Category: On Our Radar

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.

  • Crow Peak Turns 605 Day Into a Weekend Festival

    Crow Peak Turns 605 Day Into a Weekend Festival

    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.

    Series

    605 FEST

    Crow Peak Brewing is opening its taproom at 10 a.m. on Saturday so people can grab trash bags, drink beermosas, and head…
  • A Quick Look at This Weekend’s Theater Lineup

    A Quick Look at This Weekend’s Theater Lineup

    If you’ve been meaning to catch some theater, there are a few good reasons to get out this weekend (and beyond). Between Catalyst Theater Company, BHCT’s Discovery Series, and The Black Hills Playhouse’s seasion kicking off next weekend, local stages are staying busy with everything from contemporary experimental work to classic wartime drama and fast-paced comedy.

    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.

    Event not found.
    IDs tried: 5111, 5112, 5113, 5114, 5115, 5116, 5117, 5118, 5119, 5120, 5121

    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.

    Event not found.
    ID tried: 5042

    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.

  • A Big Weekend for Galleries and Art Exhibits in the Black Hills

    A Big Weekend for Galleries and Art Exhibits in the Black Hills

    Over the past few years, gallery openings in the Black Hills have started spreading beyond the usual downtown art walk rhythm. A geodesic dome outside Spearfish is reopening for the season. A new gallery is opening its doors in Hill City during the town’s 150th anniversary celebration. In Hot Springs, artists are gathering around work that asks people to think about land and the body at the same time.

    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.

    Event not found.
    IDs tried: 5324, 5326, 5327

    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.

    Event not found.
    ID tried: 5078

    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.

    Event not found.
    ID tried: 5498

    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.

    Event not found.
    ID tried: 4041

    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.

    Event not found.
    ID tried: 5642
  • One of Climbing’s Biggest Names Is Coming to the Black Hills

    One of Climbing’s Biggest Names Is Coming to the Black Hills

    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.

    Bryan Martin

    Aug 10 • 9:00 pm to 10:30 pm
    Kickstands in Sturgis
    Hailing from the oil fields of Louisiana, Bryan Martin lives the stories he writes, and country fans are listening. His real-life emotions…

  • Mother’s Day Events Around the Black Hills

    Mother’s Day Events Around the Black Hills

    Mother’s Day is coming up in the Black Hills this weekend! We pulled together a list of events happening around the Hills we thought would be fun to do with your mom to show her how much she matters!

    Mother’s Day gift ideas:

    • Fill her gas tank
    • Take her car to the wash and vacuum it out
    • Replace the windshield wipers in her car
    • Put fresh flowers on the kitchen table before she wakes up
    • Frame an old family photo that’s still sitting in your camera roll
    • Take her to a local art show, concert, or movie instead of a chain restaurant
    • Refill the bird feeder
    • Put together a playlist of songs for her
    • Drop off coffee and pastries in the morning
    • Spend the afternoon doing one of her hobbies with her
    • Buy her plants – not just cut flowers
    • Offer to babysit so she gets a quiet day to herself
    • Take her out somewhere local she’s talked about going to for years
    • Ask her questions about her life before she was a mom
    • Spend screen free time together
    • Put together a small “Black Hills day” with coffee, a drive, and a stop somewhere she likes
    • Tell her specifically what she did right raising you instead of just saying “thanks for everything”

  • A big weekend for High School Theater in Rapid City

    A big weekend for High School Theater in Rapid City

    Thursday night, its curtains up at 7 at both Stevens and Central High Schools in Rapid City. One stage takes you to a bell tower of Notre Dame, the other to a small Alabama town during the 1930s. A few miles apart, two schools start their spring shows, both asking what it costs to push back against a world that decided you don’t belong.

    Stevens High School
    April 23–25 | 7 p.m. | $15

    Stevens High School brings The Hunchback of Notre Dame this week, drawing from the Victor Hugo novel with the Alan Menken score, lyrics by Stephen Schwartz, and script by Peter Parnell. More than 100 students across cast, crew, and pit orchestra are involved in the production directed by Matthew Vidal. The story follows Quasimodo, kept hidden in Notre Dame’s bell tower by Dom Claude Frollo, whose control begins to fracture when Esmeralda arrives during a local festival.

    The Hunchback of Notre Dame

    Multiple Times: Apr 23 to Apr 25
    Thu 7:00 pm • Fri 7:00 pm • Sat 7:00 pm
    Stevens High School Performing Arts in Rapid City
    Stevens High School presents The Hunchback of Notre Dame, based on the Victor Hugo novel and featuring songs from the Disney film….

    Central High Theatre
    April 23–25 | 7 p.m. | April 25 | 2 p.m. | $6

    Central High Theatre presents Christopher Sergel’s stage adaptation of To Kill a Mockingbird this week. Set in 1930s Alabama, the story follows Atticus Finch, a lawyer who agrees to defend a Black man falsely accused by a white family. It is a story about innocence, about prejudice, and about what it costs to do the right thing when the community around you has chosen otherwise. The production features original music by Zander Waddell and is directed by Justin Speck.

    To Kill a Mocking Bird

    Multiple Times: Apr 23 to Apr 25
    Thu 7:00 pm • Fri 7:00 pm • Sat 2:00 pm • Sat 7:00 pm
    Central High School in Rapid City
    Central High School presents To Kill a Mocking Bird for the spring play. All seats are reserved seating, with tickets available online…

    A Closing Chapter

    To Kill a Mockingbird is the final production Justin Speck and Joey Lore will lead at Central High Theatre. Speck has served as Artistic Director for 22 years. Lore, the program’s Technical Director, has been his partner for the same stretch. Together they guided Central Theatre to 21 consecutive South Dakota State One-Act Championships, a record most believe will not be replicated. The program they built sent students to Broadway, to Shakespeare abroad, to the UK, Ireland, and this spring, on a final 10-day trip through Italy. What they leave behind is not just a trophy case. It is a generation of students who learned that showing up, being prepared, and leading with humility were skills that would follow them well past the stage.

    Speck chose To Kill a Mockingbird for this final season deliberately. It was the first production Central staged in the new theater built during his tenure, and closing with it means the room gets to hold the same story twice, once at the beginning of something and once at the end. A story about moral courage and what it costs felt, in his words, like one it was time to tell again.

    This weekend, Matthew Vidal is also directing his final show at Stevens High School. In the fall, he moves to Central to take over the program Speck and Lore spent 22 years building. Two directors, both in their last shows at their current schools, on stages a few miles apart, on the same three nights.

  • A Few Shows Worth Checking Out This Weekend

    A Few Shows Worth Checking Out This Weekend

    There’s a lot on the calendar this weekend. These are a few shows you can actually check out ahead of time.

    Friday brings in a pair of out-of-town lineups, each in a different direction. Logan Mize is at Aby’s in Rapid City with Brandon Jones on the bill, while Cascadel plays the Matthews in Spearfish with My Second Rodeo opening. Both start at 7:00 PM, which puts them directly up against each other, just in different towns.

    Saturday in downtown Rapid City there’s lots of options within walking distance of each other. Aby’s hosts The Dirt Road Getaway and Speed City Demons, the Black Hills Symphony Orchestra performs American in Paris at the Performing Arts Center, South Dakota Kids That Rock The Monument, and finish the night off with The Adults at Murphys. It’s a mix of bar shows, a full orchestra performance, and a youth showcase, and some good old outlaw country and greazy rock!

    FRIDAY NIGHT

    Friday night splits between Rapid City and Spearfish. One is a touring country stop at Aby’s. The other is a seated show at the Matthews.

    Logan Mize + Brandon Jones

    Fri, Apr 10 • 7:00 PM
    @ Aby’s Rapid City

    Logan Mize is on a regional run and stops in Rapid tonight, with Brandon Jones on the bill. The set leans into country songwriting with a mix of original tracks and a few covers worked in.

    Give them a listen…


    Cascadel + My Second Rodeo

    Fri, Apr 10 • 7:00 PM
    @ The Matthews Opera House & Arts Center

    Cascadel plays indie roots rock with guitar, keys, and vocal harmonies, with My Second Rodeo opening the night. The songs move between folk, country, and more layered arrangements, with some longer sections worked into the set. The Matthews keeps the focus on the music, so it tends to be a more attentive crowd from the start.

    Give them a listen…


    …and then on Saturday in Downtown Rapid City

    Saturday. April 11th,
    Aby’s stays in a roots and rock lane with a two-band bill, while the Black Hills Symphony Orchestra is at the The Monument with American in Paris. The Adults are on the lineup elsewhere in town, and South Dakota Kids That Rock showcases just how tallented our younger generation is!

    1776

    Jul 11 • 7:30 pm to 9:30 pm
    Theater 605 (Black Hills Playhouse) in Custer
    It’s the summer of 1776, and the nation is ready to declare independence … if only our founding fathers can agree to…

    Minnesela

    Jul 24 • 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm
    Belle Fourche Rec Center Auditorium in Belle Fourche
    Minnesela returns to the Belle Fourche stage in a new production by Derek and Bob Olson. Originally produced in 2010, this original…

    Open Mic Night – Joe's Place

    Dec 16 • 8:00 pm to 11:00 pm
    Joe's Place in Rapid City
    Open Mic Night at Joe's Place is hosted by Josh Marques and brings local musicians, singers, poets, comedians, and other performers together…

    Frozen

    Sep 25 • 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm
    Performing Arts Center of Rapid City – Historic Theater in Rapid City
    September 25, 26, October 2, 3 at 7:00pm September 27, October 4 at 2:00pm in the Historic Theater ​ A magical tale…
  • A Few Things Worth Locking Into Your Calendar

    There’s a stretch of time where events aren’t tonight or this weekend, but they’re close enough that if you don’t plan for them now, you’ll miss them. These are a few things coming up around the Hills that we think are worth circling early. These shows that tend to sell out, sneak up, or just end up being better than expected. Lock them in now!

    in Rapid City

    Bob Fahey with Johnny Hastings

    Thu, Nov 19 • 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm Murphy's Pub & Grill

    Bob Fahey with Johnny Hastings Supper Session performs live at Murphys Pub and Grill in Rapid City. [read more]

    WINDS OF CHANGE

    Wed, Nov 25 • 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm Performing Arts Center of Rapid City - Studio Theater

    The Music of Danny Thornburg The South Dakota Jazz Orchestra presents a collection of original works by Composer-in-Residence and Musical Director Danny Thornburg, born and raised in Rapid City. The South Dakota Jazz Orchestra... [read more]

    Learn more about the artist
    Alex Massa
    Currently based in He Sapa (Black Hills) of South Dakota, trumpeter, composer, educator, and activist Alex Massa’s career has spanned geographies, genres,…

  • This Week Belongs to the Kids

    This Week Belongs to the Kids

    “Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up.”
    ~Pablo Picasso

    Three different spaces this weekend are handing the spotlight to young artists and letting their work stand on its own.

    At the Dahl Arts Center, Mini Masters fills the Bruce H. Lien Cultural Café & Gallery with work from artists ages birth to five. It’s loose, direct, and honest, color on the page without hesitation. In the same building, The Basement Children Teen Art Studio Exhibition brings together 22 young artists who’ve been putting in real time, building pieces that hold up on the wall. The opening reception Thursday night gives you a chance to see both ends of that spectrum in one place.

    Across town at The Monument, South Dakota Kids That Rock moves it onto the stage. Young vocalists step into a full concert setting, competing for a scholarship and performing in front of a live audience and a panel of working musicians. It’s not a small setup, and they’re not treated like it is.

    Brandon Jones

    Jul 16 • 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm
    High Plains Western Heritage Center in Spearfish
    Hometown Thursdays returns to Belle Fourche with free live music, local vendors, family activities, and community gathering throughout the summer. Brandon Jones...

    Tim Zach Band

    Jul 30 • 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm
    Tri-State Museum in Belle Fourche
    Hometown Thursdays returns to Belle Fourche with free live music, local vendors, family activities, and community gathering throughout the summer. Tim Zach...

    Frozen

    Sep 25 • 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm
    Performing Arts Center of Rapid City - Historic Theater in Rapid City
    September 25, 26, October 2, 3 at 7:00pm September 27, October 4 at 2:00pm in the Historic Theater ​ A magical tale...

    Three vibes, three different showcases, three different ways to celebrate the next generation putting their art out into the world.

  • BH Weekend – Rapid City

    BH Weekend – Rapid City

    Browse by location

    Looking for things to do in the Black Hills this weekend? Explore events happening across Rapid City, Deadwood, Spearfish, Custer, and the surrounding area. From live music and comedy to festivals, art exhibits, nightlife, and family-friendly events, this page shows what’s happening Friday through Sunday all in one place.

    This Weekend
    Sun Nov 8
    9 events across the Black Hills
    Browse by city

    Live Music

    Additional Showtimes:
    Sun Nov 8 8:00 pm - 12:30 am

    Theater & Stage

    Art Exhibitions

    Comedy

    Miscellaneous