KEYSTONE, S.D. (KELO) -- Keystone has been at the forefront of destination talks with Governor Larry Rhoden as he pushes for the proposed National Garden of American Heroes to be near Mount Rushmore.
Tourist season is just around the corner for the towns throughout the Black Hills... adding a nat
ional garden near Mount Rushmore would give people another reason to spend time here.
"The feedback has been phenomenal, I mean as a tourism based region here in Keystone especially, we do not receive a property tax. We're an opt-out community, so every dollar that we need to benefit the town comes directly from sales tax. So the longer that we can get people to stay and the more attractions and diversity we can give them the better off we all are," Keystone Board President Casey McNulty said.
If the proposal goes through, the new park would sit just outside of Keystone.
"I think that would be great, I'm actually going to be looking forward to this. It will bring in people and it will just make it a nicer place," Keystone resident Dorthy Cofoid said.
Already several names for the statues in the Garden of Heroes have been discussed, however some of the people who we talked with said it was missing local representation.
"Here in the Black Hills you know we have a very diverse population and I think that it should include some of the South Dakota figures as well as our Native American Community. And kind of the roles that they had in the development and creation of this area and the United States in general," McNulty said.
Some of the names for the proposed 250 statues include American Icons such as Neil Armstrong, Ray Charles, Babe Ruth and more. ...read more read less
