The Holiday Season is upon us and Saturday, December 2^nd will be a busy day in Custer.  The elves have hidden a few candy canes at the Custer Elementary School and children ages 0-10 are invited to come to the playground at 9:30am to help find them.  There will be special prizes given away too! 

This same day the YMCA will hold their 18^th Annual Santa’s Village Gift & Craft Sale. The gift & craft sale runs from 9 am to 4 pm at the Custer High School Gym. Concessions will be served all day; proceeds benefit the Custer YMCA Child Development Center. Santa and Mrs. Claus are also scheduled to make an appearance.  Be sure to stop at the Chamber booth, located next to Santa’s chair and pick up your copy of the Christmas Scavenger Hunt paper and visit the participating downtown businesses.  Once you find all the items turn you papers in at the Chamber office located at 615 Washington St for a chance to win one of several prizes.  The VFW is hosting their annual craft bazar in the lower level of the VFW building from 9am to 2pm, so be sure to stop in while you are looking to complete your scavenger hunt list.

The 34th Annual Custer Christmas Parade is scheduled to begin at 5:30 pm. This annual parade of lights signals the kick-off of the Holiday season in the Southern Hills. The parade will begin at 8th and Mt. Rushmore Road and end at Way Park on 4th and Mt. Rushmore Road for the Juanita Fish Memorial Tree Lighting Ceremony.  After the parade spend some time downtown visiting the local merchants as many will be staying open late and offering specials to celebrate.

Once again this year the Custer Chamber of Commerce has teamed up with the Hill City Chamber of Commerce for Community Christmas Cash giveaways!  There will be $1000 given away throughout the next three weeks.  All you have to do is sign up weekly at participating Custer and Hill City businesses.  Those businesses participating in the program will have a Community Christmas Cash Participant poster in their window.  The Chambers will collect the slips weekly and do Facebook Live drawings to select the winners on December 1^st , December 8^th , and December 15^th .   The winners are then able to spend their Community Christmas Cash at many Custer and Hill City businesses.

Finally, the Custer Chamber of Commerce Visitor Center has lots of fun merchandise for sale for everyone on your Christmas list.  Stop in sometime and browse the many items including Smokey Bear hats, magnets, stuffed animals and more.  We also have several Black Hills items like candles, stickers, hats, puzzles, and books.  And for the holiday season we have a great selection of Christmas ornaments that would look perfect on your tree or make an excellent gift!  And don’t forget, Mickelson Trail passes and State Park passes are now available at the Chamber and make the perfect gift for those hard to buy for people on your list!