, colorful frontier characters, and plenty of twists as orphan Emma Williams searches for her childhood hero, Tom Bragg.
Good to Know: Due to strong interest, Belle Fourche Area Community Theater added a fourth performance to the production’s run, giving audiences one more opportunity to catch the show.
Black Hills Playhouse Opens Award-Winning Broadway Musical: Come From Away
Tony-winning musical shares the remarkable true story born from September 11 attacks.
Theatre 605’s production of Come From Away opens July 19 and runs through Aug. 2, bringing the Tony Award-winning musical to the historic theater for 15 performances.
Based on true events following the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, Come From Away tells the story of Gander, Newfoundland, where 38 commercial aircraft carrying nearly 7,000 passengers were unexpectedly diverted after U.S. airspace closed. What began as an emergency quickly became an extraordinary display of hospitality as residents opened their homes, schools, churches, and community spaces to complete strangers.
Rather than focusing on the tragedy itself, the musical centers on the days that followed, when people from dozens of countries suddenly found themselves stranded together in a town of fewer than 10,000 residents. The production has earned widespread praise for balancing humor, music, and humanity while telling a story rooted in real events.
Before opening night, audiences will have an opportunity to see the show during a Pay-What-You-Can preview performance on Friday, July 18, at 7:30 p.m. Seating is first come, first served, and Playhouse staff recommend arriving early.
Opening weekend also includes a meet-and-greet reception following the July 19 matinee, giving audience members a chance to meet the cast and crew over refreshments.
Written by Irene Sankoff and David Hein, Come From Away is recommended for ages 10 and older due to language and mature themes related to the events surrounding Sept. 11. Visitors should also remember that a Custer State Park entrance pass is required to reach the Black Hills Playhouse.
If you’ve never been to the Black Hills Playhouse, plan a little extra time for the drive through Custer State Park. The theater sits in one of the Hills’ most scenic settings, and wildlife traffic is common along the route. Arriving early also gives you time to pick up concessions before the show.
Danny’s Jam Returns for a Sixth Summer of Music, Friendship, and Giving Back
What began as a celebration of one man’s life has become an annual reunion built on the connections he left behind.
Now in its sixth year, the two-day gathering brings together dozens of local musicians and hundreds of friends for a weekend of live music, camping, and fundraising. It has also become one of the more personal traditions on the Black Hills music calendar, where many of the people on stage have shared bands, gigs, classrooms, or years of friendship with the man whose name the event carries.
Danny’s Jam began after Dan Sherrill passed away in 2020. Because COVID restrictions limited funeral gatherings at the time, his family held only a small service, intending to celebrate his life later when people could gather again. Months afterward, musicians who had played alongside Dan approached his wife, Teresa, with an idea to organize a tribute concert.
Rather than separate the two, they combined the delayed celebration of life with a full day of music and when the weekend ended, people weren’t ready for it to be over.
“They said, ‘We should do this every year,’” Teresa Sherrill recalled. That conversation eventually led to the creation of a nonprofit, giving the event a purpose that reached beyond remembering Dan.
Dan spent his life wearing a lot of hats. He was a teacher, a coach, and a musician, but Teresa says the role that tied everything together was simply being someone who connected people.
“He had a knack of making a connection with everybody he met,” she said. “Somehow he knew the same people or found an interest that connected them.”
That instinct to look after people quietly became the blueprint for Danny’s Jam.
“If someone crossed his mind, he called. If someone needed help, he showed up. If someone needed a ride or a hand,” Teresa says “he rarely hesitated.”
Instead of remaining a memorial concert, the organization began finding ways to pay that generosity forward. Proceeds from the weekend have funded scholarships for graduating seniors, supported grief programs for children, contributed to organizations like Live Like Cash, helped purchase a memorial bench at Sioux Park honoring Dan’s years as a tennis coach, and provided assistance to other community needs throughout the year.
The music has grown right alongside that mission.
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Many of this year’s performers either played with Dan over the years or share connections through the Black Hills music community. Others simply wanted to be part of a weekend that has developed a reputation for bringing musicians together. Teresa says organizers now receive more requests to perform than they can fit into two days.
For many of the musicians, it feels less like another festival and more like a reunion.
Teresa admits that’s one of the parts she looks forward to most.
“The people that come, a lot of them are friends of Dan’s who have become my friends,” she said. “It’s always fun to reconnect and just see people spending time together and keeping those connections alive.”
The weekend begins Friday evening with live music continuing through Saturday night. Admission is free, and visitors can spend an afternoon listening to local bands or turn it into a weekend by camping or staying in one of Recreational Springs Resort’s cabins or motel rooms.
Throughout the event, visitors can also browse the silent auction, purchase Danny’s Jam merchandise, or enter raffles, with proceeds helping fund the nonprofit’s charitable work throughout the year.
Camping, cabins, and motel rooms are available at Recreational Springs Resort. Accommodations are limited, so organizers recommend booking directly with the resort as soon as possible.
Reservations: (605) 584-1228
Support Danny’s Jam
Danny’s Jam is presented by a nonprofit organization that uses proceeds from the weekend to fund scholarships and support charitable causes throughout the Black Hills. Visitors can support the event by:
