In 1930's South Dakota, Ted Hustead's wife had an idea to help bring traffic into their declining drug store. Dorothy Hustead came up with a jingle and created a sign attracting drivers from the nearby highways - "Get a soda/Get root beer/Turn next corner/Just as near/To Highway 16 and 14/Free Ice Water/Wall Drug." The sign worked, and Wall Drug has become an expansive tourist attraction of international renown, taking in more than $10 million a year and attracting some two million visitors annually to a remote town whose population has never exceeded 800. The silly signs have become their trademark of sorts, in time Mr. Hustead was spending $300,000 a year on billboard advertising, including Wall Drug signs on London buses and in every train station in Kenya. The little store has been expanded into a 75,000-square-foot sprawl of western kitsch, housing an enclosed mall - selling everything from souvenir T shirts to pricy cowboy boots- a 400-plus- seat restaurant and a range of free attractions. While it's certainly a sight to be seen when traveling in the West, Wall Drug seems to be famous for its fame - as a sign at the Taj Mahal will prove - "only 10,728 miles to Wall Drug."
So we are going there. We've been planning to go there for years. What we DIDN"T KNOW was that this year is the 100th birthday! Festivities will include:
TUESDAY, JULY 10th-
Time Capsule Opening � 5:30pm � City Library Hut
100th Birthday Party- Picnic & Old Fashion Games -6pm-Wall City Park
Wall Celebration Bull Riding showcases the top 30 bullriders against the top 30 bulls. -7pm- Rodeo Grounds
Fireworks Display-weather permitting
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