The Argus Leader ran a story today about a Sioux Falls guy — Greg Allis — who is leading the charge to resurrect one of the weatherballs that used to operate in town.
When the weatherball is red,
Warmer weather is ahead.When the weatherball is white,
colder weather is in sight.When the weatherball is green,
No change is forseen.When it blinks in agitation,
There’s going to be precipitation.
There are only two weatherballs left in Sioux Falls; a 5-foot ball at 33rd and Minnesota and a 10-foot ball at 9t Street and Main Avenue. Neither one works. Apparently there is no desire on the part of the banks to get them working again, so Allis wants the city to pick up the project and place one of the balls in a city park, in the name of historic preservation. But the city is balking because they aren’t really old enough to qualify for the “historic” designation.
I love the idea of putting a weatherball back in action, but I don’t necessarily like the idea of it becoming a city government thing. I’m surprised though that one of the local news & weather stations hasn’t grabbed the idea and used it for promotion. KELO-TV was one of the original sponsors; wouldn’t it be great for them to put a weatherball on top of their tower in the downtown area? Just think of the mileage they’d get out of that thing. Or if KSFY picked up on the idea and placed one on a prominent billboard with reference to their weather forecasting…
That would be pure genius. At least I think so.
Here’s the copy from the original Argus story; they only keep them up for a week or so (I think). This one is just for posterity.
Red: warmer weather.
White: colder weather.
Flashing like crazy? Expect rain or snow, depending on the season.
That’s an abbreviated version of the weatherball jingle.
The rhyme and the weatherballs, atop three banks in Sioux Falls and four others elsewhere in eastern South Dakota, were how many people followed the weather.
That was back in the days before technology allowed you to download a forecast to your cell phone.
Simple yet effective, as Sioux Falls residents of a certain age will tell you.
Greg Allis is one of those Sioux Falls residents of a certain age.
Allis, 52, wants to bring the weatherball back.
“It’s something I think is worth saving,” said Allis, a Sioux Falls native. “Everybody (my) age or a little older knows about it.”
He hopes to place the weatherball, now on the US Bank at 33rd Street and Minnesota Avenue, in a Sioux Falls park.
Allis wants to see it repaired and lit so once again city residents can chant, “When the weatherball is green, no change is foreseen.”
He will attend a Board of Historic Preservation meeting at 4 p.m. today in City Hall to begin presenting his case.
Brent O’Neil, an urban planner with the city, said the weatherball might not be old enough to be defined as historic.
“But we can give him some ideas, give him some technical help if needed,” O’Neil says.
Don Kearney, director of the Parks Department, says his office is willing to look at a proposal to place a weatherball in a city park.
Allis has received support from those who grew up staring at the weatherball to learn when a change was forecast.
He has talked with George Menke, owner of Pride Neon, whose father erected the weatherballs.
Menke, who is out of town, told Allis he has come across a box of parts for the weatherball.
“He told me his dad welded a piece of pipe to a truck tire hub or something to move the little ones around, and it’s still sitting in his shop,” Allis says.
Dave Rozeboom, president of US Bank, is willing to relocate the weatherball at the 33rd and Minnesota branch.
In a scrapbook at the bank, Rozeboom found a newspaper ad that welcomed bank customers to come in for “coffee and weatherball puffs.”
“In its day, it was heavily used and relied upon,” says Rozeboom, who moved to Sioux Falls 19 years ago.
The first Sioux Falls weatherball, modeled after one atop a downtown Minneapolis bank, was built in 1952 and hoisted on an old windmill placed on a building at Eighth Street and Phillips Avenue.
KELO-TV and Radio was the guiding force behind it, a Chevy dealer first sponsored it, but National Bank of South Dakota became known as the bank with the weatherball.
In later years, smaller balls were placed on two other locations and also in Huron, Pierre, Watertown and Aberdeen.
The 5-foot ball at 33rd and Minnesota and a 10-foot ball on the bank at Ninth Street and Main Avenue are the only two remaining; neither works.
Allis would like to see the smaller weatherball placed on a 20-foot pole next to the arch to Phillips to the Fall or in a downtown Sioux Falls park.
Reach reporter Jill Callison at 331-2307.
Tags: sioux falls, weather, weatherball