Kristi Noem gets her horsey statue in Pierre at ceremony this Friday morning. Bob Mercer notes the historical significance of the site where bronzed Kristi and steed will stand:
The statue of Noem and one of her horses, named Iceman, will stand at the entrance to Hilger’s Gulch and face south, toward the rear entrance of the South Dakota Capitol two blocks away.
The bronze sculpture, by Lemmon artist John Lopez, will be in prominent display near the spot where 849 chairs had sat empty on Thanksgiving Day in November 2020, part of a symbolic memorial service honoring the South Dakotans who had died to that point during the COVID-19 pandemic.
By May of 2022, the number of South Dakota COVID-19 victims had grown to 2,917, according to a state government news release. How many South Dakotans died from COVID-19 isn’t commonly known. The South Dakota Department of Health website has been wiped clean of much of the information from the pandemic [Bob Mercer, “Ex-Gov. Noem Invites Public to Join Her for Another Hurrah,” KELO-TV, 2026.08.06].
Mercer reports that Noem is spending her remaining gubernatorial campaign funds ($1.8 million as of May 17) on invitations to her own 10 a.m. statue unveiling and, apparently, an 11:30 a.m. reception with “food and drinks provided for all guests” at Drifters Bar and Grille across the river in Fort Pierre. I wonder if Kristi will let Bob have a free drumstick….
At the site honoring the dead that Kristi caused. Really good South Dakota. Nice very nice.
At least she got an excellent sculptor. It will be interesting to see if it has his usual flair.