22-05-2025
Levitt pre-concert preps & butterflies
SIOUX FALLS, SD (KELO) — We're just two days away from the start of another season of free, outdoor concerts courtesy of Levitt at the Falls.
The Levitt staff has been readying the downtown Sioux Falls venue for much of the month, complicated, somewhat, by the recent rain and wind.
Spring cleaning has been taking center stage at Levitt at the Falls.
'As you can imagine, when we first show up here at the Levitt shell, it's full of spiders and a lot of dust. So, it really is just about dragging everything out, cleaning it top to bottom and making sure it's show-ready,' Levitt at the Falls President & CEO Nancy Halverson said.
But it's not just spiders greeting the staffers. Plenty of butterflies are floating around as well.
'There are always opening night butterflies, when it comes to the start of the season,' Halverson said.
The recent wind and rain have added to the challenges of preparing the Levitt stage for Friday's opening night.
'Even pre-season, sometimes the weather can mess with our timing a little bit, but we're always making sure we can get it ready for that first show night,' Halverson said.
This is Jeff Venekamp's first time pulling cleanup duty as the Levitt's new operations manager.
'I guess that's my hardest challenge, is I'm bringing something out, opening up a box, going what's in here? Oh, what do we use this for? Okay, I guess that should go over here,' Venekamp said.
Venekamp joined the Levitt staff in January and helped with booking more than 100 acts for this year's concert season.
'I think the hard part is just beginning. I think it's actually doing the concerts is the tricky part, because when it's just you in the office, you're not worried about the safety, you're not worried about security, you're not worried about the logistics of the flights arrive on time,' Venekamp said.
The first delivery of soda and water arrived at the Levitt last week. 30 cases that will be sold during opening weekend.
'One of the few areas where we actually earn revenues is through concession sales, so this is very important to us,' Venekamp said.
Crews installed the bank of stage lights and conducted a sound check earlier this month.
'The health department, they fine-tuned it so they actually aimed the speakers so that we try and disrupt the neighborhood as little as possible and keep the sound focused on the lawn,' Venekamp said.
New this year are two additional entrances that will give concert-goers easier access to the Levitt lawn.
'So at the back of the lawn, you'll see another set of steps that people can come up and then, there's also another space by JJ's, where we anticipate people coming in because of the garage being open now,' Halverson said.
Halverson says the new Steel District development, next-door to the Levitt, including the Canopy by Hilton, should draw more out-of-towners to the concerts.
'It's really fun. I've been hearing from the folks that sell the Canopy hotels saying that they're talking to people about the concerts already and folks are really excited,' Halverson said.
Halverson says there are always last-minute hiccups that emerge in the hours leading up to opening night. But she says her staff, dedicated to trouble-shooting, will ensure that the show must go on.
One of those last-minute challenges for the Levitt includes recruiting enough volunteers. Right now, they have only about half of their volunteer openings filled.
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