Enjoy a walk in downtown Sioux Falls

Sioux Falls
Sioux Falls Sculpture Walk offers a great variety of statues for people to check out

We enjoy checking out downtown areas when we travel. Sioux Falls has made its downtown a great attraction with the addition of a sculpture walk and some cool storefronts. The sculpture walk features more than 50 statues along Phillips Avenue.

The sculpture walk celebrated its 12th anniversary this year. It offers a range of styles with its exhibits – from animals to concept ideas. We checked out each one. We will not share each of the statues. They can be viewed at www.sculpturewalksiouxfalls.com. And they are all worth checking out.

Sioux Falls
Moose in a jacket

We mixed our downtown visit with some statue watching and store visits. My favorite store was A League of Your Own. It’s a nice take on the baseball movie “A League of Their Own.”

Sioux Falls
Love this flag made from baseballs and bats at A League of Your Own

 

The store offers a variety of regional and some national teams. You’ll find clothing, caps, cups, posters and other items for the South Dakota schools – University of South Dakota and South Dakota State – as well schools such as Nebraska, Minnesota and North Dakota. Professional teams featured include the Minnesota Vikings, Twins and Wild, Kansas City Chiefs and Royals, Pittsburgh Steelers and some team from Green Bay (heehee).

Sioux Falls
Two my all-time favorite colleges

We grabbed a couple of coffees at Half Baked. I liked the name. They serve a lot of cupcakes and pastries, too. We resisted the sweets.

Sioux Falls
Half Baked serves some delicious coffee

Half Baked likes their customers to have fun and enjoy themselves. They offer a backdrop and props for fun pictures. Lisa “volunteered” to pose for a few pics during our visit.

Sioux Falls
Half Baked encourages people to take pictures during a visit

Our main goal of visiting downtown was to check out the sculptures, so we did. Man, it was difficult to figure out which were our favorites. Lisa settled on “Gotta Practice First.” It features a boy working on his violin while his loving dog looks up from his feet with his droopy eyes begging to play.

Sioux Falls
Lisa’s favorite statue on the walk

My favorite ended up being “Big Easy,” which featured a jazz player on his saxophone. I thought it really popped.

Sioux Falls
My favorite sculpture

We really enjoyed quite a few more. Some of the sculptures were award winners as people could vote on their favorites. The People’s Choice winner was “Sundays with Jessie.” It featured a boy having a great time with his dog.

Sioux Falls
Voters favorite sculpture

The “Best in Show” for 2015 was “Book Peddlers.”

Sioux Falls
Best in Show

Another we liked was “Brenna.” She appears to be deep in thought while sitting beside water.

Sioux Falls
We thought this statue was beautiful

We loved the placement of “Rising Rainbow.” The rainbow trout – which featured rainbow colors in its presentation – was located outside Skelley’s Grill. Well done, Sioux Falls Sculpture Walk. Well done.

Sioux Falls
Rainbow sculpture
Sioux Falls
The statue shows a mix of people through the years

I played around with light and angle for “In the Mix.” The statue features multicultural faces from our past and present. I like sun spots with some of my photos and the time of the day worked for this one, I thought. I also shot it “normal.”

We continued our walk around downtown Sioux Falls. We came across the federal courthouse. It was built in the mid-1890s. It was expanded in the early 1900s. It’s a Romanesque-styled building.

Sioux Falls
Courthouse is about 120 years old

Theater business is alive downtown. The State Theater was once near death, but community groups are working to renovate it so it can reopen to show movies. We like how they keep the signage lit at night. It keeps the theater in people’s minds that way.

Sioux Falls
State Theater is in the process of renovation

The Orpheum Theater is a few blocks away on Phillips Avenue. It opened in 1913 and has two theaters. The main theater sits almost 700 people. The Anne Zable Studio can sit about 450 people. “The Actor” sculpture stands just outside the Orpheum. As Shakespeare said, “All the world’s a stage…”

Sioux Falls
“The Actor” prepares outside the Orpheum Theater

Besides the sculpture walk and interesting older buildings, downtown Sioux Falls offers some old-style murals. A Coca-Cola one stands high above downtown buildings.

Sioux Falls
Murals are always cool

We enjoyed our visit to downtown Sioux Falls. We recommend checking it out when in the area.

For more information on the area, check out these sites: www.visitsiouxfalls.com or www.dtsf.com.