From Dec. 11-18, Gypsy Rose Studio will host a toy drive to benefit the Hill City Boys & Girls Club (BGC). During store hours participants can drop off a new, unwrapped gift or a $10 donation. Everyone who does so will be entered into a drawing for a holiday gift basket bursting with prizes from Gypsy Rose Studio and other local businesses.
James Ann Barlean said she and her mom, Vicki Barlean, decided to do a toy drive because they feel super blessed.
The community is invited to attend an afternoon of music, holiday cheer and nostalgia at the first annual Trees and Trains Christmas concert and community celebration at the Hill City Center Sunday, Dec.15.
The fundraising event supports the South Dakota State Railroad Museum (SDSRM) and features the New Bower Family Band, James and Frank Van Nuys.
Very few traditions last a lifetime, but 20 women came to the Keystone annual ornament exchange at the Keystone Community Center Dec. 8 proving some traditions never die.
The tradition was started by a group of women in 1991. Most of the original women have passed on.
Vanessa Row says the party used to be held in a woman’s home and there was no theme involved like there has been the last two years.
“Our theme was Christmas,” Row says. “The women were all from Keystone, kind of a local thing.”
The public is invited to attend a free music service at the First Congregational Church of Keystone. Doug Heck will perform original music and pieces in a piano compositions showcase.
Heck grew up in a musical family. His father played the guitar and the ukulele in addition to directing the church choir. His mother, he says, was “pretty good on the piano” specializing in playing church hymns. He and his siblings were in band and choir and were “fortunate to take lessons for voice and any instruments we showed an interest in,” he said.
