New downtown holiday plaza to create ‘must-see place’ this season

Downtown’s 12th Street Plaza is about to be decked out for the holidays in a big way.

Thanks to a sponsorship from Sioux Falls-based MarketBeat, the area at 12th and Phillips Avenue next to the federal courthouse will be filled with larger-than-life Christmas decorations and interactive elements.

“We care deeply about helping other small businesses succeed in our community. With the pandemic creating new challenges for independent restaurants and small retailers, we asked DTSF how we could help give a boost to downtown small businesses this holiday season,” said Matt Paulson, founder and CEO of MarketBeat.

“We batted around several ideas and ultimately landed on creating a holiday plaza as a way to get more people downtown for their Christmas shopping.”

The hope is the area will offer multiple photo opportunities for visitors as they spend time patronizing downtown businesses.

“MarketBeat was very generous in providing a multiyear sponsorship for that, and I think it’s going to really create a must-see place in downtown as people are experiencing the ramp-up to Christmas in late November and December,” said Joe Batcheller, president of Downtown Sioux Falls Inc.

“It will be something fun and new, and we’re pretty excited about it.”

The MarketBeat Holiday Plaza will feature a snowman selfie spot, a large mailbox for depositing letters to Santa, oversized presents and a candy cane, and life-size statues of deer that local artists have been commissioned to paint.

“We’ve worked out a deal with a private air courier to deliver children’s letters directly to the North Pole so that Santa has time to read all the letters before Christmas,” Paulson said.

“If the community likes the holiday plaza as much as we do, we hope to expand the plaza in future years with additional elements in other parts of downtown.”

The MarketBeat Holiday Plaza will be installed in the next couple of weeks, and the hope is to have everything up by Nov. 19.