Mr. Worldwide to hit the slopes. Pitbull will headline the Lallycooler Music Festival in July at Great Bear Ski Valley. He's the second major act announced for the inaugural festival, joining country music star Sam Hunt.
Pitbull's bio in the press release from the Washington Pavilion also included this fun little tidbit: his signature "EEEEYOOO" yell is one of fewer than 40 sound trademarks protected by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Maybe that'll come in handy at bar trivia someday???
Longtime volunteer named grand marshal. Shawn Cleary, who's volunteered with Sioux Falls St. Patrick's Day celebrations for 16 years, has been named grand marshal of the 45th annual St. Patrick's Day Parade in downtown. The parade will take place March 15, and, as is tradition, anyone with a parade button can walk in the parade (get your button at 605 Running Co. or The Cookie Jar). Learn more and register a float here.
Downtown businesses give back. DTSF, Inc. in partnership with Pendar Properties and 24 local businesses raised more than $7,300 for the Union Gospel Mission as part of the 12th annual Downtown Gives Fundraiser. Did you buy one of those coupon books during the holidays? Then you helped contribute to that total.
PSA: Those coupons are good through the end of March, so you can still snag some downtown deals if you (like me) didn't get a chance to use them all at Christmas.
This week's civics lesson. Students at Edison Middle School this week were asked to share what they thought the Sioux Falls School Board does. Their replies were very cute and not 100% on the mark, as one might imagine, but they did get a nice little lesson on how their school system is governed. You can watch the cute kid responses at about the 10-minute mark of Monday's board meeting.
Concealed carry on campus. Lawmakers are also considering limiting state colleges' ability to restrict gun owners with an enhanced concealed carry permit from bringing a firearm on campus – essentially, it would make it easier for those permit carriers to bring their concealed weapons on campus. Kelo has the story.