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Groton Daily Independent
Thursday, Oct. 19, 2017 ~ Vol. 25 - No. 102 ~ 22 of 63
South Dakota bar replaces loading dock to continue tradition BY DILLON DWYER, Yankton Daily Press & Dakotan
YANKTON, S.D. (AP) — After nearly 40 years of smashing bottles underneath its boards, The Ice House is replacing its famous loading dock.
The nationally recognized institution, which got its name by being the rst place in the Yankton area to arti cially produce ice in 1928, was named one of America’s best dive bars by Esquire magazine and was also featured on “The Late Show with David Letterman.”
Two things make a visit to The Ice House unique. At the end of prohibition around 1933, the business obtained a beer license and began a long tradition of serving beer to individuals who parked in their car along the loading dock. Along with that practice, it also became standard for individuals to smash their bottles under the dock when they were nished drinking.
Both traditions have stood the test of time thanks to grandfather laws, but the brick wall underneath the deck has not been so lucky. After years of absorbing the impact from bottles being clashed against its surface, it has eroded and began to crumble. The need to repair the brick underneath the deck facilitated the replacement of both structures at the same time.
“The wood on the dock was getting really bad and underneath it the brick on the building had been broken out from people breaking their bottles against it,” said Carla Anderson, whose great-grandfather started the business. “We had to repair the damage done to the bricks, and it was just easier to do that with the deck torn out.”
The new dock will be roughly the same size and dimensions as the original. Aside from looking newer, nothing will change regarding the location’s unique traditions.
“People can still break their bottles under the new dock,” Anderson told the Yankton Daily Press & Da- kotan . “We put in a second layer of brick under there, so we wouldn’t run into the same problems again.” While the business is busiest on Fridays and Saturdays during the summer months, Anderson did note
that there were a couple groups that were hoping to snag a picture on the dock last weekend.
“We had a few disappointed weddings this weekend when they couldn’t get their picture taken on the old dock,” Anderson said. “It’s kind of the thing to do now. People like to come down after their wedding
and take pictures out front.”
Locals are welcome to christen the new dock with a few broken beer bottles once construction is complete. “Everybody is more than welcome to come check it out,” Anderson said.
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Information from: Yankton Press and Dakotan, http://www.yankton.net/
DIY craft businesses gain popularity in South Dakota By MEGAN RAPOSA, Argus Leader
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) — When mother-daughter team Patience Pickner and Chelsea Tracy opened a home decor store near downtown Sioux Falls earlier this year, their goal was to provide a unique experi- ence for buying home decor.
And one way to sell customers on that experience was to help them make the decor themselves.
The store, Conversation Piece, now hosts regular “make-and-take” events, in which customers work through a craft with step-by-step guidance from Pickner. They all leave with their own handmade project. “That’s a huge draw,” Tracy told the Argus Leader . “People are excited to be working with their hands.” More Sioux Falls businesses are jumping on the make-and-take trend in recent years as a way to not only get customers in the door but also to educate them on products and build relationships to ensure
they keep coming back.
While there are no set rules for what a make-and-take looks like, they all typically involve a class-like
setting where an instructor guides attendees through a craft project step-by-step. Customers usually pay for the materials, and the business provides the tools to put it all together.
Often, customers turn make-and-take events into a social event.