Local News
Mount Rushmore exposure a hit with tourism officials
CBS showcased West River highlights during Thursday morning broadcast
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FarkRAPID CITY -- It's too soon to tell how much visitor interest CBS News' "The Early Show" and Dave Price generated during Price's live broadcast from Mount Rushmore on Thursday morning. But the show was a home run for Black Hills tourism, officials say.
"It's terrific to see national attention focused on a place we have always known is one of the most beautiful in America," Billie Jo Waara, director of the state Office of Tourism, said. "South Dakota and Mount Rushmore deserve to be on every family's radar."
For two hours, CBS' colorful morning weather anchor shined a national spotlight on South Dakota tourism.
Price dressed like a biker, rode a motorcycle, wore a Wall Drug bumper sticker on his back and entertained television viewers nationwide before a boisterous backdrop of cheering South Dakotans.
He also showed millions of TV viewers the visual spectacle of Mount Rushmore National Memorial illuminated by the rising sun.
Price broadcast his weather segments live during the show's Thursday morning Great American Vacations series.
And Price also spoke at length about the Sturgis rally and South Dakota vacations. Between live appearances, CBS aired segments featuring Wall Drug, the Badlands and Minuteman Missile National Historic Site.
Because the show airs live from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m. on the East Coast, the Mount Rushmore crew went on the air at 5 a.m. MDT. Locals who participanted were asked to be there at 4:15 a.m.
And even though it was a very, very early "Early Show," the hundreds of people who turned out seemed happy to be on TV.
There were Girl Scouts, Little League baseball players, cowboys from Keystone, people from Wall Drug, students from Black Hills State University and South Dakota School of Mines & Technology, three women with a big sign for Hair West in Presho, someone waving a plastic mammoth bone (presumably from the Mammoth Site in Hot Springs) and one man who held a sign that simply said, "Howdy Britton from Les."
Jordan Cooper and his sister, Gina, both from Rapid City, summed up The "Early Sho"w appearance with their sign that said, "I'm Tired, But I'm on TV."
Half an hour before air time, the illuminated faces of Mount Rushmore were still framed by a handful of twinkling stars. And Price, their affable host, already had the crowd cheering and laughing.
At 5 a.m., as the show began, the crowd got louder. "Keep it going, 30 seconds," instructed Patty Ricardella, the extremely focused stage manager. They did, and then some.
During the 5:30 a.m. segment, Price interviewed Mount Rushmore Superintendent Gerard Baker. Behind them, the drum group Okiciyapi peformed. Nearby, hoop dancer Jasmine Pickner, unfazed by the cameras or the crowd, performed her elaborate routine.
Price later donned leather chaps, a leather vest and a biker scarf and hopped on a custom motorcycle. A motorcycle novice, Price took a mercifully short ride to the Avenue of Flags.
The crowd loved it.
On the show, Price announced that Guy DiBenedetto, an agent for the state Division of Criminal Investigation, was the winner of a Caribbean vacation package.
Price's Great American Vacation 2007 series has already taken the show to Key West, Fla., the Outer Banks of North Carolina, Savannah, Ga., Niagara Falls, N.Y., and South Padre Island, Texas.
After Mount Rushmore, the Great American Vacation's Winnebago -- Price and the crew travels by air and meets up with the big RV at its stops - went to Kansas City and will next visit Aspen, Colo., Mackinac Island, Mich., and Bar Harbor, Maine.
Contact Dan Daly at 394-8421 or dan.daly@rapidcityjournal.com
Backed by a cheering crowd, Dave Price channels his inner Peter Fonda on Thursday as he prepares to take a turn aboard a custom motorcycle. The morning anchor for CBS News' "The Early Show" broadcast live from Mount Rushmore on Thursday morning. (Dan Daly, Journal staff)
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