Visit Rapid City | Journey to Learn... Learn to Journey

How do you view the future of Rapid City? People are inquiring from all parts of the country. How do we do this? How do we do that? What other community of this size is economically diverse as this is? We have a major tourism industry. We have major ag industry. We're a major medical regional hub. We have universities. We have the air. I'm going to state it this way. What a great time to be living in Rapid City. Hello, friends across America and beyond. Welcome to Amplify Rapid City. Whether you live in Rapid City, whether you're planning a visit, planning to move yourself, or maybe even your business here, Amplify Rapid City is your headquarters for valuable and exciting information and news. I'm Chris Johnson, your host, and I'd love nothing more than for you to be my guest, sit back, relax, and enjoy as we Amplify Rapid City. When you're planning a trip somewhere, one of the things I think everybody likes to do is check out online or some other way all the things there are to see and do at your destination. Now, I'm crazy about history, and no matter where I go, I like to try to find out all the historical details about where I'm at. And as you could easily guess, one of the first places I like to gravitate toward in any town I visit would be a museum. Well, if you like museums, Rapid City has one called the Journey Museum, and it is sure to surprise you in a lot of ways. Let's just say that there's a lot more to the history of this part of the country and the world than you would think. And I just happen to know the perfect person to talk to when you want to find out all these surprising details about the history of Rapid City, the Black Hills, and Western South Dakota. So I'm pleased to introduce to you the Executive Director of the Journey Museum, Mr. Troy Kilpatrick. My story begins, I have some deep roots in the Badlands area, the Kanata Badland Basin. My grandfather on my mother's side homesteaded down there, the Lazy 2-7 Ranch. So my mom was a local girl. My father was in the United States Air Force and was out here serving, and he grew up in the Asheville. And you know how it goes, a local girl finds the Air Force guy, and I was born at Ellsworth Air Force Base of all places. Fantastic. So kind of a son of two huge backdrops, our family vacations being the Smoky Mountains and the Badlands. So tell us where the Kanata... The Kanata Badlands, if you know where Cedar Pass Ranger Station is, you're going to go down, you're going to go down to the Yellow Mounds area. And it used to be, you know, there's a picnic area that also known as the Pig Dig for the South Dakota School of Mines. Used to have family reunions over the top of these fossils before they found the fossils. You can go down the road there, and the road's named after my grandfather, Heater Road. The ranch is still there today. And so, you know, I guess I've got the Badlands and the Smoky Mountains to thank for my true appreciation of landscapes of all kinds. And I think that's a big part of the journey, is just the idea that it isn't all about us. It's also our earth, and our places, and our spaces. And again, I think no coincidence in any of this once we start to pull back the layers of the onion. Since my dad was in the Air Force, you know, not only did I live in the Badlands as a youngster because he was in the Air Force, we ended up moving multiple times. So I think probably what made me, or taught me, some of my skills in meeting people was the idea of us moving probably eight times before we ended up back in Rapid City, South Dakota, where I graduated from high school at Rapid City Central High School. But I mean, I relocated to Rapid City when I was in the middle of my sophomore year. So I, at that time, kind of didn't feel like I was hometown as much as this was just the latest town. But the whole goal was to get back to western South Dakota. I think those types of things probably made me work on my social skills, introducing myself to people, keeping in contact with people, all of those things. It paid off. It made me what I am today. The good, you know, it's the yin-yang thing, you know. Well, I would say it did good things for you. I would have it no other way, except for when I raised my children, we kept them here in Rapid City. That was our goal. We said, we're going to keep them in one spot. We're not going to move them around. And I think Rapid City is such a wonderful place to raise kids and a family. And I think that was important for my wife and I, to have that continuity. So I see it from both sides, Chris. It definitely gave me some strengths for what I ended up doing. And I've always been in the business of meeting people, talking to people. And so I guess it started early, you know, moved from one second grade classroom to a third grade in a completely different community. And then move from that community in fourth grade and go to another community in sixth grade. That was kind of our life story there, or the journey of the Kilpatrick family, shall we say, to get back to Western South Dakota. And so you've been in Rapid City since when? I went then after graduating from Rapid City Central, I graduated. I went to Vermillion, graduated from the University of South Dakota. And I moved back to Rapid City around 92. And then I've been here ever since. So you're practically a lifelong resident. Yeah, now let's just call it lifelong. I mean, you know, I've been here long enough that this is definitely where I've spent the bulk of my years as an adult. And it's a place I guess I think I'll always be a part of. It'll always be a part of me. Well, I know you and I go way back. We both had a stint at the Rapid City Journal. And we can talk about that. But I specifically would like to know what led you to eventually become the executive director of the journey? Well, you know, Chris, as you and I both know, the media world has changed immensely. And we, you know, in my tenure at the Rapid City Journal, I spent 24 years there. Or as I like to tell people, over 9500 deadlines. And as you know, it's a 24 hour cycle. And in the newspaper game, it's all about put one together, get it out. Oh, by the way, get the next one put together, get it out. And so through my life, I guess, how did I end up at the journey museum was, I knew that I knew that I wanted a change, Chris. And it being totally plugged in into a 24 hour cycle deadline, it was difficult to actually find what would that change be. And ironically, the event that precipitated myself getting to the journey was the Blizzard Atlas. And you know, it just historically just crunched everything. And from there, change happened. So Blizzard Atlas ended up being my in story with the journey and my beginning or my in story with the journal and my beginning story with the if that makes any sense. Well, the that blizzard was a pivotal time for a lot of things in Rapid City. It sure was. It sure was. I mean, we we like to say that part of the weather here is that it can surprise you, it can change in five minutes. But even all of us knowing that I think that came as a big surprise to us. They always called it the October surprise. Well, I know we expected it to be. We at the newspaper expected it to be difficult, but I don't think anybody was prepared for what was the consequences of that event. Now it's part of our history. Another part of our history. So give us a five minute rundown on the journey museum. If you were going to give somebody who has no knowledge of Rapid City or the journey museum a pitch for the museum, what would it be? Well, Chris, here's here's what I this is what I tell hundreds of bus groups. And we we have a little presentation that we do. And so I'll give it to you here today on the podcast. And so what is the journey museum and learning center? It's truly I mean, because that itself doesn't describe what's inside real well, because it was we're a management company or for better way to say, almost a museum mall. There's five partnerships inside. And we're a huge timeline. And our goal, our mission and vision, mosh together, Chris, is to reveal the scientific and cultural connections about the history and heritage of the Black Hills from billions of years ago, all the way to current day. The building itself is a unique shape. It's built to resemble the uplift of the Black Hills. It has red stones, there's over 200 of them to represent spearfish formation itself. And they're also part of the Lakota legend of the great race. So there you see the science and the culture blending together, our geology with Lakota storytelling. Okay. And so then you go through the museum and the timeline, the original partnerships are the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology for both the geology and paleontology histories, because again, we're starting the timeline with our geological rock record. And then the paleontology exists at about 144 million years. Our second partnership is then the South Dakota Archaeological Research Center, because now you're moving in your timeline, you're 12 to 10,000 years ago, that's the study of paleo man. And then you move up to hundreds of years in the timeline, the Native American community members that are represented by the United States Department of Interior, the Indian Arts and Crafts Board, or the Sioux Indian Museum Collection. Okay. And so then from the Native American community members, you bring in your pioneers, the Dakota Plains being really the last settling areas for pioneers. They're represented by the Minnesota Historical Association. And then from there, it's the city of Rapid City. I mean, the journey doesn't exist without the Vision Funds of 2012 that were created. Okay. We were one of the first two projects along with the enhanced activities at the Dahl Arts Center to come from the Vision Fund. But a lot of that Vision Fund foundation comes from remembering the tragic events of June 9th, 1972, our Rapid City flood. And what this community can be better than itself down the road. That's whole idea behind the Vision Fund is we're going to grow and become better. And so we're honored to be one of those first two projects and to embrace and tell that story. So there's your five partners, Chris. And I think I covered it in five minutes. That's quite a scope. Not a lot of museums handle paleontology, the archaeology, and the cultural all in one center. And if they do, they probably don't have one director that's handling it all. You go to the Smithsonian and it's all divided up into separate museums. Well, first of all, I'm blessed. I've got a great curatorial team too. So all these partners have other leaders and we internally have someone who provides leadership on the collections that are outside of the primary partnerships too. So within that, part of my job is to make sure that I'm facilitating conversations with lots of different people and entities. Because within those groups, you've got universities and state run and federally run and city groups of interest. So you've got a variety of organizations within that and making sure that we recognize each and every one of their pulses and what it is is their initiatives and their missions and their visions and bonding it all together. That's my job as the head chef. If anyone had to make everybody happy all the time, it's you. You know, you can never make everybody all the way happy, Chris, but I try to do my best to not move forward until everybody understands why are we making a decision on this level. And I think that sometimes leaders like to come in and just let's do it now, but you got to kind of let it ruminate a little bit. I'd like to think I'm reasonably good at that. Tell us how the journey came together. Now, prior to the journey being built, there was more than one museum with different collections that were combined to make the journey. Tell us about that. So, Chris, the way the journey museum came together is, you know, you had you had multiple entities. And I mean, and I think Rapid City should be proud of this because, you know, some real buzzwords and nonprofits today are collaboration and and, you know, working together. Well, you know, you're back in the mid 90s when these ideas of let's put a state agency, let's do a university, let's get the Department of Interior and combine it all together. Let's have the city do all these things. Truly cutting edge. And, you know, we've been blessed and you'll probably ask me more about this. I mean, we had C-SPAN in the museum and they said, this is really incredibly unique that you guys have something like this. And I mean, I realize it's unique and I tried to kind of like do research to find other museums similar to ours. And, you know, there are some others like the Cody Museum that has multiple collections, but they sort of all seem to sequence together a little bit more specifically to pioneer types of activities. You know, they have gun collections, pioneer collections and things like that. So there's not too much of a divergent. Like you said, there isn't geology and Native American culture and history compiled together as an example. So I think we're really, really unique there and I think our community should celebrate that. One of the things I really enjoy doing when I'm preparing for an interview is to go to the mission statement about whatever the organization is that that person is representing. And I enjoyed your mission statement. And in particular, I especially liked the phrase, explore our heritage. To me, it sounded like the folks at the Journey Museum, including yourself, see our history as maybe an open book and not necessarily a closed book of this is what happened, this is how it is. You're continually learning new things that get to go into that book. Well, I think I really believe that that is a museum's job is to continue to look for the stories of everything in your community, in your area. Part of that is us living up to the idea of continuing the communication that, believe it or not, 58,000 square feet inside of our museum cannot tell the story in a complete enough fashion. And you need to come to the learning forums and the turtle soups and the programs that we put on to deeply understand the types of personalities and places and the things that have occurred in this community to really have an appreciation for what it is we all have here today. What is it about Rapid City and the Black Hills and the Badlands history and the whole history of Western South Dakota that is so appealing to visitors from all over the world? Well, it might be, I would like to think it's more than this. And I think it is more than this. But I think what originally draws people's attention to our area is the whole Wild West approach and what they've seen or heard when it comes to cowboys and Indians and conflict and gold discovery and all that stuff. It's attractive. It's lore, you know, and that gets them started on it. And our goal is to tell a bigger picture story than that and not just be those stereotypical demographic concepts of everything. And I think that's, again, a museum's job is to set that record straight and say, well, this is what really happened. Dispel the myths. Well, it's our responsibility to be truthful. And yeah, I think some of the myths that exist in some of the Western movies and stuff is a part of European understanding of our country. I've had the opportunity to travel abroad and they're just totally fascinated with the whole idea of the cowboys and Indians and fighting and all of that stuff. But to their credit, a lot of those guests will come and learn more about all of the history and the heritages. But it's attractive to them from that perspective. And we've glamorized some of this stuff, even in recent series like Deadwood on HBO. I mean, we're still living in that glamor of the bad boys, bad girls types approach to stuff. And I guess people are drawn to that to a degree. But there's more to this than just that. And that's where I can come in in the museum and say, let's explore this. Let's talk about this. Let's have a discussion about this. Let's go a little deeper than just all these base motivational stereotypes. Do you encounter that regularly? People walking into the museum having predisposed ideas of what the Wild West or our history was? Yeah, absolutely. And again, I think it's been an advantage for myself to have traveled and been around. And, you know, it's even in a recognition of our community members. Chris, we understand Native American community members who live right here in Rapid City, who are thriving and striving to accomplish all the things that you and I are thriving and striving to do, support your families, move your kids forward, all those things. But there are communities where the Native American culture was basically eliminated and it doesn't exist anymore. And so they see that in a museum. And so we work really hard to get people to understand this isn't a past thing. This is today. We have community members, 25% of Rapid City Native American. OK, so we got to honor this culture in a respectful fashion. And that's learning. That's creating new knowledge. I mean, I think there's parts of our history where we all wish it hadn't happened the way it did. And it's in our museum. But that's why it's in the museum is so we can learn from this. OK. And so you don't hide that. You contend with it. You tell the truth. And I think it helps us become a bigger and better community. I mean, we're not going to solve everything overnight, but we can certainly help push the dialogue and push the learning of our community members and the people who visit us by portraying these things correctly. Well, coming up in part two of our conversation with Troy Kilpatrick, we will learn about the exhibits at the Journey Museum. We'll get an answer to the question of what is the biggest thing that Troy has learned over his tenure as executive director at the Journey. And we'll learn something really special about something they do called Turtle Soup. What could that be? Find out in part two coming right up after this message from our sponsor. Do you have gold or silver coins or bars that you want to sell? Or maybe you're looking to buy some. I'm happy to tell you that this episode of Amplify Rapid City is brought to you by the good folks at Presidential Pond. They're the region's leading buyer and seller of precious metals. But they don't stop there. Presidential Pond buys coins, even whole collections, estate jewelry, and Rolex watches, Omega watches, even classic old guitars. Let's just say if your item has value, Presidential Pond is probably interested. No appointment is necessary, and the very friendly and knowledgeable staff is ready and willing to wait on you the minute you walk in the door. So stop in today for a free consultation at Presidential Pond. They're easy to find. They're right on the corner of 7th and St. Joe in the heart of downtown Rapid City. You'll be glad you did. What's the biggest thing that you have learned since becoming executive director of the Journey? Now that is a tough question, Chris. You're going to think this is going to sound weird, but my fascination with science is our relationship with NASA, the South Dakota Space Consortium, dark matter, neutrinos, the work that's going on right now. The Dune Project. I don't know if people realize just how big this is, the DNA of the universe. I joke a lot in the museum about creating a movie or a video about dark matter and dark energy and the battle for the universe and all of this, but our universe is expanding as you and I sit here. Conceptually, that's kind of a weird thing to think about, and it's because of these forces that are out there. There's scientific formulas that Albert Einstein wrote that scientists at NASA and them have just kind of started proving, believe it or not, in terms of how objects move within the universe. I don't know if I fully comprehend it or have learned it yet, but to me, again, this falls under the mantra of us being a learning center is that we're bringing programs. We've had programs about the universe expanding with Tom Durkin, who is deputy director for the South Dakota Space Consortium, and we've had programs on black holes by our NASA space ambassador, Arjun Iyengar, and we talk about these concepts, which I think are mind-blowingly cutting-edge inside of our museum because we're an exploration museum. We're the journey, right? I mean, the first men to leave Earth's atmosphere, Stratobull, which they're launching this weekend at Stratobull, Chris, we should probably have been out there this morning, but the first men to leave Earth's atmosphere and get into the stratosphere is from the Black Hills, so there's our connection to NASA is that when we first started connecting this, we said, well, we were the place, and they go, well, there you go, and that's why that's at the tail end of the museum in the timeline to it. We didn't even talk about NASA as far as a partner, but obviously, we work closely in creating content here with the South Dakota Space Consortium doing those types of things, so I've probably learned the most there. I've learned in every single category, so I don't mean to pick one thing over the other, but you put me on the spot, and so I'm going to go with the sciences area here, and I think part of why I want to say that too is I want people to know just how broad and vast the journey, what the Journey Museum and Learning Center represents. You said it earlier when I described the partnerships, but in reality, there's a almost everything connects somehow, and you know, culturally, that's, I mean, I really see that earth to sky, all of those relationships and those things, and I think you can't walk away from that without seeing these connections. I must go to work every morning thinking they appropriately named this museum. Oh, I just smile to myself every time someone says, what's the journey? Every day's a journey. Yeah, every day, and you know, so my day's probably filled with cliches, you know, and my staff thinks I'm kind of corny at times, but it's all true. You know, we're telling people, it's not your destination. It's the journey that counts, you know, and it really is. It's what we do in our lives. It's the journey of each and every one of our lives. I'll relate back to C-SPAN again. They said, Troy, pick for us two or three exhibits that you think are significant in the museum, and I said, well, I really can't do that because the journey is all about the changes and the events and the things that happen and what we learn, and so I have a hard time. I said, you could put me in any one of the spaces, and I could say this is worthy of us having a conversation about, and I can tell you why, and so, you know, I understand someone who can walk through the museum and spend an hour in there and go, okay, it was nice, but I also know because our admissions cover two days that we can keep people's attention for hours and hours if you get into the storytelling and you start recognizing how we've looped these things together, and that makes me really proud when people say, well, we didn't have enough time to do it all. That's my goal. Troy, do you find that visitors to your museum are somewhat surprised when they discover that there's a lot more to our story out here than what has taken place between the various cultures over the last 200 years? The short answer is yes. I remember when I first started at the museum, Chris, and I mean, you know, we were working on brand identification, you know, what is the journey, what is a journey museum, and I had some really wise and strong personality people suggesting to rename the museum completely and call it a museum of natural history or a museum of pioneer and Native American history, and for lack of a better, obviously, I didn't agree once I did some more research on the thing I did that I'm glad I did is I took some time to really look at our museum and look at it through the eyes of our guests and kind of weigh that against what I was hearing in the community and haven't been a long time community member and at the Rapid City Journal. I mean, obviously, you and I are aware of the history of the journey in a more unique fashion in terms of how it was trying to identify itself and the struggles it was facing within the community, and so I had to weigh all those things against this, but ultimately, obviously, we voted on keeping, retaining Journey Museum and adding Learning Center because, again, through European influences, I came to understand that museums are viewed quite readily by guests from outside of our area as a space of learning, and in our community, we didn't necessarily understand that museum meant that, and so with that in mind, my marketing background tells me, Chris, is state the obvious, and so that's where Learning Center comes from is, okay, we're going to restate the obvious that we intend to be an educational opportunity and add this component to our museum, and if you've been looking at our mission and vision, you'll see where we've also deliberately said we're going to inspire audiences of all ages, not just serve one category, not just be a children's museum or a museum that traditionally serves a retirement crowd. As you mentioned, C-SPAN was here until just yesterday recording, and they spent a week here in Rapid City, and it was part of a tour through the U.S. for cities that had an exceptional story to tell historically, and tell us about why they came to Rapid City, why they selected Rapid City as one of their cities, and what to expect out of that episode. Well, you know, first kudos to the Visit Rapid City team. When they did their original inquiry, I know the Visit Rapid City team jumped all over the opportunity, and, you know, that shouldn't be overlooked because in my experience now, when it comes to building relationships, you'd be surprised at when opportunity knocks. Sometimes a lot of people don't answer the door, you know, and answering the door and following up on a conversation, and it turns into something, and so, you know, you got to give the kudos to the Visit Rapid City team, and then the playbook they have to work with here, our community that we're so proud to be members of. I mean, they got that communication out, and from there, I was asked to kind of follow the lead of them, and I just said, okay, here's what we can do, here's what we can get you connected to, and we worked relentlessly to be in support of that opportunity, because in my life, there's never such a thing as bad PR, bad communication, anything that you can gain, and wow, what, I mean, let's not forget, this is C-SPAN, it's nationwide audience, you know, this is a huge recognition for our area, for the Black Hills, for Rapid City, and just for the Journey Museum and Learning Center, a huge opportunity to just be a part of it, so we're just glad to be a part of that whole team, and the effort to be able to communicate what we have here, and I hope that we're able to add a richness to the conversations that occur in C-SPAN. It was very flattering to hear some of their commentary. I know you were at the event on Wednesday, Chris. It made me feel like we are doing the right things, we just need to continue to do those things, because they called us out for it, and recognized our efforts to connect the dots on such a diverse collection, a great history story to be told, and the learning that we were creating, so that was, to me, the highest praise we've received to date, and you know, these are the results of deliberate efforts, and so not by accident does the story unfold this way. From the behind-the-scenes perspective of visiting with those folks over the past week, what was their most surprising takeaway? I'm guessing some of them hadn't been here before. You know, we hear it a lot, Chris, and I think we, you know, we need to always recognize all of our community members who do the job of selling our area by just regular people. We help people with the door, we say good morning, good afternoon, we say thank you for coming to our businesses, and coming to our places. We truly recognize customers as customers, and visitors as visitors, and we embrace the opportunity to be ambassadors for our area, and that is no secret recipe, but that's what they talked about. They talked about going to different places, and being always greeted with open arms, smiling faces, and people who are trying to do, make it easy for them to do their job, and they said, you just might not believe it, Troy, but that's just not the way the world is outside of South Dakota, and I think they referenced that a little bit in some of their other experiences and communities, and for me, probably for you, you know, I just shake my head and go, how do you not do that? But the reality is that there are places you can go to that don't, and so to all of our listeners and everybody here in Rapid City, just keep doing what we do, and it raises us up. It's not just what Troy and the Journey Museum and Learning Center does, or what Mary Allender says, or what Visit Rapid City promotes, it's what really happens on the ground. I think when any of us travels to another place, one of the first things we do to prepare for it is research about what all the attractions are, and I think we underestimate sometimes the fact, like you just said, and I want to underscore it, that among all the terrific attractions that are tangible and visible in the Black Hills and Rapid City area, that maybe the people and the way we treat other people is one of those hidden attractions that we don't even think about that is so attractive to people coming here, and it's one of their It absolutely is, and you know, I'm blessed with the opportunity to meet hundreds of tour groups every summer, and I tell them constantly that my job is to make them want to come back, not on a tour, and spend a week in Rapid City and explore the rest of this in greater detail, and when I get them nodding yes, it's because not just of us, it's because of the cumulative effect again of everybody raising it up for all of us, and so I really think you'd be surprised at how many people return to the Black Hills after doing a bus, and the buses do a great job of like, we'll get you to Custer State Park and Mount Rushmore and crazy, and they drive them all over the places, and then the takeaway is that while we're exhausted, but we never really got to land for more than an hour or two at any of these places, and all of them really beg for much more time, and that's again the secret of the success is that there is so much depth here. We're so darn proud of what we have. We want to show it off a little bit. I say don't let it go, you know, show it off. It's our backyard, and that's how I describe it. I say my backyard is a great place. And the most beautiful thing about it is it's not put on. It's something that people are to their core. They're friendly. They're welcoming. Yep. Yeah. Yes, Chris. I agree. Well, you do a very cool regular program on select Fridays. It's advertised on your website called Turtle Soup, and at first glance when you see the name, and I'm assuming you probably had a part in coming up with that name of this regular event. You are correct. It's intriguing when you read that. What the heck is Turtle Soup? Do you want to tell us about Turtle Soup? Yeah, that's a fun story. You know, Troy might have overthought the title to begin with on that, but you're probably familiar with the book, you know, Chicken Soup for the Soul, okay? So the turtle is a huge emblem and part of our brand and our logo because it represents our life story. It's also a very important Native American symbol. Right. And, you know, it's part of amulets that would hold part of the umbilical cord, as an example. And so it's a life, it's really a life story that, you know, and in our turtle, there's a swirl because our lives don't go in a straight line. We all know this. And that's part of why the museum is a swirl and a mixture of things too. And again, these are maybe messaging that mighta didn't quite connect right off the bat when the journey opened, but things that we worked really hard at trying to show those connections. And so Turtle Soup was meant to be that connection shower. And the only problem with it initially was people were both a little bit leery that there was actually turtles to soup to be ate, or they came in and they were disappointed to find out it was chicken noodle soup instead of turtles. And so we had a little bit of a struggle time. I've heard turtle tastes like chicken. Yeah. Well, that's a side joke that it's mock turtle, you know? And so for those who are listening and not familiar, no turtles have ever been harmed in the presentation of the Turtle Soup. I just want to let you know that. We'll put that on as a disclaimer. I kind of do that as a disclaimer. And so now we promote the soup that's with it, but in short, it's a noon program on Fridays that includes a bowl of soup. And that isn't meant to be the feature, but the idea is, is that we promote it as good food, good company and good stories. And Turtle Soup is about the people and places of the Black Hills. Okay. And so sometimes we'll do a character like, you know, we might talk about Deadwood Dick as an example. Chris, you might be familiar with that. I am somewhat. And I know there's a Turtle Soup coming up on Deadwood Dick. We're mixing that one in. And then it could be about places. And so as an example, I've got a gentleman coming up from the Southern Hills, Doc Kuchar. He's going to talk about Spokane and other places in between. So these are all gold mining towns that have become ghost towns now. And so it's people and it's places, but it's always Friday at noons. And the reason we say it's on, we, we basically start them in the winter months about October, October 6th. I don't know if I have that Friday, right? So please check our calendar during museum.org. But the first Friday in October will be the first program and they're all being promoted right now. And then we run them to about mid-December and we pick them back up after the holiday season, about mid-January and take them down through the end of April. Soup just doesn't taste as good in the middle of August if it's 90 degrees. So we kind of steer away and then we do a summer series we did this summer, Chris, at five o'clock. And again, that's just, that's part of us. I call it relentless programming in regards to getting across the idea that we're a learning center is, is that you have to do them frequently. And what I'd like people to know is, is that sure, there might be some topics that you have a higher level of interest in, but you're going to get a great program. Whatever Friday you show up, whatever Sunday you come to a learning forum, whatever summer series program you'd come to. I have got such a wonderful group of presenters that have made themselves available to me and people I haven't even met yet. They're going to, there's stuff out here again. And it's because the journey is everything almost. And because we are blessed to have so many people deeply engaged in lots of different conversations. I won't say it's a problem to put on 56, 58 programs a year, but that's what we do. And it's because we have that kind of talent available to us. And what's really especially rewarding is many are just giving, they're just giving their time. I mean, we work with some grants sometimes to bring in some speakers, but really these are people whose passion is to provide deeper understanding of the topics that they're experts in. And I'm blessed as the executive director to have this huge network of support that's out there. That's helping us serve our membership and our community with these programs. And Turtle Soup, back to that, I was going to be happy if we could have 25, 30 people in the room, Chris. I was going to say there, that's a win. And I've been there for a couple of those and there was well over a hundred people. I counted it. Yeah. We've had almost 150 people show up for one program. And that's frightening because now it's an event, and we're lucky to have that kind of support. But yeah, we're probably going to end up probably double to three times my original number thought on all this. And it tells me, no pun intended, but people are hungry for history and they're hungry for the learning of everything. Yeah, there was a pun intended. One thing we haven't touched on is your exhibits. And that's maybe part and parcel of why some people are tuning into this podcast. We have listeners in currently, we've only been on the air for a couple of months now, and we have listeners in 10 countries already. So that is cool. So tell us a little bit about your most popular permanent exhibits. And I know that you have traveling exhibits that come around and you've got a really cool one right now on Buffalo. Tell us what people can expect when they come in, how big, it's a big museum, how big it is, what they can expect to see and look forward to. Well, 58,000 square feet, Chris, just so. And, and again, as far as I'm concerned, not enough square footage to really tell all the stories as well as we can. And yet, at the same time, I think the museum, extraordinarily innovative in its origin. But one of the spaces that you can't help but spend a lot of time in is right in the center of the museum and seeing the Native American culture and community and the roles of men and women, the children kind of described momentarily in that space, we sort of break from the timelining. And, and you really have an opportunity to spend some time and listen to Graminelli, some recordings that were made, telling stories as an elder. And I think that that space can't help but make you stop and slow down and be in the center of the museum there. The geology and archaeology set you up in the timeline. And again, they're wonderful places to spend time with. And we've deliberately created spaces if you bring in kids where they can come in and touch things and learn in those places too. And then you start to see after you leave that space, you start to see the two cultures of our communities and Native American and our Rapid City community members. It's blended together there. It's not all one type of museum, but it's mixture of all of that together. And again, that's very deliberately done in terms of depicting what has occurred within our community and how we strive to find balance between the cultures here. And it's an honest representation of those conversations, moving us all the way forward to Governor Mickelson and reconciliation and the Rapid City flood and Strata Bowl and those types of things. And so I think that what I would ask a potential visitor to do is truly set aside an afternoon or a morning so that you're not in a hurry, slow yourself down a little bit. We're all in a hurry in our lives. And you know, you can do it. You can walk from one end of the museum in a fairly short period of time and stride through all of the, even though there's not straight lines, like we joked about, you can stride through up and down the boardwalks and through all the exhibits and pass through and not really spend much time with it, but you're not engaged with the soul of what the messaging is. And so if you take some time and you really look through the content and our curators have been working really hard on updating signage and showing more connections and connectivity to the collections, and that's us dancing off of the same dance card, I guess. But it's also again, intentionally targeted at making sure that community members and visitors understand what this is all about. And the better job we do with that, the more of your time is needed to embrace all of that. And so, you know, again, you can do it in a short period of time. I think we might not make as much sense when you do it that way. And so we now show three other videos that are a part of the experience too. There was the original journey movie, which is still stands out on its own for setting the pace for all the history and heritage and the timelines itself. But we've also made some additions to that to help you really gain even more appreciation for the places and the people that we live with and live as a community and the things that we experience. So I can, and like I said earlier, because I can't point to a specific spot in the museum, like don't miss this. I guess what I would say is towards the tail end of the museum, there's always a changing exhibit now. So here's the deal. I'm giving all of our community members the reason to come to the museum at least three or four times a year and see at least a great temporary exhibit that's in space there. Because one of the things I heard when I first, it was like nothing changes. Well, we've been changing things deliberately, but some of the walls have to be the same to tell the stories that we're telling, but it can definitely change at the tail end of the museum and have different focuses. And so let's say you're a family member, you know you can come back three, four times at no additional charge. That's part of it. Right now we've got a world-class exhibit on bison created through the Buffalo Foundation and the Kauffman Museum off of an exhibit that was at the CM Russell Museum in Bozeman, Montana. It's of the highest quality. It's never been in South Dakota. We were blessed to be able to, you know, some of these things kind of like putting on programs. I mean, I'm talking to people about things that could happen in 2021, 2022. This one wasn't going to happen in 2019. And then all of a sudden there were some scheduling things that changed and we flexed and we dropped it in and took advantage. I mean, had it come in at the start of the Central States Fair, which was a good timing to have it, and it'll be here through mid-October. So it's really, it's a short run because of the, again, we grabbed it. But what an opportunity for our community members to come and see something that really tells the deep story of the buffalo, its meaning, its almost near eradication, its comeback, and its future. And in my mind, that's an exhibit that's all about the journey, right? In this case, it's the journey of our Well, Troy, I'm going to close out our visit by asking you one last question. And it's a question I ask every guest at one point or another during our interviews. And that question is this, how do you view the future of Rapid City? Well, I'm excited. And I don't know how anybody couldn't be. I mean, I was driving back into Rapid City just the other day, and I was driving by the Ellsworth. And I said out loud to my father, who was riding with me, and I said, do you think anybody has any idea what's going to happen in this community in the next couple years when this new bomb wing comes in? And he, and you know, again, I relayed earlier in the story, he was in the Air Force. And he said, no, they have no idea what's about to happen. And I said, exactly. And I said, you know, we got to hurry up and get ready and keep working on everything that we do here, kind of double time ourselves here, because we're about to get a huge influx of people and jobs and opportunities for our community members. And I hope everybody doesn't take that for granted, because there's so many communities that aren't sure of their future. And they may talk the game that it's going to get better here, but they don't have any idea how it's going to get better. But that in itself right there, that crystallized, I mean, first of all, Rapid City is growing on its own because of its recognition for a lot of other things. But that's also going to push the game to a whole nother level. Well, one of the things that's so exciting about any journey is that it continues. And the Rapid City journey is definitely going to continue, not just the city, but the museum. And I'm very thankful that you are at the helm of the Journey Museum. And Troy, I can't tell you how thankful I am that you took the time out of your very, very busy schedule. You seem relaxed, but I know you're very busy. You're like the duck on the water, calm and smooth on the surface, and pedaling like crazy underwater. But thank you so much for taking the time to visit with us at Amplify Rapid City. And one of the things that we do here is try to get on that wave as that tide comes into Rapid City, and promote our city and tell everybody what is about to happen, and not just what has happened, what is happening, but what is about to happen in Rapid City. But to sum it up, thank you so much for joining us. Chris, thank you. And it is, you know, our time goes back, like you said, a long ways. But I just think I want people to know just how much you care about our community and your efforts with Amplify Rapid City is just your latest version of your care for our community. So thank you for everything that you've done and are going to do, because I know you're not done, your journey is going to continue to. And it is absolutely, I consider it an honor to be asked to be a part of this. I hope that we can provide some inspiration for people, not just for the journey, but just for all things that you're bringing to light here, Chris. And so thank you for what you're doing and have done for us. I think that's where the true credit lies. My job's an easy one. I just gotta open the doors. Well, folks, if you're coming to Rapid City, or even if you live here, and you haven't been there for a while, please mark down the Journey Museum among your top three or four things that you're going to do in Rapid City. You won't regret it a bit. Troy, thank you so much again. Thank you, Chris, for your time. Well, folks, I know this one ran just a little bit long, but I certainly didn't get bored and I had a lot of fun throughout the episode and the interview, and I hope you did too. Thank you for sticking with us and thank you for listening. If you want to learn more about the Journey Museum, please get on their website. Just log on to journeymuseum.org. Once again, that's journeymuseum.org and you are sure to be entertained further about the great things that are happening at the Journey Museum and Learning Center. And then be sure to go on our website. That's amplifyrapidcity.com. Go down to the bottom and leave us an email and let us know how you like the episode. As always, thank you again. Thank you for doing your part to help me amplify Rapid City.