The Alliance adds family fun center

The newest addition at the South Dakota Military Heritage Alliance offers fun for all ages.

The building at 1600 W. Russell St. has turned part of its upper-level warehouse space into a family center filled with games and other activities.

“The main three points are family, fun and fellowship because there are a lot of veterans out there who are younger and have kids and want to be involved and come to veteran meetings, and they don’t know what to do with their families,” executive director Brian Phelps said.

The lounge offers a lot to do, from pool, foosball, darts and air hockey to shuffleboard, SkeeBall, bocce, cornhole and badminton.

On the tech side, there’s everything from a retro arcade machine offering 60 games to virtual reality headsets.

And to top it all off, a zip line runs through the middle of the space.

There’s also a conference room, with seating for up to 100 and food service available.

“I talked to a lot of businesses interested in doing team building,” Phelps said. “You can have a meeting, do seminars, play some games and have fun.”

The fun center is sponsored by Sammons Financial Group, which also helped add an on-demand movie theater to the building.

It’s free for any of the Alliance’s 14 partner military organizations. Otherwise, a family day pass is $10, and a yearly membership is $50. It’s $250 to rent the space for a private event.

The building will be hosting several concerts in the coming months too. “The Sounds of Nashville” is coming March 18 featuring songs performed by local and national songwriters. Global touring and recording artist The Band Steele will play a free show for military, veterans and first responders May 7 that’s available to the public with limited tickets. And Trace Adkins will be in concert June 14. Tickets for all three concerts are available online. 

“These are game-changers for Sioux Falls,” Phelps said, adding The Alliance’s concert scene is “growing, and people are feeling more comfortable and wanting to get out and interact.”

The Alliance also is continuing to work on designs for the state’s first comprehensive military museum, which will be in a nearby renovated office building at 1300 N. Industrial Ave.

“This is going to be a big deal. It’s not just old stuff hanging on hangers in there,” Phelps said. “This is going to be cool.”