The ultimate 'hidden gems' things to do list in South Dakota even locals may have missed

There's more to South Dakota than Mount Rushmore.

This state is full of culture and food and history, and those South Dakota treasures or hidden gems get overlooked as tourists flock to more popular destinations.

Even South Dakotans can miss out on those hidden gems. And we're not talking about Wall Drug or the Badlands or the Corn Palace. We're not even talking about taking the 1880 Train in the Black Hills or walking through Storybook Land in Aberdeen — activities seemingly every South Dakotan has done at least two or three times.

So, we asked readers what special "hidden gems" the tourist websites are missing out on, or the special events that locals cherish and set the state apart.

Take a look below at a list of hidden gem events, activities and places you should add to your South Dakota bucket list:

Watch the Centerville Toilet Bowl Races

One of the quirkiest small-town traditions in South Dakota is Centerville's toilet bowl races during the annual Tornado Days celebration. The races are put on by the American Legion and Wildlife Habitat and More, a local wildlife group raising money for wildlife habitat, as a fundraiser. The toilet bowl races were held in the '70s but returned in the 2010s.

The 2022 events take place from June 29 through July 3.

While you're in Centerville, stop by Ellis Donuts, a local bakery renowned for their "Zebra Donuts."

Visit the International Vinegar Museum

The Roslyn International Vinegar Museum claims to be the "world's first and only museum dedicated to the wonder that is vinegar." Tour the museum to learn about 300 different vinegars from around the world, how its made, used and appreciated.

Or join in at the annual Vinegar Festival, held on the third Saturday in June. The event features a parade, Vinegar Queen contest, museum tours, cooking demonstrations, vinegar tasting and more.

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Attend the Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate Fourth of July Wacipi

The Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate Wacipi is the oldest wacipi in South Dakota and the second oldest in the nation. The annual event, which started in 1870, includes several events, including a rodeo, in addition to dancers performing throughout the weekend.

Hike to a Black Hills swimming hole

Take a dip in one of the Black Hills' swimming holes. While Devil's Bathtub has become incredibly popular among tourists in recent years (and is a decent hike to reach), there's also Hippie Hole for those who want something less crowded or Cascade Falls, which is a swimming hole just south of Hot Springs that's been open to the public for over 100 years. Cascade is about two miles upstream from Cascade Springs where six artesian springs feed 67-degree water into Cascade Creek.

Eat your weight in cubed meat at the annual Chislic Festival

Eat your fill of South Dakota's official state nosh at the chislic epicenter of the United States on July 30, 2022, in Freeman. Chislic consists of salted cubes of meat, ranging from mutton to beef to venison to goat, deep fat fried or grilled, served skewered or on toothpicks with a side of crackers or dipping sauces. This is the fourth year of the festival, promoting Freeman and the "greater Chislic Circle."

While you're down in Freeman, stop by Meridian Corner, a staple of South Dakota chislic. Or, if you want to get to know more about Freeman, join their annual Schmeckfest, which highlights the town's culture and heritage with plenty of food to eat, including cheese pockets, poppy seed rolls, peppernuts, sausage making demonstrations and more.

More: The best chislic in Sioux Falls? It's from a bar that apparently not enough of you know about

Dress up at the 1880 Town

Dress up in Wild West garb for the day at the 1880 Town in Midland and walk through the abandoned movie set, complete with historically accurate buildings, including a Western blacksmith, general store, fourteen-sided barn built in 1919 and more.

Also included are relics on display at the Vanishing Prairie Museum, including a tribute to the late Casey Tibbs, nine-time World Champion Rodeo cowboy, and movie props on display from "Dances with Wolves." About a quarter of a mile east of the town is a homestead complete with windmill, corrals, barn, house and outhouse.

1880 Town is open from May through October.

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Visit a prehistoric Native American village

Go to a prehistoric Indian Village just outside of Mitchell, where you'll find remnants of a 1,000-year-old culture. Watch students dig for artifacts and let kids participate in the Kids Dig area outside. The Boehnen Memorial Museum features a full-sized reproduction of an earthen lodge, full bison skeleton and more.

Partake in the Crazy Horse Volksmarch

Take part in one of the most popular organized hikes in the United States: the Crazy Horse Volksmarch. Hikers follow trails up to the Crazy Horse Mountain Carving and turn around on the arm of Crazy Horse, directly in front of the nine-story-high face, which was completed in 1998. The 6.2-mile Volksmarch is held in the late spring and fall every year. This year's fall event is Oct. 2, 2022.

Warm up during the Burning of the Beetle

Celebrating 10 years in January 2022, Custer's Burning of the Beetle is meant to spread awareness about the Mountain Pine Beetle infestation ravaging the Black Hills area, changing the landscape and causing forest destruction. Custer residents march through the town with torches before setting a giant crafted beetle aflame atop a pyre made from donated Christmas trees as everyone chants "burn, beetle, burn." Afterward, a pub (bug) crawl supports local establishments.

The next event will be held Jan. 21, 2023.

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Honor victims of the Wounded Knee Massacre

Located just north of I-90 in Wall, the Wounded Knee Museum is a memorial to hundreds of Lakota men, women and children killed at Wounded Knee Creek on Dec. 28, 1890. The Museum aims to provide information about the tragedy and preserve the memory of its victims. There is also a Wounded Knee memorial at the site of the massacre in Wounded Knee, which is about two hours south of Wall.

Visit a South Dakota Hutterite community

Five hundred years ago, an Anabaptist sect of Christians split from the Swiss Reformed Church in Europe. The Hutterites suffered persecution and even executions in medieval Europe, so when the Dakotas were opened to homesteaders they re-settled on the Northern Plains. South Dakota is the state with the most Hutterite colonies (called burderhofe) in the country. There are around 50 across eastern South Dakota, where they work as farmers and craftsmen.

Some colonies welcome guests for special bake sales or other events, or you can request a tour of a settlement as well. You can still enjoy a taste of the Hutterite culture at two retail stores in Huron — The Colony Shop & More (1161 Lincoln SW) and Wyshbone Market (325 Market St.)

Play a round at Richmond Disc Golf Course

Disc golfers love the 18-hole course at Richmond Lake just outside of Aberdeen. Many of the fairways slice through wooded areas or along the lake, making the course plenty challenging.

The course is part of Richmond Lake State Recreation Area, so make a weekend of it with camping, swimming, hiking and boating options also available. Don't forget a return trip in the winter for the Ice Bowl disc golf tournament.

More: Sutton Bay ranked as South Dakota's top private golf course. Which others made the cut?

Attend the Crystal Springs Rodeo

No need to sit on uncomfortable bleachers for hours at the Crystal Springs Rodeo in Clear Lake. Instead, lounge in the grass creating a natural amphitheater around the rodeo grounds.

The rodeo sits within the Coteau Hills left by glaciers that moved across South Dakota more than 12,000 years ago. Out of one of those natural bowls, E.W. Weisel constructed the rodeo which became called "America's Most Natural Rodeo Bowl."

Celebrate Fourth of July with Springfield's Frog Jump Contest

Fireworks are exciting for Independence Day, but Springfield has taken the celebration one step further. The two-day celebration starts on July 3 will bull-riding and a street dance. On July 4, the town turns out for games in the park, a 5K run, inflatables and the popular Frog Jump Contest. Adults and children chase frogs after they're set loose on the celebration, until one frog wins by jumping the furthest during the celebration. Bids are placed on the frogs and a winner takes home the purse. Afterward, a Frog queen is crowned and kisses the winning frog.

More: Fourth of July events to check out in southeastern South Dakota and Sioux Falls

Watch the Nemo Outhouse Races

Experience the annual Nemo Outhouse Races and chili cook-off contest, which was held on Feb. 26 this year and benefits the NAJA Shrine Kids Transportation Fund. The races were originally held as a way to encourage locals to rid themselves of the "cabin fever" syndrome that accompanies long, cold winters in South Dakota.

The race rules are simple: you build or supply your own human-powered outhouse (a structure with four walls, roof, doorway and a seat with at least one hole" that doesn't exceed nine square feet at the base. But one of the most entertaining parts of the race is the team names, such as "Dance with the Nut Crapper," "Squat Pursuit" and "Presidential Poopers."

Enjoy sweets at the annual Kuchen Festival

The Delmont Kuchen Festival will celebrate its 26th annual event this year on Sept. 10-11, complete with South Dakota's state dessert for sale as well as a craft and quilt show. During the festival, the Onion House, Pumphouse Museum and Jail are open for tours.

More: What is kuchen? Why this dessert became a South Dakota food favorite

Hike to Poet's Table in Custer State Park

Tucked away over the granite-studded terrain east of Sylvan Lake is a cool patch of shade under a recess of natural rock. A table sits before the view of the southeastern Black Hills with tables and chairs tucked underneath and a box nearby filled with poems and other pieces of art created at the tranquil hiding spot. This is the Poets Table, a little-known Custer State Park attraction founded by John Raeck in 1968. In recent years, social media has brought more visitors to the Poet's Table, which isn't on maps and has no signs pointing hikers to its location.

The Poet's Table has seen its share of vandalism and disuse in the past decade, with graffiti appearing on the rock wall and even two women damaging and stealing the structure in 2018. A new table was built and donated to the park with a brass engraving of one of Rack's original poems.

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Visit Shadehill State Recreation Area, which has ties to "The Revenant"

Visit the monument dedicated to fur trapper and frontiersman Hugh Glass, who survived a grizzly bear attack in the area in 1823. Leonardo DiCaprio portrayed Glass in 2015's "The Revenant."

Shadehill is south of Lemmon in the northwestern corner of the state.

Take Part in the Clark Potato Days

The potato is king in Clark, South Dakota where local farmers grow bushels of the tasty tuber. That’s why, each year, the town throws a party in honor of its favorite over-used, under-appreciated starch. This year's event is on Aug. 6.

Vie for top honors in the Best Decorated Potato Contest, watch the mashed potato wrestling competition and celebrate the best cooks in the Potato Dish Cooking Contests.

Attend the Fort Sisseton Historical Festival

Fort Sisseton comes to life again the first full weekend in June during the annual Fort Sisseton Historical Festival, with cavalry troops and infantry units converging on the fort's grounds to form a military encampment complete with soldiers, women and children, tents, uniforms, horses and memorabilia. The military is joined by fur traders and riflemen as well as more than 15,000 visitors annually.

Visit the Laura Ingalls Wilder Homestead

Visit De Smet on July weekends and take in a drama based on the life of famed author Laura Ingalls Wilder, "On the Prairie: Laura's Legacy," which tells to story of her life in De Smet through story and song. The production is set on an outdoor stage and put on by hundreds of volunteers with the Laura Ingalls Wilder Pageant Society.

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Celebrate at the Kranzburg Fourth of July parade

This town of 170 people explodes to 5,000 for its Fourth of July celebrations, followed close behind by thousands of firecrackers that are rolled down the middle of the town's parade route and randomly discharged each year.

Stop by the Turner County Fair

Take part in South Dakota's oldest county fair, which started in 1880. The fair is a free gate four-day event each August and offers an array of 4-H exhibits, specialty foods (including lamb chislic), contests and more.

View the Faulkton Murals

Drive west on Highway 212 near Faulkton and you'll see the image of a boy in jeans and a T-shirt on a grain elevator, capturing the essence of the small northeastern South Dakota town. The project is unofficially believed to be the third largest public art piece in South Dakota, after Mount Rushmore and the Crazy Horse Memorial, covering three sides of the 110-foot tall structure.

On the west side of Faulk County Museum, you can also see "The Last Wild Buffalo Hunt" mural, depicting the country's last wild buffalo being hunted by a person on horseback in 1883.

Visit the Center of the Nation: 50 states monument

The geographic center of the United States is a point approximately 20 miles north of Belle Fourche, South Dakota at 44°58′2.07622″N 103°46′17.60283″W.

While the actual center of the nation is located on private property, the Geographic Center of the Nation Monument is located in Belle Fourche in western South Dakota. The National Geodetic Survey designated Belle Fourche as the town closest to the actual site and the monument was placed there. The 21-foot diameter monument is located next to the Center of the Nation Visitor Center and the Tri-State Museum and is accessible year-round.

Watch the Black Hills Buffalo Roundup

Just about everyone in South Dakota knows about the annual Buffalo Roundup, but only a fraction have actually witnessed the event in-person. Watch a herd of 1,400 bison thunder through Custer State Park as they're rounded up the last Friday in September. This year's event is Sept. 29-Oct. 1

The roundup is part of the park's management plan to balance the number of bison and available rangeland forage. Between 200 and 500 animals are sorted out of the herd and are sold at an auction in November. The remaining herd is vaccinated, calves are branded and cows are checked for pregnancy. It takes about four days to work the entire herd.

Visit the Dignity Statue

As you're driving along I-90, make the Dignity Statue one of your roadside stops besides Wall Drug, Al's Oasis or the Corn Palace. This 50-foot-tall statue overlooking the Missouri River in Chamberlain depicts a young Native American woman with a star quilt and weighs about 50 tons.

The artist, Dale Lamphere, said the piece represents “the pride and strength and durability of the native cultures.” He says he worked with three Lakota models in the process of creating the statue.

Savor a slice of pie at the Leola Rhubarb Festival

Ever other summer, the small McPherson County town hosts the Leola Rhubarb Festival, which features music, family activities, a car show and, of course, rhubarb, among other events.

This is an off year for the festival, but the self-proclaimed "Rhubarb Capital of the World" is planning a smaller event during Independence Day weekend.

Stop by the Porter Sculpture Park

You can't miss the 60-foot-tall, 25-ton bull's head as you drive near Montrose on I-90. The sculpture is part of the Porter Sculpture Park, 18 acres of open prairie scattered with more than 50 sculptures from artist Wayne Porter. The park is open May 15 through Oct. 15.

Visit the graves of Wild West legends

While Deadwood is one of the most popular destinations in South Dakota and the Black Hills, not many South Dakotans have taken the time to visit two of the most curious attractions in the city: the graves of Wild Bill Hickock and Calamity Jane and Hickock's death chair.

Stay overnight in a tipi

Learn about Lakota culture while lodging inside a tipi on the Pine Ridge Reservation through the Lakota Youth Development nonprofit. In addition to staying overnight, you can also take part in traditional art, food, dance, games, hunting, horseback riding, fishing, storytelling, medicinal plant gathering and star knowledge during your stay.

Watch a movie at South Dakota's oldest drive-in movie theater

Catch a movie at Hilltop Drive-in Theater in Gregory, the oldest drive-in theater in South Dakota, which can accommodate about 170 cars.

Just down the road, make a stop at the Colome Outhouse Museum, which is a privately curated collection of local outhouses in the area and their stories, including a shack reputedly frequented by Calamity Jane.

Stop by Mellette House and the Redlin Art Center

Walk through the Redin Art Center, an art gallery where over 150 of artist Terry Redlin's original paintings are displayed. Redlin, one of South Dakota's most famous artists, depicted rural South Dakota landscapes and wildlife. He retired in 2007 and died in 2016 at 78 years old after a nine-year battle with Alzheimer's disease.

Just a quick drive across Watertown, you'll also find the Mellette House, which was home to Arthur Calvin Mellette, the last governor of Dakota Territory and first governor of South Dakota. The home, built in 1885, has been restored with original furnishings, family portraits and heirlooms. The site is open from May until October.

Relax at the Pathways Spiritual Sanctuary

Walk through Pathways Spiritual Sanctuary near Lead. The sanctuary is open to the public for free and also home to the "Seven Sacred Horses," which are seven wild horses that are seen as symbols of unity and healing for the seven Lakota nations. The sanctuary is open from mid-May through October each year.

Visit the Hot Springs Mammoth Site

Tour this paleontological site near Hot Springs to watch active digs and view Ice Age fossils. The mammoth graveyard was found in 1974 when a heavy equipment operator was leveling ground for a Hot Springs Housing Development and has turned into the world's largest mammoth research facility.

Nearby, visit the Black Hills Wild Horse Sanctuary, which offers more than 11,000 acres of private land for wild horses to roam.

Take flight at the Fall River Balloon Fest

Take flight above scenic Black Hills at the annual Fall River Hot Air Balloon Festival, where dozens of hot air balloons fill the air. Balloons will launch from the Hot Springs Airport around 6 a.m. and will touch down for the "Glow Around Town" that evening. Balloon rides will be offered at the 2022 festival from Aug. 26-28.

Visit the Badlands Ranch Store and Minute Man Missile National Historic Site

Sandwiched between the Badlands National Park and Wall Drug is the Badlands Ranch Store, with a giant prairie dog statue standing guard outside. The store has been around for more than 50 years as an attraction to feed unsalted peanuts to a large prairie dog colony just north of the store.

While you're in the area, stop by the Minute Man National Historic Site, which stands in significance of the Cold War, arms race and intercontinental ballistic missile development. The site preserves the last intact Minuteman II ICBM system in the United States. Guided tours are available of the underground launch control center.

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Celebrate Czech Days

Celebrate the Czech heritage of early founders of southeastern South Dakota communities with music, dancing, traditional foods, museums and crafts. More than 230 dancers perform the Beseda Folk Dance in Sokol Park, and parades take place on both days. The 2023 event will be held in Tabor on June 16-17.

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Visit the Spirit of the Circle Monument

Stop to remember history at this memorial marker near Fort Thompson, which stands to honor and pay tribute to the 1,300-plus Dakota who died on the Crow Creek reservation after forced relocation from Minnesota.

This article originally appeared on Sioux Falls Argus Leader: The ultimate 'hidden gems' of things to do in South Dakota tourism