July 17, 2024

This paid piece is sponsored by Sioux Metro Growth Alliance.

Do some “scary” shopping, let off some steam on five slides and get up close with more than 20 adorable alpacas.

You’ll find it all waiting with just a quick trip to Brandon.

Indoor playground

Inside Brandon’s Holiday Inn Express & Suites, you’ll now find a new reason to pay a visit year-round.

Located at 1103 N. Splitrock Blvd., it now has a large playground inside the indoor pool area.

“Our vision with the play set was just to bring families together for a place indoors with hours of fun and entertainment that appealed to a large age group,” general manager Sara Hayes said.

Kids will encounter five slides, a climbing wall and lots of obstacles.

“They’ve been loving it,” Hayes said. “A nice thing is they can have the option to swim and get wet or just come in and play.”

 The pool area also is like new now.

“That was all redone,” Hayes said. “We still have our huge hot tub as well, so Mom and Dad can relax, and kids can play. So we’re big on staycations. You don’t have to go far from home, but you can feel like you’re somewhere else.”

The upper mezzanine allows plenty of space for special events. Book a birthday party or family gathering and you don’t have to be a hotel guest to use the playground and pool. 

And while the new play area is geared toward age 4 through 12, adults technically aren’t off-limits.

“We’ve all gone down the slide,” Hayes laughed.

To learn more, click here. 

Terror 29

Just a short drive away in Brandon, you’ll discover a place where it’s Halloween every day.

“I’m kind of living my childhood dreams right now, and so I would assume that there’s plenty of kids that also love horror and would love something like this,” said Zac Tenneboe, owner of Terror 29.

“So it’s really to give back to the community, and it’s something that I wish I would’ve had.”

Terror 29 began in 2019 as a haunted house and has always sold a few items during the season. But now, it’s also a year-round retail store where you’ll find anything a Halloween enthusiast would love.

“Action figures, T-shirts, key chains, props, masks,” Tenneboe said. “Down the road, once we get closer to October, we’ll have stuff more for home haunters like fog machines, black lights and special effects.”

He’ll be adding a weekly spook show filled with ghost stories and magic tricks and will continue to put on the haunted house here in October.

“It’s been really good,” Tenneboe said of the new store. “People have been showing up every single week. The demand is there, so that’s kind of proved it. It’s cool.”

Find Terror 29 at 1420 E. Cedar St. For now, it’s open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturdays, though hours likely will adjust and increase as Halloween nears. You can click here to learn more about special events.

Red Truck Alpaca Farm

And now, for something completely different: Red Truck Alpaca Farm, where some of the most adorable animals are waiting for a visit near Brandon’s McHardy Park.

After acquiring their acreage a few years ago, “my son and wife did some research and found that alpacas don’t require a lot of space, and they’re fairly easy to take care of,” Wade Mosset said. “They’re very gentle creatures, and people love them — love to look at them, love to watch them. So we ended up getting alpacas.” 

Mosset spent a career as an engineer nationwide before he and his wife returned to family in South Dakota a few years ago.

“Everything fell into place,” he said. “We happened to be here at the right time when it was selling, and it all just worked out.”

Now, they’re inviting the public to their acreage – where you can get an up-close look at more than 20 alpacas for free, with babies expected every year.

Alpacas will come right up to you, Mosset said.

“They’re very curious animals and very intelligent animals,” he said. “Everybody wants to scratch their heads, you know. And they they don’t like their heads being touched.”

You’ll also find a gift shop, with some adorable alpaca itemss to take home – as well as what’s been sheared from the animals that live on the farm.

“We actually take the fiber to a local fiber mill that will process it into roving for spinners, hand spinners, or into yarn,” Mosset said. “So we’ve got that for sale here, so people can go find an alpaca, they like it, they can come in here, and they can buy the yarn and the roving for it and make hats, sweaters, gloves.”

There are snacks and candy for sale, plus soft-serve ice cream and special events ahead. The owners say it’s a great fit for parties, field trips and definitely plenty of memorable photo-ops. For now, it’s open on weekends and by appointment.

Click here to learn more and for current hours.