Sioux Falls, South Dakota is the largest city in the state and has many attractions, including a zoo, museums, parks, and sports teams. Visitors can also enjoy outdoor activities, such as hiking and skiing, and nearby tourist attractions celebrating the Old West. The Empire Mall is a popular destination, and the city has four professional minor league teams.
Visitors to Sioux Falls, South Dakota will find a relaxing atmosphere and plenty to do. As the largest city in South Dakota and the commercial center for a region that also includes parts of Iowa, Minnesota, and Nebraska, Sioux Falls has many features not often found in other cities with populations less than 200,000 people. Sioux Falls has a zoo, a fairground, several museums, many parks, several minor league professional sports teams, and, of course, the waterfalls for which the city is named. Not far from Sioux Falls are tourist attractions that celebrate the Old West, including a cowboy ghost town.
Outdoor activity
Sioux Falls has more than 70 public parks, including Falls Park, which features the Big Sioux River cascading from waterfalls revealing lovely rose quartzite rock that was exposed by retreating glaciers thousands of years ago. Sertoma Park has a large playground and picnic area as well as a nature center called the Sioux Falls Outdoor Campus. Inside the Outdoor Campus there are displays that show and tell visitors about the local ecology, and there are classrooms where fishing, boating and other courses are held. Outside there are a butterfly garden and a nature walk.
Other city parks have recreational features such as swimming pools, tennis courts, a skate park, and baseball fields. A scenic, paved trail for cyclists and runners encircles the city and is more than 20 miles (32 km) long. Just 3 miles (4.8 km) outside of town is Great Bear Recreation Park where skiers and snowboarders can enjoy many downhill trails when there is snow on the ground.
Tourist attractions
The Great Plains Zoo is a wonderful destination for young and old alike. In addition to the many live animals, the zoo houses a large collection of mounted animals. The collection of the zoo’s Delbridge Museum rivals that of the Museum of Natural History in New York City. Numerous dioramas feature the mounted animals in representations of their natural habitats.
History buffs might enjoy visiting Buffalo Ridge, a cowboy ghost town located 5 miles from town. Visitors to the ghost town can get a sense of what it was like to live in South Dakota during the 8th. Buffalo Ridge offers dozens of exhibits and places to buy food and souvenirs.
The Sioux Empire Fair is held each summer at the WH Lyon Fairgrounds. Thousands of fair visitors can enjoy the rides, animals, concerts and other attractions. The fairgrounds is also the site of one of the largest farm shows in the nation, the annual Sioux Falls Farm Show, where there is stiff competition for the best breeds of cows, pigs and sheep.
Visitors to the city might also enjoy a trip to the region’s largest mall, Empire Mall, which has more than 100 stores and is the most popular tourist attraction in South Dakota, even more popular than Mount Rushmore. Sports fans can watch one of the city’s four professional minor league teams during their respective seasons. The Pheasants play baseball, the Skyforce play basketball, the Stampede play hockey, and the Storm play indoor soccer.
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