We would like to thank Holly Meyer Journal staff from Rapid City Journal for the following article about Watiki Waterpark and the La Quinta Inn & Suites Hotel.
We would also like to thank to Lawrence County Journal staff writer T.J. Tranchell for his contribution to this report.
Please enjoy the story!
“Four-year-old Gavyn Buchholz climbed through the waterslide jungle gym at WaTiki Water Park under the watchful gaze of his mother, Tracey Buchholz, on New Year’s Eve.
Drenched and smiling, Gavyn said he was enjoying the slides the most.
“It’s fun,” said Gavyn, wearing tropical-themed, blue-and-white swim trunks.
The Buchholz family from Hill City joined about 1,000 other people in the festivities at the third annual New Year’s Eve Extravaganza at La Quinta Inn and Fairfield Inn and Suites.
Guests at the two hotels received passes to the water park, arcade tokens, hors d’oeuvres and a midnight champagne toast. At midnight, two balloon drops will shower the wet guests with prizes to bring in a new decade.
The humid party at the water park was not the only place saying goodbye to 2009.
As the cold night progressed, revelers built up anticipation for the early hours of 2010 at other bashes throughout the area before the countdown.
Downtown, people were just starting to trickle into Hotel Alex Johnson’s second annual New Year’s Eve Bash.
Larry and Lori Baldwin of Hermosa showed up early to snag a table close to the stage, where one of the couple’s favorite bands would be playing later in the evening. The Baldwins said the Brandon Sprague Blues Band is the main reason they decided to celebrate the holiday at the hotel this year.
“We just like them,” Lori Baldwin said. “We’ve followed them around for 10 years.”
Larry Baldwin said he hoped to spend the evening dancing and listening to the music in the ballroom.
As 2010 approached, revelers could walk outside the hotel to a barricaded-off Sixth Street to watch a New York City Times Square style ball drop. Organizers plan to shoot ping pong balls with thousands of dollars worth of gift certificates into the audience.
As the ball dropped at the Alex Johnson, another one dropped about 40 miles northwest of Rapid City.
Each year, people pile out of the restaurants, hotels and casinos, flooding the streets to watch it fall as the time nears the new year, despite the winter cold.”
Contact Holly Meyer at 394-8421 or holly.meyer@rapidcityjournal.com.
