The 605 Unity Jam is approximately one month away and final steps are being taken to wrap up the final planning involved with this special event. The Unity Jam is being held on Sunday, June 15 at Wagner Lake and will feature: Youth Fishing, Teen Spike Ball Tournament, Bean Bag Tournament, Blindfold Canoe Races, Arts and Craft Show, Food Trucks, Traditional Czech Dancing Demonstration, Youth Powwow, Lots of Live Music, Outdoor Church Service and more. The entertainment will include: Uncle Roy and the Boys, Kara Hanan, CZ & the Walleyes, Kobe Jordan, Ted & Alice Mille (Great Plains Folk Music), Indigenous and Mogen’s Heroes.

The 605 Unity Jam has drawn more state wide attention than we had ever thought possible. This event has been in the “South Dakota Magazine,” which has over 165,000 subscribers. A film was also produced for “South Dakota Public Broadcasting,” which has thousands of viewers as well. The film can be viewed by looking on Facebook and searching for 605 Unity Jam One Step At A Time. This kind of interest has created many positive comments about the Wagner community. Just recently, members of the Unity Planning Team were interviewed by Results Town Square Media in Sioux Falls. The 30 minute interview will be broadcast several times between now and the event on their six different radio stations. In addition to this, the “Annual Energize Conference,” which was recently held in Platte, featured a breakout session about the 605 Unity Jam as well. The conference featured participants from throughout South Dakota, all looking for positive ways to focus on their community. The conference also included resource partners from a wide variety of tourist programs and more, all of which were given information about the Unity Jam so they could share this information throughout the state.

We believe that Wagner will begin to see tourism become more important due to the kind of information that was shared about the 605 Unity Jam and the meaning of the Unity Buffalo. The artwork involved with the Unity Buffalo created a great amount of interest, which we believe will eventually show itsself in visitors from South Dakota and surrounding areas. Tourism was a key topic at several sessions at the conference held in Platte. Those in attendance were greatly interested in the meaning behind the Unity Buffalo and the partnerships that helped make the Unity Jam successful. As stated earlier, we are amazed at the support received for the Unity Buffalo and the 605 Unity Jam. For this, Wagner should feel great pride. This year, the event will land onFather's Day. This is the perfect day to bring dad and enjoy a wide variety of entertainment and a fun day all around. The purpose of this event is to: increase culture awareness, understanding, acceptance and appreciation for all cultures in our area. We also hope to build positive relationships locally and between communities and to help promote Wagner Lake as a positive community asset and our area. This event would not be possible if it had not been for the willingness of the Yankton Sioux Tribe and the Wagner Chamber of Commerce to work together to create the Unity Buffalo and to focus upon making our community a better place to live.