Aug. 27, 2020

The pandemic doesn’t seem to be impacting the popularity of event barns in the Sioux Falls area.

Two new venues, Emerald Pines and Laurel Ridge, report lots of recent business in their opening months despite some smaller gathering sizes.

Jason Shanks, co-owner of Emerald Pines Barn located west of the city near McGovern Middle School, said that although wedding sizes have been smaller, the venue has been busy with events almost every weekend since opening in July.

“We’re booked every Saturday from July through into November, and next year we’re booked every Saturday from May through October,” Shanks said. “I would say from the original guest expectations of our clients there’s usually about 60 to 70 percent of the clients that they said would be there.”

Tyler Childress, who co-owns Laurel Ridge Barn with his wife, agreed that the pandemic has not had a huge impact on recent celebrations. The venue northeast of Sioux Falls near Slip Up Creek opened in May.

“We have had a 95 percent success rate with clients keeping their event on the same day and time,” Childress said.

Event barns have become more popular because of their dynamic nature, with many barns able to host indoor and outdoor weddings, as well as being able to accommodate any party size with everything from bartending to decked-out bridal suites, Shanks said. 

“We can do outdoor weddings, we can move them inside if there is inclement weather, whatever our guests prefer,” he said. 

“We provide packages that include photography, we provide all the bartenders, and then our staff also sets up chairs, takes down chairs, flips from indoor wedding to a reception hall.”

Because of event barns’ popularity in Sioux Falls, Childress said Laurel Ridge has already been able to make many upgrades. The hope is to book other events in addition to weddings.

“We recently finished our upgraded audio/video system with a 250-inch screen, a laser projector, Bose sound system, wireless microphones and large corporate and presentation upgrade,” Childress said. “So we envision a lot of corporate, fundraising and gala events in the future.”

While Emerald Pines’ focus is largely on weddings, it also has expanded to accommodate other events in anticipation of post-pandemic demand, Shanks said. 

“The main focus of the barn is for weddings, so it was built for that purpose, but we also do other events during the week,” Shanks said. “Retirement parties, graduation parties, and we anticipate Christmas parties.”