March 19, 2019

A new event barn is coming to a property near the future state-run veterans cemetery along Slip Up Creek.

Tyler Childress owns 30 acres called the Laurel Ridge planned development one mile north of the city limits and northeast of the junction of interstates 229 and 90.

He bought the land 18 months ago and envisioned an event barn there after attending a wedding at a similar venue out of state.

“We talked to the owner and thought it was a really neat idea. At that point, it wasn’t as popular in the Sioux Falls market, but obviously that’s changed,” he said.

He settled on the location in the Slip Up Creek area because it’s in an opposite part of the market from other venues.

“We’re doing what I would call a different style barn,” he said. “It will have the traditional ranch three-panel white fencing and a long approach from the drive. The goal is to do a different design than what the other barns are doing, something that will be different, new and innovative to the Sioux Falls market.”

The Laurel Ridge Event Barn will be between 9,000 and 10,000 square feet and accommodate 400 to 450 people, he said. It will include a full-service bar, and he’s in the process of buying a liquor license for it. The design is inspired by barns in the South.

“It will be a much more open concept,” Childress said, adding that with a 42-foot ceiling, it’s the tallest barn in the area. “The big attraction is the windows.”

There will be landscaped outdoor venue space as well.

“Most other places are using sod or a small archway, and we want to use a 40-foot window wall as the backdrop of the wedding outside.”

At the time he bought the land, Childress didn’t realize a state-run veterans cemetery was planned on donated city land nearby along Slip Up Creek.

But, he sees it as complementary to the business, which also will support corporate events.

“There’s no food or drink allowed at the cemetery, so we’d hope to be a fellowship gathering area.”

He hopes to have a building permit in hand by April and then will start taking event bookings. The plan is to have the venue open by January 2020, if not sooner.

His land use was approved at a joint meeting of the Sioux Falls City Council and Minnehaha County Commission last month. They stopped short of allowing a longer term plan to add seven residential lots on the property because it’s not in the city’s development plan until at least 2030.

“We’re about 10 years too soon,” Childress said, adding he plans to reapply once the city growth area reaches his land and ultimately hopes to build his own home there.

“The goal is always to have ag use out there as well,” he said. “Part of having that three-panel white horse fence is we want to have horses out there. Our goal is to keep that midsection by the creek natural.”