Stan Rauch, Manager

We are about to be off and running with the 2014 season at Prairie Village and we anticipate that it will be another exceptionally good one.

Our annual Consignment Auction is this Saturday starting at 10:00 a.m. We have a large number of items consigned including tractors, farm equipment, vehicles and a wide variety of other items. We will continue to take consignments for quality items only up until 8:30 p.m. on Friday, and we require that they be at the village by that time also.

Consignments can be seen on the Prairie Village website at prairievillage.org/auction and we update the list daily. The auction is a great opportunity to be a buyer or a seller. Last year we had a record high 375 bid card holders in attendance and they purchased $141,000 worth of goods. The auction is an important fund raiser for the village, the proceeds from which go to the preservation of the historic buildings.

This Sunday is opening day at the village and with it being Mother’s Day, all mothers ride the train free at 2:00 p.m. Our operating hours are 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. on Sunday. The train runs every Saturday at 2:00 and the carousel operates daily.

During May we will have a large number of eager elementary school students with us to learn about and obtain an appreciation for how eastern South Dakota rural residents lived many years ago. They will also have fun riding the train and carousel. Seeing all the enthusiasm in the kids is a great way to kick off our season. We have been conducting the school tours program since 1968.

The 2014 Prairie Historical Society board of directors includes George Lee, president (Madison), Tim Ramstad, vice president (Colton), Laura Palmer, secretary (Madison), Kent Petersen, treasurer (Madison), Jeff Hansen (Lake Wilson, MN), Mickie Kreidler (Madison), Jim Wallace (Clark), Kelli Wollmann (Madison) and Travis Voeltz (Howard).

This season’s gift shop employees are Tracy Hewitt, Paige Gaikowski, Taylor Bird and Maisie Hewitt. Maintenance is Larry Ruste and Zach Janssen Accountant Bernice Hackett and myself as manager are the village’s two year-round employees.

We all look forward to making the upcoming season at the village be an exceptionally fine one.