Marshall Mitchell: Mitchell man requests 'fair and equal' treatment from events on Main Street

Yahoo

26-04-2025

Apr. 25—MITCHELL — Location. Location. Location.
During the citizens' input portion of its April 21 regular meeting, the Mitchell City Council heard a complaint from local resident Jay Wempe.
Wempe requested that the council take immediate action to make events in Mitchell more fair to vendors, especially those who have brick and mortar businesses and pay taxes in Mitchell.
"I'm asking you to create equally-fair spots for all vendors at all Mitchell events," Wempe said.
Vendor placement issues are not an isolated incident, according to Wempe, who cited a soccer tournament that allowed one food vendor near the field of play, but not the other food vendors.
According to Wempe, the location of Matilda's Coffee and Desserts, an offshoot of Michelle's Mad Batter, had a very poor location on Third Avenue at Main Street during the Palace City Pre-Sturgis Party in 2024.
"By the time we were seen, most had already purchased from the Fifth Avenue and Main Street parking lot area," Wempe said.
Matilda's Coffee and Desserts was "late to the game because she wasn't here years ago," Wempe said, referring to established food vendors at the Fifth Avenue and Main Street parking lot.
Wempe, who is a not-so-silent partner of Michelle's Mad Batter, petitioned the council about placement along Main Street, requesting that all food vendors should be placed together to make it "fair and equal."
Officials disagreed.
"Obviously, if something is not broken you're not going to fix it," Mitchell Events Coordinator Aaron Hieb told the Mitchell Republic.
2025 marks the eighth year of the Palace City Pre-Sturgis Party on Mitchell's Main Street. The event's sponsorship has grown with the event's patronage, which is about 4,000 to 6,000 people, according to Hieb.
The city took over the biker rally from Brian Klock, who started the event 19 years ago out of Klock Werks, a motorcycle accessories and specialty shop.
The majority of food trucks have been with the event since it started, Hieb said. Any additional food vendor applicants serving entrees will be put on a wait list.
"We kept some things consistent. They were guaranteed a spot prior to the city of Mitchell taking this as long as they show up each party," Hieb said.
Seven food vendors, from Mitchell and surrounding towns, set up at the Fifth Avenue and Main Street parking lot south of Bradley's Pub and Grill. They do not pay a registration fee, according to Hieb, because Klock did not require a registration fee and the city has maintained vendor expectations.
"Currently, the planning committee does not have any intention of fixing something that isn't broken," Hieb said.
The city added Third Avenue and Main Street food vendors in recent years to meet demand. The three 20-minute motorcycle shows at Second Avenue draw a hungry crowd, according to Hieb.
"Third Avenue requires some food for those people that travel all the way down there," Hieb said. "We're trying to incorporate as much of Main Street as we can."
In 2024, Mitchell-based vendors County Fair, Adamo's Kitchen and Matilda's Coffee and Desserts each paid a $100 application fee and were placed at the empty lot at Third Avenue and Main Street, a fee that Fifth Avenue parking lot food vendors do not pay.
"Matilda's has a $5 ticket item average. Do you know how long it takes to pay off $100 fee on a $5 ticket item? So if you're not in a prime location, what happens?" Wempe said.
While Adamo's Kitchen and County Fair have renewed vendor spots at Third Avenue for the Palace City Pre-Sturgis Party in 2025, Wempe did not renew Matilda's spot, which will be filled by Mya's Teriyaki. Michelle's Mad Batter has a brick and mortar location at North Lawler Street, two blocks east of the Main Street empty lot on Third Avenue.
As of now, there are eight non-food vendors, ranging from non-profits to crafts, who paid a $50 registration fee to set up between Fourth Avenue and Third Avenue for the Pre-Sturgis Party in 2025.
In January 2023, Michelle's Mad Batter, co-owned by Wempe's daughter Michelle Kalan, opened across from the Corn Palace
in one of the storefronts owned by the Mitchell Area Development Corporation.
Michelle's Mad Batter also serves lemonade, which became a point of contention during the Corn Palace Festival.
"Guess what they did? Put all the lemonade vendors right outside us," Wempe said. "Mitchell brick and mortar should be given priority over location."
The Corn Palace Festival is set up with a mix of varying kinds of vendors all the way down Main Street, according to Corn Palace Director Dave Sietsema. Vendor spaces are renewed based on prior locations, not by lottery or staff discretion.
"You've invested time, effort and whatever level of marketing to say, 'I'll be at my normal spot,'" Sietsema said. "At other events, it doesn't switch every year."
Empty vendor spaces as a result of retirements or cancellations are given to the next person who requests a change or to a new vendor.
"I try to find a spot for everybody. It just may not be what they think they need," Sietsema said.