Culture Comes to Sturgis and a Drive-by thru Deadwood

The Sculptural Walk of Sturgis runs from May 1st to October 31st, 2010. There are a total of 14 sculptures that grace Main Street (mostly). We missed those on other streets. The artists hail from all over the United States. Click here if you want to read more about each sculpture and artist.

Both this sculpture, and another nude sculpture have not gone without controversy. It seems that the local Sturgis clergy are upset with their nakedness. They feel the sculptures should not be right out in public; rather they should be in a place where people would chose to seem them. Would they feel that way if they visited the Sistine Chapel I wonder?

"Eve" by Gary Mitchell


"Scrap Iron Angel" by John Lopez


"The Spirit Speaks" by David Norrie


"The Human Link" by Jon D. Hair


"Seven, Seven, Seven" by Bruce Niemi


"Nurture" by Jeff Laing


"Golden" by Parker McDonald


"Waitin' for an Answer" by George Lundeen


"Grace" by Richard Arfsten


One afternoon we took a drive to Deadwood.

Road to Deadwood - Beautiful, curvy, and could be dangerous if there are hazardous road conditions or if the driver is drunk.



There were many of these signs posted. The State of South Dakota puts these up wherever there is a traffic fatality.



Entering Deadwood



It was a spur-of-the-moment decision to go there, so I hadn't done any research on what to look for in the area or interesting stops to make. I didn't find out till later which casino that Kevin Costner owns, (The Midnight Star), which is located right on Main Street, and I DID NOT get a picture of it!

We drove down the main street, I shot some pictures, Jim turned the truck around, and we went back up the street. The End. Truthfully he saw that Deadwood consisted mostly of casinos (I later learned that they have 80) and he thought it was too dangerous to let me out of the truck.

"*#$$%#@#*&&!!*"

Those were my thoughts.

Main Street Deadwood. As you can see, it was the height of tourist season. (kidding, of course!)









Maybe the tourists were all on this cute trolley taking a tour of the town?



Or, maybe they were busy exploring the Bullock Hotel, built in 1895 and named after Sheriff Bullock, who is said to haunt the place. You can read about accounts here and here where it is listed in the Top 10 Haunted Hotels.



Click on photo to enlarge to read the sign hanging under the light.



Last, but certainly not least, is the famous Fairmont Hotel, built in 1898. First known as the "Mansion Hotel", it had a Turkish bath and barber shop in the basement. The upper floors were used by, shall we say, "ladies of the evening". In 1915, after finding illegal gambling devices in the basement, police piled the items up and burned them in a public display behind the courthouse. Today the hotel is used as a casino.