There is something worth stepping outside for this week.
The Proclamation
Mayor Jason Salamun has officially proclaimed April 13-20 as Dark Sky Week in Rapid City, joining the International Dark Sky Association’s global celebration of the night sky and the growing movement to reduce light pollution in communities across the country.
The proclamation is more than ceremonial. Rapid City sits at the center of one of the most extraordinary natural dark sky regions in the United States. Badlands National Park, Wind Cave National Park, Custer State Park, the Black Hills National Forest, the Hidden Valley Observatory, and the Badlands Observatory are all within reach — and all of them depend on the absence of artificial light to offer what tourists and residents drive hundreds of miles to see.
Rapid City’s light pollution
The problem is that Rapid City’s own skyglow is already visible from those places. Light pollution grows at an average rate of two to six percent per year across the United States, and the skyglow from an urban area doesn’t stop at the city limits. It bleeds outward, softening the darkness that makes the Milky Way visible above the Badlands formations and washing out the star fields that draw visitors to the Black Hills every summer.
Dark Sky Week is a simple ask. Turn off unnecessary outdoor lights. Participate in the community lights-out effort each evening this week. Take a drive to the Badlands after dark and remember what the sky actually looks like without competition.
Lakota Tradition
For the Lakota, the night sky has never been a backdrop — it has been a calendar, a map, a spiritual guide, and a record of origin. The stars overhead this week are the same ones that oriented generations of people across this land long before a single electric light existed on the northern plains.
Annual Event
Rapid City has marked Dark Sky Week annually since 2016. This year’s proclamation was signed by Mayor Salamun alongside members of the South Dakota chapter of the International Dark Sky Association and the Rapid City Sustainability Committee.
The week runs through Sunday, April 20th. The sky is free. Go Check it Out.
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