South Dakota has lost many of the roadside attractions that once entertained travelers from afar. Perhaps competition from video games, corporate theme parks, cruise ships and urban tourism is to blame. We’ve lost well-known attractions — the Passion Play in Spearfish, Flintstones Bedrock City in Custer and many other lesser-known places.

Still, three of our roadside attractions continue to thrive in the midst of change — Wall Drug, Reptile Gardens and the Pioneer Auto Show. All three are family-owned enterprises that have survived several generations. We recently visited the Geisler family to ask how their museum has survived into the 21st century when other attractions have been shuttered.

“Whatever you do, don’t call us a museum. Museums are old and dusty. This is a show!” David Geisler corrected us when we arrived in Murdo. The car collection is impressive, but the show Geisler refers to is the whole experience — visitors can wander for hours past roadside signs, slot machines, household collectibles, music machines, guns, fossils, posters, political memorabilia, Hollywood relics and agricultural artifacts.

The backyard resembles a prairie village with buildings collected from surrounding ghost towns, including a rail depot, blacksmith shop, livery, jail and general store. Altogether, the Auto Show fills 46 buildings and includes a restaurant, hotel, gas station and gift shop. A visit is an escape into 20th century culture, with three generations of Geislers working as guides.

“There used to be 27 different car museums in South Dakota alone,” David Geisler told us. “Antiques have gone down in popularity and that includes the really old cars,” he said. The popularity and longevity of the Pioneer Auto Show probably can’t be attributed to any one thing, but the always evolving car collection (over 400 cars, trucks, motorcycles and tractors) is surprising and never stagnant.

The huge collection includes a Batmobile, Senator Tom Daschle’s Pontiac that he famously parked among limousines when he first arrived in Washington, D.C., and an orange General Lee from the Dukes of Hazzard. Among the older vehicles are 1903 Model A, one of the first cars made by Henry Ford. And there’s the 1913 Peddler’s Wagon that David’s father A.J. displayed on the lot in the 1940s when the family arrived from California to run a gas station and sell tractors and cars.

The Geislers also attribute some of their success to the show’s location at the intersection of I-90 and U.S. Highway 83, the same spot where A.J. opened his gas station. “We’re at the crossroads of America,” Geisler told us. “The interstate runs from Boston to Seattle and Highway 83 goes from Canada to Mexico, and here we sit in the middle of it all.”

Geisler also attributes the Auto Show’s success to his family’s willingness to take chances. “Don’t fear a little debt,” he says. “Study your lesson and make a deal.”

However, more than anything else, it’s obvious that the Geislers are successful because they love to entertain visitors with stories and artifacts of yesteryear. They make everyone feel like a newfound friend — and isn’t that what we’re all looking for as we travel?

Photo Caption: Ryder Geisler (at the wheel) works alongside his grandfather, David Sr. (above left) his dad David Jr., and Aunt Vivian Sonder at Pioneer Auto Show. Vivian and David's sisters, Jennifer and Patty, also remain involved as well as their cousins Cathie and Johana, daughters of David Sr.'s brother John, who was an integral part of the enterprise until he died in 2013.

Read more about the Murdo Auto Show, as well as Wall Drug and Reptile Gardens, in our July/ August 2021 issue. Katie Hunhoff is the publisher of South Dakota Magazine, a bi-monthly publication featuring the people and places of our wonderful state. See more at www.SouthDakotaMagazine.com.