Faron Wahl, Manager.

We’re a resilient bunch here in South Dakota. And for a lot of folks, 2019 has required every ounce of resiliency they can muster.

Like virtually everyone, we’ve meandered our way through weather-paced challenges since March, and a few of those trials continue today. I try to be careful, however, to avoid complaining about it. After all, we’re so much better off than we could be.

Our Lake Poinsett neighbors to the north continue to live through a truly devastating water situation, one that no one could have imagined a year ago. Our friends around the bend at Lake Herman State Park spent a good part of their season literally pumping water out of a few campsites. While they may still face some related, residual tasks, they’ve done amazing work over there to beat the problem.

Those hardy people behind the scenes with Sioux Valley Energy and other area utilities have been forced to re-create even the most well-written plans for dealing with tough weather years. And anyone with township, county, or state responsibilities for road upkeep have dealt with a plateful like never experienced.

No one has taken the hit like our state’s ag producers, on both the crop and livestock sides of things. It’s difficult enough to wade through a devastating year that affects your ability to plant or care for the very objects of your entire balance sheet’s income. But when that threatens your very livelihood and heritage, as is the case for many, the playing field becomes lopsided beyond what many people will ever fully understand.

As things stand, we are in good shape here at the village, relatively speaking. That doesn’t mean, however, that we’re immune to carving out unprecedented plans to prepare for and take care of our season’s events and guests. And our upcoming Jamboree is the cornerstone of that stack of blocks.

The greatest challenge in this pursuit may not be the continued rain and wet ground conditions themselves, but rather that fact that it’s still too early to know how the temperatures, humidity, storms, and sunshine will mix to determine our grounds conditions by the third week of August. You can strategize all day long, but at the end of the plan, countless variables dance just out of reach.

Last weekend I presented to our board an overview of items we need to be deliberate in planning for, should this jet stream keep dealing us a soggy hand of cards. They amount to back-ups to our back-ups; a mental sketch of how to be best prepared to look after the details involved with so many valued guests coming to visit.

The bottom line is this: we are hoping for a sunny, drier August, and we very well could get it. Every weather trend shifts at some point, and with every passing month, we certainly get closer to whenever that shift will occur. But should it play out to the damper side of things, we’ll work hard on the best possible formula to make our Jamboree visitors not only feel welcome, but also comfortable.

We are looking forward to a great event, featuring days packed with demonstrations, parades, train and carousel rides, food, flea market booths, tractor pulls, and tons of vintage farm equipment, with our central grounds area reserved for the JI Case Collectors’ Summer Show! Do join us!