SFS-Community Guide 2022-02-01 Draft - Flipbook - Page 31

S I O U X FA L L S - I S M S
CRUISING “THE LOOP”
This is one for an older (sorry, Gen X) generation of
Sioux Falls. Downtown used to have a very cruise-
GIGGLEBEES/
WILBUR THE COYOTE
able loop around 10th and 11th Streets which teens
Wilbur the Coyote is an animatronic coyote
would drive laps around while others loitered
and local icon from former family restaurant
about, sometimes committing crimes, per Argus
and arcade, Gigglebees.
Leader archives.
Gigglebees was open at the
This went on from the ‘50s until the “loop” closed in
corner of 14th Street and
2003, when the city changed up the traffic pattern
Minnesota Avenue
and restricted cruising and loitering.
from the mid-80s
You’ll still hear folks talking about “cruising the
loop,” or, others will talk about how closing the loop
was a boon for downtown because, without the
loop, there were fewer teens hanging about and
vandalizing things.
until 2008. Both
Gigglebees and
Wilbur have a
special place
in the hearts
of many Sioux
Falls ‘90s kids.
THE POMP ROOM
Long before Sioux Falls had big-name musical acts
coming to the Denny Sanford Premier Center, there
was the Pomp Room. The carpeted bar and music
venue was a downtown hot spot dating back to the
mid ‘50s but really gaining notoriety through the
THE FAILED ZIP FEED
MILL DEMOLITION
‘80s and early ‘90s. Folks still talk about the time
You know it today as Cherapa Place on the east bank
Aerosmith stopped by in 1993.
of downtown, but before Cherapa was built, the Zip
It closed in 1998, but it’s still talked about. There’s
even a Pomp Room documentary in the works.
Feed Mill stood tall for decades. Its demolition was
supposed to be a big event in December 2005, and a
big yellow “BOOM!” banner hung from the concrete
building.
The problem? It didn’t go boom.
Thus, the failed demolition (and photos of the
“leaning tower of Sioux Falls”) are cemented in the
local lexicon.
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