This from a reader;
See the attached file which is a screenshot of a Facebook post by the Sioux Falls Chamber of Commerce and a post reply from the 2025 chairperson of the 2025 Livestock Show.
Seems like she was somewhat blindsided by this decision. Chamber of Commerce operates from behind a shroud, lacking transparency, too apparently.
Which came first? The chicken or the egg?
Has the lack of transparency of city government influenced the local business community?
Or (seems more likely), has the lack of transparency endemic in the local business community permeated into the halls of city government?
I’m an ag guy, but not gung ho that the Livestock Show should / needs continue in Sioux Falls. I think things can get stale and be considered to have “run their course”. The Livestock Show might be one of those. I went to the show one afternoon about 15-20 years ago when a college friend’s kids were showing steers (and hogs?). I found the fairgrounds dreary af on a South Dakota January afternoon.
There a definitely fewer people directly involved in agriculture all around the state; fewer people involved in showing livestock. And there are definite cultural changes taking place in Sioux Falls. Much more bougie than when I moved here 24 years ago.
I just thought appearances are that someone made a unilateral decision and didn’t even bother to engage the people in the organization who ran it on behalf of the Chamber.
I know of Abby, and I can say she is a person who does her due diligence, and if she didn’t know, something’s up. After some local chamber staff resigned a few years ago I asked about any employment issues at the Chamber. Let’s just say it’s something many large orgs face and usually the ‘issue’ is eliminated, the problem in this case is that the ‘issue’ runs the joint. The show being retired probably had less to do with the show and more to do with the sponsor.