SIMC: A Legacy of Preserving the Prairie

Arrowhead Park

Arrowhead Park sits on the eastern edge of Sioux Falls, in what once was the rough quarry town of East Sioux Falls. The quarry of East Sioux Falls supplied the rich beautiful red Quartzite stone that graces many buildings in down town Sioux Falls, including the Old Courthouse Museum. 

In 1982 Dale and Dorothy Weir purchased the land, where they built a summer home and added access roads, but they had much greater plans for the land.

An extraordinary couple with a strong commitment to furthering the well-being of their community, they did not want to develop the land, but rather to preserve the natural prairie habitat including the three quarry ponds for future generations.  One of their first steps was the installation of aerators to keep the quarry water ice free so that the wide variety of wildlife that lived on the land would have access to the water year round.

The city of Sioux falls was growing steadily and it would not be long before the area would be swallowed by the city. By purchasing the quarry land they could maintain and preserve the native trees, shrubs, grasses and ensure the populations of the fish and waterfowl on the 131 acre prairie land as well as preserve the quarry ponds. 

Included in the  purchase of the land was the 1888 Quarry barn. It is believed that the barn was designed by the famous architect Wallace Dow.

The Weir's who were getting older and had no children to carry on their plan for the land donated it to the City of Sioux falls in 1999 to be used as a nature park. It was named Arrowhead Park because when viewed from the air one of the quarry ponds is the shape of an arrowhead. A short four years later Dorothy Weir passed on and was followed by Dale Weir in 2010. The two left behind this beautiful legacy and will forever be remembered for their support and generosity to the community of Sioux Falls, SD.

Thank you for visiting me here in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

This is my contribution to 'Sunday In My City'. 

To find out what is going on in different cities around the world hop over to

 Unknown Mami's Sunday In My City blog hop.

Wonders N Wishes

There are so many wonderful things about Wednesday!

My short list:

• It is Hump Day! That wonderful middle of the week, half way to the weekend, let's celebrate making it over life's hump day!
• It is Wordless Wednesday! Whether you celebrate by seeking quiet solitude or by sharing image only posts, there's a sense of wonder in the wordless approach. Click here for my contributions to the sound of silence.
• It is 'not so' Wordless Wednesday over at Curious as a Cathy. Absolutely perfect for the chatter box in me. Of course I will be sharing this post there. :D
• It is Wish Day! That is right, the day designated by Claudya @ Unknown Mami's as the day to put a voice to our wishes. You will find my wish below. 
• It is Wonders N Wishes Day! The day I am designating to share a 'Wonder' as well as a wish.

 

This week's wonder

9 year old delivers 363 pizza's to Lafayette, LA flood victims. (Source)

This week the AC Wonder Award goes to a young man in Louisiana by the name of Carson Boutte. For his 9th birthday young Carson asked his parents if he could buy pizza to give to local flood victims so they wouldn't have to worry about what to eat while they were busy trying to clean up. He started out with $100 dollars for pizza, but after his mom posted about what he wanted to do for his birthday on social media donations poured in. A local Domino Pizza restaurant offered to not only give him a special rate but also matched the first 100 pizza's.  Now I can't speak for those who were on the receiving end of those pizza's but I know if it were me, I would be extremely touched by this gesture of kindness.

Thank you Carson for being so amazing!

Now for a few wishes.

Today I'm calling on the universe to grant the following wishes.

- I wish I could remember what I wanted to wish for. I knew I should have written it down. LOL

- I do have one off the cuff wish though. I wish summer wasn't almost over.

- I know the Universe doesn't follow the rules in the 'How to be a Jeanie' handbook but I figure if I am going to wish I may as well wish in three's. So my third and final wish today is that you find joy and laughter to fill your day.

As Claudya at Unknown Mami's says go ahead and wish, be it simple or big, when we give a voice to our wishes it helps us realize those wishes. So what are you wishing for? I would love to know, just put your wish in the comment section and I will gladly lend my wishing powers to your wish. Please join me in visiting Unknown Mami's Wish Wednesday so that we can lend our wishing powers to her and those she is wishing for.