“Where is Rutland?” is a question we heard over and over today at the All Occasions Bridal Show in Sioux Falls.

Rutland is 45 minutes northwest of Sioux Falls, lying between Madison and Brookings.

It isn’t surprising that most people haven’t heard of Rutland.

Rutland is 2 blocks by 3 blocks…not counting the streets that were abandoned long ago. Population jumps when school is in session. Yes, we do have a K-12 school, but we are so small that we don’t have a bar.

We do have a convenience store that sells gas and diesel fuel. You can even get pizza and a pop there as well. The store serves as the gathering place for all of the locals: retired and just tired. It can get pretty deep in there at times and discussions about politics can be heated.

The store is run by the students of the school. A teacher serves as a parttime manager. Business students learn hands-on lessons in capitalism.

Rutland is really like stepping back in time. Green Acres and Red Green are not far off the mark. Kids here are more like kids were 30 or 40 years ago in behavior. If you haven’t lived here 4 generations, your are a newcomer. We’ve lived here almost 15 years and there are still people that walk into the store who are greeted by everyone else, yet we haven’t a clue who they are.

So how do you get to Rutland?

It’s not really that hard, but people who drive all over Sioux Falls without any problem seem to lose their sense of direction once they leave the interstate. Rule #1 – Mapquest is wrong. For whatever reason, Mapquest has Rutland a few miles off. Google Maps has Black Studios somewhere in Wentworth. We can’t figure out how to fix that one.

So to get to Rutland, you need to get off I-29 at the Flandreau exit. GO west 2 miles until you hit the stop sign. Turn right and go north 2 miles. Look for the little green sign that says “Rutland 9 miles”. Turn left and go west 9 miles. Here is where it gets tricky. You have to keep on your toes and look for Rutland after those 9 miles west because Rutalnd is still a right turn and half a mile up a county road. It’s small enough that you could easily drive by on the road half a mile to the south and nevery even know there was a Rutland to be seen. To make it easier to find, the county highway department posted signs “Rutland 1/2 mile”. Unfortunately the signage is so small you have to be looking for them to even notice.

Once you finally find Rutland, you’ll quickly notice that the Rambler Stop convenience store sits on one end of main street anf the school sits at the other end. Head toward the school and to the north just 1/2 a block up 2nd street sits the old Lake Park Church now home to Black Studios (for the last 13 years).

When you come into the studio, please park along the street to the west and enter into the west side door below the steeple.

We welcome visitors, but we are open by appointment only so please call before you come. We might be here and then we might not.