This past weekend was Year 4 of "Tour Molly" in lovely Sioux Falls, South Dakota, which at about 200,000 people is the largest city in the state and also the largest city of our daddy-daughter trips thus far. It was my first time ever visiting or even driving through South Dakota and became the 34th state I've seen a ballgame in. It was a mere 3-hour drive from our house in Cold Spring, which was nothing compared to the 6+ hour trek to Lansing, Michigan last year. Our trips from Milwaukee were certainly starting to test the limits of how long I could keep a small child in a car and still make it worth it, and we likely would have been exploring obscure Illinois or Indiana towns for the foreseeable future if we were still living there, so from a strictly ballpark travel perspective, the timing of our move to Minnesota couldn't have been better. We now have an untapped swath of travel options to our west and north that I likely would have never been able to reach before, so I'm excited for what the future holds for Molly and I. But for this year, it was Sioux Falls, and I must say my first impression of South Dakota got off to a rocky start when the freeway speed limit immediately changed to 80 mph upon entering the state. But that would quickly change when we arrived at beautiful Falls Park around noon. We had lunch and played games at Severance Brewing across the street and then walked around the falls for awhile, and I was completely awestruck by it. There's just something about the sight and sound of rushing water that draws you in and instantly calms you, and it really helped ground me and clear my mind for the start of the weekend. I also learned from visiting Falls Park that some rivers can naturally flow north, which I never knew! There was a lot more around the park that we would explore on Saturday, but for now it was off to the hotel to do the one thing Molly always cares about most - swimming in the hotel pool. I was originally going to take her out to dinner Friday night and do the ballgame on Saturday, but I flipped those because of the weather forecast, so we were off to the park by about 5:45 for a 7:05 first pitch.
There is conflicting information on when this park actually opened for business. Wikipedia and several various ballpark websites give the date of 1941, but the team's own website says 1964. In either case, the main point here is it's an old stadium that has not been renovated in over 20 years, and it shows. Approaching from the parking lot, there is not even really a "facade" to the stadium, and you basically just see the exposed concrete structure/seating bowl and inner workings of the concourse. Based on this unapologetic brutalist expression, I'm more inclined to believe that the current form of the stadium is a 1960s era construction. Nothing at this ballpark is hidden from view behind drywall or cladding or ceilings of any kind and it is just out for the world to see - which might have been cool whenever it was built and I certainly find the simplicity interesting as an architect, but that also means you're seeing all of the park's flaws too. All of the concrete that is stained or chipping, the rusting exposed rebar, and the peeling paint are on full display. It would be completely expected for a 60-80 year old park to have these issues, and there are certainly many instances of ballparks that have exposed structure, but here at "The Birdcage" as it is affectionately referred to, there is also nothing to distract you from it either. There's very little in the way of signage, plaques, or interesting aesthetic features, or a glob of concession stands, or even a pop of color to draw your eye aside from the canary-yellow beer ads. It's a very gray and drab park with lots of tall open space that seemed mostly empty. It felt more of the scale of a football stadium given its height and openness. When you have the type of ballpark where the main circulation is under the seating bowl, you really need to put some thought into the visual aspect of the concourse, and the Canaries just clearly did not. You can get away with a lot more when the concourse is on top of a seating bowl and most people are just looking towards the field as they walk. The ballpark was also only at about 50% capacity and there were only 2 or 3 concession stands open, which only further contributed to the empty and cold feeling. I just did not feel welcomed at any point during our visit. There was only one concession stand open when the gates opened and it did not have any food yet - they literally make the food somewhere else in the stadium and two kids run it over to the concession stand on mobile carts. There was no staff near the children's area which made me very uncomfortable. I was sold a $23 obstructed view ticket without any warning, and I could not find one usher to complain to about it. I know South Dakota is big on personal freedom and no rules, but I would have appreciated a little effort in any aspect of our time there. However, even at the worst parks, you can always find something enjoyable, so I will say that there were ample alcohol stands with a decent variety, including a nice little right field pavilion and a frozen daiquiri stand that seemed very popular, and I also appreciated the lack of protective netting in a day and age that it's getting out of hand at a lot of parks. Unfortunately, as I mentioned, we just happened to be sold seats that were behind one of the few giant posts holding the small amount of netting there was, so Molly and I moved a few sections over and settled in for an evening of independent league baseball.
Again, I was so amazed by Sioux Falls, and it's definitely high up there in terms of my "best ballpark cities." Right or wrong, the Dakotas never really acknowledged the COVID outbreak, and as a result, the Sioux Falls downtown has a pre-2020 vibrancy that is uncommon in cities these days. It was hard to find a storefront that was empty, or a bar or store that wasn't full, and I was not expecting the city to be as crowded, energetic, historical, or cultural as it was. Molly and I had the best time, and I would love to go back someday. Every year, Molly can do a little bit more and conversate a little more meaningfully, and I am trying to cherish these trips for as long as she'll let me, before she starts middle school and inevitably wants nothing to do with me.
park rankings and statistics:
aesthetics - 2
views from park – 2
view to field - 5 (good down the lines with no netting, many are obstructed by poles behind the netting)
surrounding area – 6 (convention center, stadiums, airport, Terrace Park - 5 min from downtown)
food variety - 2
nachos - 9 (nacho bar)
beer - 7 ($9 for 16oz, decent variety)
vendor price - 8
ticket price - 1 ($35 behind home plate for indy ball!)
atmosphere - 3
walk to park – 3
parking price/proximity - 10 (adjacent lot for free)
concourses - 2
team shop - 6
kids area - 7 (a good variety but not supervised)
most unique stadium feature – turf infield and grass outfield
best jumbotron feature – Harry Canary runs through promos for upcoming homestand
best between-inning feature – kids Ketchup & Mustard Race
field dimensions – 313/410/312
starters – Davis Feldman (FM) v. Ty Culbreth (SXF)
opponent – Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks
time of game – 3:02
attendance – 2712
score – 7-1 L
Brewers score that day – 6-5 L
touch with baseball when his childhood heroes Robin Yount, Paul Molitor, and Jim Gantner retired but the Great Home Run Chase of 1998 reignited his passion. As a student at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Erik became involved with the campus chapter of Habitat for Humanity. With this group Erik traveled to Portland, OR and Baltimore, MD to work on construction projects and help the group raise $25,000 to partially sponsor a house in Milwaukee. Also at UWM, Erik met Peter Nagel. The two attended their first Brewers game together during Opening Weekend 2003. Despite their failure to ignite the coals at their first tailgate, the two had a blast and were soon making weekly trips to the ballpark. Erik has gone on to several colleges and changed careers several times, and has moved all the way out to New Hampshire, but has always stayed true to his baseball roots by holding part-time stadium usher jobs. To this day he looks back fondly on his incredible cross-country journey.
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