Out of Town owner and manager Brooke Leno, left, helps employee Chloe Jazvic as she helps a customer and Melissa Moos folds clothing on Friday, Nov. 29, 2015, at the store in the Prairie Hills Mall in Dickinson, N.D. (Dustin Monke / The Dickinson Press)
Holidays can make or break the profit margins of small retail businesses.
In Dickinson, the time carries even greater meaning for relatively new businesses — especially those that sprang up in recent years around the promise of the burgeoning energy industry and population growth, only to see commerce wane in the wake of the industry’s slowdown.
“In general, business is slower,” said Brooke Leno, manager of Out of Town and Out of Town Kids in the Prairie Hills Mall. “People aren’t coming in and dropping a bunch of money like they used to. They’re being more strategic about their purchases. It’s nothing that’s going to make or break us. It’s definitely slower and you can tell. But it seems like the last few days, people are getting into that Christmas shopping.”
North Dakota Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem touted his nearly four decades of political experience working with the state’s agriculture and energy industry Wednesday in Dickinson as part of his campaign seeking the Republican nomination for governor.
Stenehjem geared much of his 20-minute speech to a small but friendly crowd gathered at the West River Community Center around topics important to western North Dakotans — agriculture, oil and education.
“We also have to emphasize that North Dakota, more than ever, is truly a part of a global marketplace,” Stenehjem said. “We must redouble our efforts to secure global sales of all of our farm and energy commodities. If there is one thing we’ve learned, it’s the importance of diversifying our economy. We’re doing that in marvelous ways and we can do more.”
Kat Perkins said her latest tour has been “years and years in the making,” and being able to squeeze in an show in Dickinson is the bow on top of her Christmas gift to fans.
As part of her Christmas concert tour throughout North Dakota and Minnesota, Perkins will hit the stage at 8 p.m. Monday, Nov. 30, at the Astoria Hotel and Event Center ballroom as the highlight of a formal event that begins at 6:30 p.m. that includes a social and dinner for $100 a ticket.
“I’m so excited to finally be doing a Christmas tour,” said Perkins, who grew up in Scranton.
A semi truck hauling oil is followed by two vehicles on U.S. Highway 85 while going through the small town of Fairfi eld about 16 miles north of Interstate 94 on Saturday morning. A street sign denoting the highway was recently clipped by a vehicle and is now crooked.
FAIRFIELD, N.D. — Joe Kessel is blunt when he talks about a proposed project that would make U.S. Highway 85 four lanes from Interstate 94 to Watford City, N.D.
“Why haven’t they got it done yet?” he asks with a hearty laugh.
The Billings County Commissioner lives a half-mile off the well-traveled Bakken Oil Patch thoroughfare only about four miles south of the McKenzie County line and said he deals with oilfield traffic every day. He even believes the drop in oil prices over the past year hasn’t created that much of a slowdown along the highway.
The public will get a glimpse of the 62-mile project proposed by the North Dakota Department of Transportation for the first time this week when public scoping meetings are held at 5 p.m. Monday at Belfield City Hall and at 5 p.m. Tuesday at Watford City City Hall.
Jamie Olson, the NDDOT’s public information specialist, said there’s no telling how long the four-laning process would take, but said it could last upward of a decade. There’s also no dollar amount attached to the project yet, as it must go through multiple approval steps first.
“It’ll take a long time once they complete that environmental (assessment) portion of it,” she said. “That’ll help to answer some of those questions: How long are we looking at? What are the options?”
At an open house honoring Dennis Johnson’s time as mayor of Dickinson on Thursday, a man walked up to City Commissioner Gene Jackson and said, “Well hello, Mr. Mayor.”
Jackson quickly corrected the man.
Though the Dickinson City Commission’s vice president will serve as acting commission president for Monday night’s regular commission meeting, there are a few steps the city must take before Dickinson officially names its next mayor.
Dustin Monke 