A small Northern Hills town is expanding with new businesses

RAPID CITY, S.D. (KEVN) - The town of Belle Fourche is expanding. This can be seen as new infrastructure is being built. In fact, according to mayor Randy Schmidt, Belle Fouche adds at least one business to their downtown area each year.

“5 to 10-year plan of what you’re going to do to make sure your infrastructure is moving forward in that direction. You know the more people you have, the more taxes that cities able to collect and run on, and more businesses are able to flourish,” said Mayor Randy Schmidt for Belle Fourche.

The northern Black Hills tourism numbers increase during the summer but decline during the winter. So, the city of Belle Fourche is building a new convention center with the hopes that the space will attract attention all year round.

“We’re the Northern Gateway of the Black Hills. So when things are happening, it’d be a wonderful place for them to stay. They can hold a convention they can then hit to skiing snowmobiling in the wintertime,” said Schmidt.

Along with the new center, a couple has flipped on the lights to a new year-round ice cream and coffee shop.

“Actually, put the coffee in because I said nobody’s going to buy ice cream in the wintertime. Well, I was so wrong; I’ve had those frigid freezing days we had last over a month ago. We had people coming in buy ice cream. And I couldn’t believe it; it was 20 below zero.,” said Owner Greg Mondillo for Hot Shots Ice Cream.

As Belle Fourche continues to expand and new businesses pop up, Schmidt reminds people that the growth isn’t just for tourists but for locals as well.

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