Most people move to Alaska and make it their home. Curtis Jones headed in the other direction.

"I grew up in the Hills," he said. Jones graduated from Rapid City Stevens High School in 1994. "My wife and I decided to come back."

He's the owner of Interstate Welding, a new Sturgis business that opened July 1. He has portable welding equipment, and by Sept. 1, he plans to open a new shop as well.

He does all types of welding and repairs on gates, machines, trailers and other equipment. But what he'd really like to do here is build aluminum boats.

He did that in Alaska. He built 18- to 24-foot custom river boats for salmon fishing on the Kenai River. He also built small, flat-bottomed johnboats.

He'd like to build aluminum boats for Missouri River fishermen and others who want a custom boat that can actually cost less than some of the commercial models.

This winter, Jones will build a boat for some of his Alaska friends. Before shipping it, he hopes to display it at the Black Hills Sports Show in Rapid City.

For more information, call 490-2924.

Photographer returns to state

Photographer Duane Fink has been shooting pictures professionally for more than 20 years, all of that time in Bremerton, Wash.

But like a lot of people these days, he decided to return to the views and vistas of his home state. He was raised in Harding County and Belle Fourche.

Fink has launched a new home-based photo studio in Summerset. It's named Captured Radiance Photography.

His specialties are weddings, senior pictures, family portraits and special events. His studio is totally portable, to include backdrops, lighting, etc.

He does shoot at home, but he'd rather bring the studio to you.

"One thing I found over a period of time is that people are generally more comfortable in their own environment," Fink said.

For more information, call 391-2358.

Piano store makes instrumental change

Batchelder's Plummer Piano & Organ is singing a different tune these days. The longtime store at 629 St. Joseph St. has added a new business, The Band Shell.

"It's a totally new line for us," said manager William Schilling. The Band Shell stocks all types of orchestra and concert band instruments, as well as a few guitars and amplifiers.

The idea for the new name and the new business is to make it possible to move the band business to a new location if it takes off, he said.

For more information, call 342-5000.

It's a wing thing

And finally, I don't have a lot of details, but there's a new eatery planned for the new strip center at the corner of Sheridan Lake Road and Catron Boulevard.

The name on the beer license application is Leading Edge Management, doing business as Buffalo Wings & Rings. The address is 5622 Sheridan Lake Road.

Buffalo Wings & Rings is a Cincinnati-based national chain of restaurants featuring Buffalo-style chicken wings and onion rings.

The Rapid City Buffalo Wings & Rings is scheduled to open in late 2007, according to the Web site. The company is forecasting 31 restaurants by the end of the year.

Talking Business appears Thursdays in the Journal. Contact Dan Daly by telephone (394-8421), by fax (394-8463) or by e-mail (dan.daly@rapidcityjournal.com).