Mount Rushmore Presidents to Take Journey across Midwest


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PIERRE, S.D. –The presidents of Mount Rushmore National Memorial will embark on a 14-city tour across the Midwest, beginning May 23. George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln will visit some of the most popular sites in the Midwest and personally invite residents to make a trip to South Dakota this summer.

 

The official tour by the presidential mascots and an accompanying street team from the Department of Tourism are part of the Department’s “Your American Journey” marketing campaign. The campaign encourages vacationers to visit places of great historic significance, unimagined beauty and patriotic inspiration within the borders of South Dakota. The group will ride in style in a bus wrapped with custom artwork depicting the variety that South Dakota offers travelers.

 

“All of the cities along this tour are filled with people who have a high propensity to travel to South Dakota,” says Jim Hagen, Secretary of the Department of Tourism. “The goal of the presidential mascots’ tour is to build awareness about South Dakota, create some excitement among those who see them, and plant the seed of a South Dakota vacation with all of the potential visitors we have the opportunity to speak with one-on-one.”

 

Cities, in order of the tour schedule, include:

  • Rapid City, S.D.
  • Pierre, S.D.
  • Omaha, Neb.
  • Lincoln, Neb.
  • Kansas City, Mo.
  • Des Moines, Iowa
  • Chicago, Ill.
  • Milwaukee, Wis.
  • Madison, Wis.
  • Eau Claire, Wis.
  • Minneapolis, Minn.
  • Fargo, N.D.
  • Watertown, S.D.
  • Sioux Falls, S.D.
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The presidential mascots and accompanying street team will also offer residents of these cities a chance to win one of four vacation giveaways. Contest details and registration can be found beginning May 15 on the Department of Tourism’s Facebook page, at www.Facebook.com/SouthDakotaTourism. The contest runs through June 14, 2013.

 

The mascots, designed to reflect the mountain carving in the Black Hills, have traveled across the country the past two years, including a stop in New York City to watch the “Mount Rushmore’s American Pride” float in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. The presidents’ journey can be followed online at www.Facebook.com/SouthDakotaTourism, or by using the hashtag, #SouthDakota, on Twitter (@SouthDakota).

 

The South Dakota Department of Tourism is comprised of Tourism, the South Dakota Arts Council, and the South Dakota State Historical Society. The Department is led by Secretary James D. Hagen.

 

 

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