The Downtown Dickinson Association is seeking an Executive Director.  The application deadline is August 15.

I don’t know if I should apply or not?  If this goes like most things in Dickinson, they would try to not hire me, because they actually already have someone else in mind.

If I were Executive Director of the Downtown Dickinson Association, here are things that I might do:

1. In cities like Key West, they have tours of the city.  A trolley or carriage-like vehicle with no sides, towed a second trolley/carriage trailer with passengers.  The host, who was not necessarily the driver, had a microphone attached to a loud speaker, and he/she would describe the local history, the name and significance of each important building, and who lived there, and who did what, etcetera, as the pre-planned drive loop proceeded.

In Dickinson, the tour could begin at the downtown Dickinson plaza in front of the Court House.  The drive route would cover and include most places of interest in Dickinson.  The Court House, the old Woolworths building and how important this used to be, the Elks building, the Odd Fellows Lodge building, the Masonic Lodge building, the Post Office building, the Library (Carnegie) building, Bernie’s Esquire Club (Supper Club), Dickinson State University, Paragon Bowling Alley, Train Depot, the Haunted Old St. Joseph’s Hospital, the Haunted New St. Alexius Hospital, homes and businesses of local celebrities.  And, maybe even a tour inside one of the downtown underground radiation fall out shelters.

Most people don’t know the importance and significance of the buildings in downtown Dickinson.  Just taking the Woolworths building that is across the street from the Post Office as an example, there are local people in Dickinson in their late forties and older that can describe that Woolworths used to be a really big deal and the focal point for downtown.  People from Belfield, New England, New Hradec, Richardton, Gladstone would plan on making a trip to Dickinson that would last half a day, and the centerpiece of it was shopping and eating at Woolworths.

From my memory, I remember someone describing to me that Bernie’s Esquire Club that is now a bar, used to be called something like the Supper Club in the 1950s and 1960s.  There was a restaurant downstairs, and people used to get very, very, dressed up to go to this.

As some of you know, and others do not know, there are at least five currently still existing radiation fall out shelters beneath downtown Dickinson.  The one that I have been in, is below the old Dickinson Press building.  The others I believe are located beneath the Sax Motors building, the Rock Bar, and the Green Drug store on Villard.

I don’t know if the tour host should point out, mention, or explain about Radar Base Hill.  At one time, Radar Base Hill was occupied by several hundred, if not more, military personnel.  It was not a weather station like they used to tell the Dickinson residents, but an intercept and tracking radar station in defense of the ICBMs in North Dakota.

If the open sided carriage/trolley vehicle and trailer are not considered to be enjoyable between September through April, a regular shuttle bus could be used instead.

     2.  Cages for people downtown.

It often happens, that someone who has something wrong with them, consumes alcohol downtown, and then they go on a drunken tirade.  The Dickinson Police eventually get called to deal with it, but not before everyone has been irritated, upset, and accosted.  There should be cages downtown.

Off the top of my head, the dirt parking lot behind the Elks building might be a good place for two cages.  The downtown bars could get the menace people in the cages at night, the Dickinson Police could come and pick them up later, or Kristi could let them out in the morning.  I am sure she would want to let them out because they would probably be yelling by 9:00 a.m. when she got to work.

Another good place for two cages would be the field between the Ukrainian Culture Institute and the Paragon Bowling Alley.  The people in the cages could probably still order food from the Paragon up until 2:00 a.m. Monday through Thursday, and 24 hours on the weekends.

3.  Downtown Dickinson Cat Association.

I will write about this in a future blog post, but I can tell you now that I will recommend Kevin Holten for a leadership position in this.

4.  Indoor Concerts At Masonic Lodge Building ballroom.

I will write about this in a future blog post.