June 29, 2020

While businesses continued to launch and open in recent months, many did so without a ceremonial kickoff: the ribbon cutting.

That changes this week as the Greater Sioux Falls Chamber of Commerce resumes its business celebrations after months of cancellations because of the pandemic.

Its last one came March 10 at Clean Ride Auto Spa.

“There is certainly pent-up demand,” said Pat Lund, the chamber’s membership engagement manager, adding the chamber is reaching out to members who had to postpone their ribbon cuttings so they can reschedule.

“We expect that more ribbon cuttings will be scheduled the second half of July,” Lund said.

Attendees are invited based on their level of comfort, and hosts and guests are reminded to be aware of CDC recommendations for gatherings.

Outdoor ribbon cuttings are being highly encouraged to provide space for distancing in an open-air environment. Indoor events should be contained to facilities with large gathering areas. A host may invite guests to move inside for refreshments and tours, based on everyone’s comfort level, the chamber said.

The first of the resumed ribbon cuttings will begin at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday for Healing for the Soul, a chamber member based in Watertown.

It will be held at Levitt at the Falls, which Healing for the Soul owner Robin Stoltman said she was happy to use. Her goal with joining the chamber was to gain awareness for her business, which offers online mind-set coaching and hypnotherapy through her website, healingforthesoulhypnosis.com.

Stoltman, who is a certified hypnotherapist from the nation’s only accredited college of hypnotherapy, started her business in 2018. Her clients have come from as far as California and Kansas, in addition to South Dakota and her native Minnesota.

“The whole COVID thing has actually helped me. I don’t have to explain to people what Zoom is,” she said.

“My whole point in joining the chamber was to let people know there’s another alternative out there for holistic healing and your mind controls everything. Your thoughts control your emotions. With neurolinguistics programming, I’m able to control my state – an emotion – so anytime I want to control my emotions I can.”

Her services can help those dealing with everything from anxiety and post-traumatic stress to those trying to lose weight, she said.

“People know about traditional therapy, but they don’t know about hypnotherapy and how powerful our minds are.”

An outdoor ribbon cutting also is a natural fit for The Cascade, a downtown mixed-use project developed and managed by Lloyd Cos., which will hold its event at 4:30 p.m. July 16 at the newly completed courtyard.

Invitations are deliberately limited to control the crowd, but the guests who do attend will convene poolside for the ceremony.

“It just so happened we wanted to do it outside anyway,” said Drew O’Brien, Lloyd Cos. regional manager. “We’ll be able to have the event up there and enough areas to keep people circulating and separate but still allow everybody to be involved. It will mostly be stakeholders and staff who were involved in the property at some point.”

The courtyard will include tables with information about the property, and a serving window between an indoor lounge and the courtyard will be “the perfect way to serve food outside, single serve, without a buffet style,” O’Brien said.

While the ribbon cutting is only open to chamber members and guests, the property will be open to the public two days later as part of the Downtown Loft Tour.

The chamber suggests attendees at all upcoming ribbon cuttings make decisions based on their comfort level.

“We can’t know what’s best for each individual, so we encourage you to be self-responsible and make your own decision,” it said in communicating the changes. “COVID-19 still exists, and all risk remains on the voluntary attendees at these events.”