Locals Love This Under-the-Radar South Dakota Town (Here’s Why)

A name like Watertown sounds like a salty little place hugging the sea with boats bobbing in the harbor—not a rodeo town that's home to cowboys and veterans, renowned artists, zoologists, and conservation initiatives. It’s a hidden town in South Dakota where local pride reigns supreme, and I couldn’t resist staying the weekend.

An Unexpected Road Trip Stop in South Dakota

We stumbled into this quiet town in South Dakota in early August last summer, a deliciously cool place to be during the hottest weeks of a Midwest summer. It was a Midwest road trip between Fargo, North Dakota, and Sioux City, Iowa, and my kids giggled about not knowing which state we were in. One minute we were in North Dakota, the next in Minnesota, dipping into South Dakota, and back again.  We were all looking for a reason to stop driving. It was really an unspoken excuse to avoid continuing south to the toasty plains. We stopped at a gas station and picked a place on the map to stop for a pizza: Watertown, just 5 miles off Interstate 29.

What Makes This Midwest Town So Special

We pulled up outside Dempsey’s Brewery, hoping for an exceptional pizza and four mugs of frosty root beer. What we found was a tin-ceilinged local haunt, a creaky wood floor, and giant international flags strung across the windows. A voice behind the bar called out and asked if we were in town for the rodeo. Turns out we were, we just didn’t know it yet. Before we had time to ask for a refill, we had a two-day itinerary scratched onto a napkin, two nights booked at a Watertown hotel, and a second Hawaiian pizza ordered to feed us later that night.

Best Things to Do in Watertown, South Dakota

If there’s such a thing as road tripper luck, we found it that afternoon in this hidden town in South Dakota. We landed at the brewery during the quiet hush of a small town, just hours before opening night of its annual rodeo. Amid the camaraderie came a long list of eclectic hidden gems, including a free world-class art museum, a wonderful accredited zoo, and a dozen sparkling lakes.

Watertown Rodeo at Derby Downs

The Watertown Rodeo is both a local tradition and a professional event, the kind of genuine experience an intrepid traveler would never pass up. So we dug up our best jeans from the bottom of our bags and headed down the dusty dirt road to Derby Downs. We laughed, rooted, and roared with the locals until the sun went down. My son rode an electric bull, my daughter slurped snow cones in three different flavors, and I grabbed a bedazzled ball cap with a horseshoe insignia. The last hurrah was when my husband caught an Ariat t-shirt midair after it was shot into the crowd from a t-shirt cannon.

Terry Redlin Art Center

The next morning, I lured my family to the Terry Redlin Art Center, promising them the reward of an afternoon at the zoo. But all resentment left their lips as we pulled up to the grand, white mansion-like building, hugged by flowering, green lawns. This is no ordinary museum, but it is a gift of love from a passionate conservationist who painted wildlife and nationalism into iconic pieces of Americana art. A lifelong fan of his work, I knew there was no better way to share Redlin’s work than this, in person, in front of 160 of his original oil paintings. They were enamored, and so was I. 

Bramble Park Zoo

As promised, we spent the afternoon at Bramble Park Zoo, a small but wonderful, accredited local zoo in Watertown. We appreciated the walkability, the farm animals at the petting zoo, the gardens, and a few unique species, such as milk frogs, snow leopards, wolves, foxes, and lemurs. But the best part of all was the very special experience of a sloth encounter, my son’s favorite animal since he was a baby.

Lake Kampeska and Pelican Lake

On the final morning of our spontaneous stay in Watertown, we took a slow loop through the local lakes. There are dozens of tiny lakes and waterways surrounding Watertown, so despite the lack of salty air, there were indeed plenty of bobbing boats. We spent several hours dipping our fishing poles and toes into the beaches along Lake Kampeska and Pelican Lake.

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