Major change coming to Sioux Falls restaurants
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) – Some major changes are coming to a couple of Sioux Falls restaurants. Wednesday marks the grand opening of a sports bar downtown, and another restaurant announced it's moving to a different city.
March 15 will be the last day of business for Watecha Bowl Indian Taco Buffet on West Madison St.
'It was a long time coming. We were going to close in December and make the transition anyway. I just decided to list the restaurant early, and it happened to sell in one day. I'm ready you know there's no negative connotation on the move I made solely about growth,' Watecha Bowl owner, Lawrence West said.
West says he plans to serve his traditional Native American food out of a new location in Freeman that will open in May.
'A lot of our long-time customers are going to come out and show support and grab frybread. We're not leaving the scene. We're just disappearing for a couple of months and regrouping,' West said.
West says the decision to move out of Sioux Falls was bittersweet.
'It's going to be emotional for us and for the customers. And as a whole we've built the family here,' West said.
Watecha Bowl closes Sioux Falls doors in move to Freeman
Wednesday also marks the grand opening of Shenanigans Sports Bar & Grill's second location near Falls Park inside the old Papa Woody's location.
'It's been a really quick flip you know as far as timing. So we're looking at eight weeks, it's been fast it's been great. There's a lot of people that have been in and out of here helping getting things set up and we're really thankful for that, we're ready,' Shenanigans general manager, Andy Rose said.
As the restaurant goes into St. Patrick's weekend, it's looking forward to new foot traffic downtown.
'We're bringing that vibe over here, so we're kind of working together, as a collective, as a whole, as a one big family, make a fun place for everyone,' Shenanigans, front of house worker, David Martinez said.
'We will have plenty of TVs, a good atmosphere we will play a lot of games. And that's going to be our main focus is an opportunity for people to be able to sit and watch sports. Whether it's inside or outside,' Rose said.
On Saturday, Shenanigans will have a shuttle taking people to and from both of its locations throughout the day, as well as live entertainment.As for Watecha Bowl, it will still be available for catering in the Sioux Falls area, in addition to its food truck this summer.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
13 hours ago
- Yahoo
MERGE Continues Growth Trajectory with Strategic Additions to Leadership
CHICAGO, June 11, 2025--(BUSINESS WIRE)--MERGE, a leading marketing and technology agency, announces two strategic hires to strengthen and further accelerate its mission of integrated growth and innovation. Heidi West steps into the role of Chief Revenue Officer, and John Bracey joins MERGE as Chief Data and Performance Officer. These accomplished executives bring decades of experience and expertise, fortifying the agency's leadership team as it continues to expand at the intersection of health and wellness. Heidi West, MERGE's new Chief Revenue Officer, offers over 30 years of exceptional sales leadership and a history of delivering impactful technology solutions across healthcare, including at CommonSpirit Health, Englewood Health, Mount Sinai Health System, Stanford Health Care, and other diverse industries. Most recently leading the healthcare team at Zoom, West has held sales and leadership roles at Cisco, Nutanix, and Booz Allen. "I am incredibly excited to join MERGE at such a pivotal time," said West. "I look forward to leveraging my experience in healthcare and technology to help MERGE bridge the gap between health and consumer verticals. By focusing on improving patient engagement and experience, we can deliver trusted, relatable solutions guided by AI and data-driven strategies for our clients and their audiences." West's background in healthcare and executive engagement, combined with her talent for building high-performing sales teams aligned with strategic goals, makes her an invaluable catalyst for strategic growth. Commenting on this significant leadership addition, Stephanie Trunzo, MERGE CEO, remarked, "While leading Oracle Health, I met Heidi in her role driving the health business at Zoom. Her extensive experience in the health industry, coupled with her strategic sales expertise and sincere approach will catalyze the outcome-oriented momentum of our client service and business development teams." Beyond her professional achievements, West is a passionate advocate for women in technology and STE(A)M initiatives. John Bracey, a visionary in data science and analytics, brings an impressive track record of transforming global brands into organizations driven by insight. Formerly EVP at Publicis Groupe, Bracey spearheaded data-driven transformation initiatives across a number of Publicis Groupe's largest consumer and healthcare brands. "My expertise lies where data science and strategy meet. I'm passionate about helping brands maximize the value of their data and media investments, whether by engineering insight or architecting performance," said Bracey. "Across industries, I've seen that an audience-first approach consistently drives better insights and stronger outcomes. At MERGE, I look forward to continuing this work, turning complex data into automated, actionable solutions that deliver measurable business outcomes." "John's ability to harness data to transform businesses will substantively enhance how we deliver personalized, meaningful solutions that unite people and brands. These data-smart offerings will be the electricity that runs through creative and tech implementations to identify, optimize, and predictively model impact. We're incredibly excited about the amplified innovation he will bring to MERGE," said Trunzo. The West and Bracey appointments further accelerate MERGE's strategic leadership expansion, building on the other significant executive announcements this year beginning with Stephanie Trunzo's announcement as CEO, and including Erica Denner (Chief People Officer), Kyle Smith (CTO), Paul Buranosky (CMO), and Chris Esposito (CFO). About MERGE MERGE is a marketing and technology agency built for the intersection of health and wellness. We combine deep expertise in health and consumer behavior with strategy, creativity, experience technology, and digital marketing to design personalized experiences that drive meaningful results. Powered by human insight, creativity, and AI, we weave storytelling through technology to turn complexity into clarity — strengthening relationships between people and brands. With 750+ specialists across Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Denver, Kansas City, Los Angeles, New York, and Raleigh, MERGE partners with leading brands like Abbott, GE Healthcare, American Express, T-Mobile, Coach, and Meta to advance health, wellness, and happiness. Learn more at View source version on Contacts Mary Josephmjoseph@
Business Wire
13 hours ago
- Business Wire
MERGE Continues Growth Trajectory with Strategic Additions to Leadership
CHICAGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--MERGE, a leading marketing and technology agency, announces two strategic hires to strengthen and further accelerate its mission of integrated growth and innovation. Heidi West steps into the role of Chief Revenue Officer, and John Bracey joins MERGE as Chief Data and Performance Officer. These accomplished executives bring decades of experience and expertise, fortifying the agency's leadership team as it continues to expand at the intersection of health and wellness. MERGE announces two strategic hires to strengthen and further accelerate its mission of integrated growth and innovation: Heidi West and John Bracey. Heidi West, MERGE's new Chief Revenue Officer, offers over 30 years of exceptional sales leadership and a history of delivering impactful technology solutions across healthcare, including at CommonSpirit Health, Englewood Health, Mount Sinai Health System, Stanford Health Care, and other diverse industries. Most recently leading the healthcare team at Zoom, West has held sales and leadership roles at Cisco, Nutanix, and Booz Allen. "I am incredibly excited to join MERGE at such a pivotal time," said West. "I look forward to leveraging my experience in healthcare and technology to help MERGE bridge the gap between health and consumer verticals. By focusing on improving patient engagement and experience, we can deliver trusted, relatable solutions guided by AI and data-driven strategies for our clients and their audiences.' West's background in healthcare and executive engagement, combined with her talent for building high-performing sales teams aligned with strategic goals, makes her an invaluable catalyst for strategic growth. Commenting on this significant leadership addition, Stephanie Trunzo, MERGE CEO, remarked, 'While leading Oracle Health, I met Heidi in her role driving the health business at Zoom. Her extensive experience in the health industry, coupled with her strategic sales expertise and sincere approach will catalyze the outcome-oriented momentum of our client service and business development teams.' Beyond her professional achievements, West is a passionate advocate for women in technology and STE(A)M initiatives. John Bracey, a visionary in data science and analytics, brings an impressive track record of transforming global brands into organizations driven by insight. Formerly EVP at Publicis Groupe, Bracey spearheaded data-driven transformation initiatives across a number of Publicis Groupe's largest consumer and healthcare brands. 'My expertise lies where data science and strategy meet. I'm passionate about helping brands maximize the value of their data and media investments, whether by engineering insight or architecting performance,' said Bracey. 'Across industries, I've seen that an audience-first approach consistently drives better insights and stronger outcomes. At MERGE, I look forward to continuing this work, turning complex data into automated, actionable solutions that deliver measurable business outcomes.' 'John's ability to harness data to transform businesses will substantively enhance how we deliver personalized, meaningful solutions that unite people and brands. These data-smart offerings will be the electricity that runs through creative and tech implementations to identify, optimize, and predictively model impact. We're incredibly excited about the amplified innovation he will bring to MERGE,' said Trunzo. The West and Bracey appointments further accelerate MERGE's strategic leadership expansion, building on the other significant executive announcements this year beginning with Stephanie Trunzo's announcement as CEO, and including Erica Denner (Chief People Officer), Kyle Smith (CTO), Paul Buranosky (CMO), and Chris Esposito (CFO). About MERGE MERGE is a marketing and technology agency built for the intersection of health and wellness. We combine deep expertise in health and consumer behavior with strategy, creativity, experience technology, and digital marketing to design personalized experiences that drive meaningful results. Powered by human insight, creativity, and AI, we weave storytelling through technology to turn complexity into clarity — strengthening relationships between people and brands. With 750+ specialists across Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Denver, Kansas City, Los Angeles, New York, and Raleigh, MERGE partners with leading brands like Abbott, GE Healthcare, American Express, T-Mobile, Coach, and Meta to advance health, wellness, and happiness. Learn more at
Yahoo
13 hours ago
- Yahoo
The Latest: Federal appeals court to hear arguments in Trump's bid to erase hush money conviction
Federal appellate judges will hear President Donald Trump's quest to erase his criminal conviction on Wednesday — one of the ways he's trying to get last year's hush money verdict overturned. A three-judge panel is set to consider Trump's efforts to get the New York case moved from state court to federal court, where he could then try to have the verdict thrown out on presidential immunity grounds. Billionaire Elon Musk stepped back from his explosive feud with Trump, writing on X that he regrets that some of his posts went 'too far.' An appeals court is allowing Trump tariffs to continue pending court challenges, extending a similar ruling made after another federal court ruled that he overstepped his presidential authority. And the Justice Department says Trump he has the authority to abolish national monuments meant to protect historical and archaeological sites across broad landscapes, including two in California created by his predecessor at the request of Native American tribes. Here's the latest: Chinese rare earth minerals produced through forced labor, rights group says The Netherlands-based Global Rights Compliance says Avon, Walmart, Nescafe, Coca-Cola and paint supplier Sherwin-Williams may be among companies linked to titanium sourced from Xinjiang, where rights groups allege the Chinese government runs coercive labor practices targeting predominantly Muslim Uyghurs and other Turkic minorities. The report found 77 Chinese suppliers in the titanium, lithium, beryllium and magnesium industries operating in Xinjiang are at risk of participating in China's 'labor transfer programs,' in which Uyghur are forced to work in factories as part of a long-standing campaign of assimilation and mass detention. The named companies didn't immediately comment. A U.N. report from 2022 found China may have committed crimes against humanity in Xinjiang, where more than 1 million Uyghurs are estimated to have been arbitrarily detained as China targets terrorism and separatism. The Chinese Foreign Ministry said the forced labor allegations are 'nothing but a lie.' President Joe Biden signed a law blocking imports from Xinjiang unless businesses can prove they were made without forced labor. Trump announces that US-China trade deal is 'done' Trump says US will get magnets and rare earth minerals from China in a deal imposing 55% tariffs on Chinese goods — up sharply from the 30% set in Switzerland during talks in May. In return, Trump said the U.S. will provide China 'what was agreed to,' including allowing Chinese students to attend American colleges and universities. Trump recently had begun to clamp down on Chinese nationals on U.S. college campuses. Inflation up slightly, costing Americans more for food U.S. inflation picked up a bit last month as food costs rose, though overall inflation remained mostly tame. Consumer prices increased 2.4% last month compared to a year ago, according to a Labor Department report released Wednesday. That is up from a 2.3% yearly increase in April. Excluding the volatile food and energy categories, core prices rose 2.8% for the third straight month. Economists pay close attention to core prices because they generally provide a better sense of where inflation is headed. The figures suggest inflation remains stubbornly above the Federal Reserve's 2% target, which would make it less likely that the Fed will cut its key short-term interest rate. Trump has repeatedly urged the central bank to reduce borrowing costs. Last week, the Labor Department's Bureau of Labor Statistics, which compiles the inflation data, said it is reducing the amount of data it collects for each inflation report. Economists have expressed concern about the cutback, and while it isn't clear how sharp the reduction is, most analysts say it is likely to have a minor impact. Still, any reduction in data collection could make the figures more volatile. ▶ Read more about the inflation report Trump hails appeals court ruling in favor of his tariffs as a 'great' win for the US Trump commented on the ruling on Wednesday on his social media site, saying, 'A Federal Appeals Court has just ruled that the United States can use TARIFFS to protect itself against other countries. A great and important win for the U.S.,' he wrote. Veterans are divided over the Army's big parade, being held on Trump's birthday Until recently, the Army's long-planned birthday celebration did not include a big parade. Trump's addition, featuring hundreds of military vehicles and aircraft and thousands of soldiers, has divided veterans. Some liken it to the military chest-pounding commonly seen in North Korea, a step toward authoritarianism or a perverse birthday party for Trump. Others see it as a once-in-a-lifetime accounting of the Army's achievements and the military service of millions of soldiers over centuries. The parade is not about Trump, they say, but the public seeing the faces of soldiers when so few Americans serve. The Army expects up to 200,000 people could attend and says the parade will cost an estimated $25 million to $45 million. Trump, speaking at Fort Bragg this week, said Saturday would be 'a big day' and noted 'we want to show off a little bit.' ▶ Read more about veteran reactions to Saturday's parade Appeals court lets Trump administration keep collecting tariffs while challenges continue The decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit extends a similar ruling it made after another federal court struck down the tariffs May 28, saying Trump had overstepped his authority. The case involves 10% tariffs the president imposed on almost every country in April and bigger ones he imposed and then suspended on countries with which the United States runs trade deficits. It also involves tariffs Trump plastered on imports from China, Canada and Mexico to pressure them to do more to stop the illegal flow of immigrants and synthetic opioids across the U.S. border. In declaring the tariffs, Trump had invoked emergency powers under a 1977 law. But a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of International Trade ruled he had exceeded his power. The tariffs upended global trade, paralyzed businesses and spooked financial markets. Elon Musk backs off from feud with Trump, saying he regrets social media posts that 'went too far' Early Wednesday morning, he posted 'I regret some of my posts about President @realDonaldTrump last week. They went too far.' Musk's break with a president whom he spent hundreds of millions of dollars to elect appeared to put an end to his influence in the White House and prompted concerns about effects on his companies. As a major government contractor, Musk's businesses could be particularly vulnerable to retribution, and Trump has already threatened to cut Musk's contracts. Musk earlier deleted a post in which he claimed without evidence that the government was concealing information about the president's association with infamous pedophile Jeffrey Epstein. Meanwhile, other posts that irritated Trump, including ones in which Musk called the spending bill an 'abomination' and claimed credit for Trump's election victory, remained live. On Sunday, Trump told NBC's Kristen Welker that he has no desire to repair their relationship and warned that Musk could face ' serious consequences ' if he tries to help Democrats in upcoming elections. A federal appeals court is set to hear arguments in Trump's bid to erase his hush money conviction Trump's quest to erase his criminal conviction heads to a federal appeals court Wednesday. It's one way he's trying to get last year's hush money verdict overturned. A three-judge panel is set to hear arguments in Trump's long-running fight to get the New York case moved from state court to federal court, where he could then try to have the verdict thrown out on presidential immunity grounds. The Republican is asking the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to intervene after a lower-court judge twice rejected the move. As part of the request, Trump wants the federal appeals court to seize control of the criminal case and then ultimately decide his appeal of the verdict, which is now pending in a state appellate court. The Manhattan district attorney's office, which prosecuted Trump's case, wants it to stay in state court. ▶ Read more about Trump's bid to erase his conviction
