Hi everyone. Despite the incredibly cold wind and temps we had a great turn-out for the annual BBISD Conference in DeSmet. Thank you again, Connie and Darla, for helping to make this event a success. Twenty-four people representing fourteen inns were in attendance. Ward’s store catered the event held at Connie’s Super Deluxe Inn and Suites – excellent facility! A big THANK YOU to Sherry & Eldon at Valiant Vineyard and Buffalo Run Lodge for furnishing the wine for dinner. Norbeck House of Pierre, one of our new inns, was in attendance and we found out that Rick is a great pinochle player, just ask Vixie and Dennis Miller.

The Laura Ingalls Wilder Society gave us a wonderful tour of the Surveyor’s Shanty and the Ingalls home. Later that evening we heard from Anne about the Homestead and had the opportunity to make our very own corn cob doll – or super hero doll. A fun time!

One of the things decided at the meeting was to offer a scholarship to one person from a member inn that has never attended the Governor’s Conference on Tourism. The scholarship will include registration fees and the cost of the VIA luncheon that is held on the first day of the conference. It will not cover transportation and lodging. Members will receive notification and information about the Conference as soon as it becomes available, and will submit their name to the Board. Selection will be by lottery (we’ll throw all the names in a hat and pull one out). The Conference offers a bounty of information on all sorts of subjects valuable to anyone in the tourism business. Watch for details!

Members are encouraged to check their listing on www.southdakotabb.com to make sure their area has complete information available to those traveling the INN Route. It’s also a great place to list packages. Remember, your membership investment entitles you to a free listing with practically unlimited information.

Members are also encouraged to partner with South Dakota Tourism in marketing packages. It only costs $35 per package and the coverage is extensive. In addition to having the packages on www.TravelSD.com, there is also the possibility of having your package selected to be advertised in newspapers in the surrounding states. Having a package with SD Tourism also presents the opportunity to advertise your inn at a reduced rate with the Great Get-Aways promotion. A package consists of a night’s stay and at least one activity. Check out www.sdvisit.com/programs/coop/vacationpackages for details and a downloadable form.

Thank you, member inns, for electing us to one more year on the Board. We appreciate your encouragement and support and look forward to a year of BBISD promotion and success.

Recipe:

1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
1/3 cup granulated white sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, cold and cut into small pieces
3/4 cup old-fashioned rolled oats
1/3 cup dried cranberries or cherries (or currants)
Zest of one lemon or orange
2/3 cup buttermilk

Egg Wash:
1 large egg
1 tablespoon milk or cream

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F and place rack in center of oven. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.

In a large mixing bowl place the flour, sugar, salt, baking soda, baking powder and whisk to combine. Add the butter and using two knives or a pastry blender cut in the butter until it resembles coarse crumbs. Add the rolled oats, dried cranberries and zest. Mix until combined. Stir in the buttermilk (adding more buttermilk if necessary) and mix just until the dough comes together.

Transfer to a lightly floured surface and knead the dough four or five times and then pat, or roll, the dough into a circle that is 7 inches round and about 11/2 inches thick. Cut this circle into 8 triangular sections. Place the scones on the prepared baking sheet. Make an egg wash of one beaten egg mixed with 1 tablespoon milk or cream and brush the tops of the scones with this mixture.

Bake for about 15 - 18 minutes or until lightly browned and a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

(Optional) Remove from oven and then turn your broiler on high. Sift confectioners (powdered or icing) sugar heavily over the tops of the scones and place them under the broiler. Broil for just a few seconds, turning the pan as necessary, until the sugar has melted and turns golden brown. Make sure to watch the scones carefully as the sugar will burn very quickly. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

Makes 8 scones.

The annual meeting of the Bed and Breakfast Innkeepers of South Dakota was held on January 18 and 19, 2008 at the Super Deluxe Inn and Suites in DeSmet, South Dakota and graciously hosted by the Glacial Lakes and Prairies Region.

Call to Order: The meeting was held in the conference room of the Super Deluxe Inn and called to order by President Ron and Carla Kaaz at 1:00 pm.

Present: Board Members: President Ron and Carla Kaaz - Foote Creek B&B; Vice President Jim and Linda Steele - Eagles View B&B; Secretary Dennis and Vixie Miller -Vixie’s Victorian Villa B&B; Treasurer Eileen Russow and Warren Meyer - Peregrine Point B&B; Newsletter Chairman Sara and John Steever - Steever House B&B; and Marketing Chairman Judy Parker - The Barn B&B.

Regional Tourism Directors: Lyndy Ireland-Triangle Ranch B&B of Black Hills, Badlands and Lakes; Ila and Bill Rumbolz-Der Rumbolz Platz B&B of Southeast South Dakota; Jim and Linda Steele-Eagle’s View B&B of Great Lakes; and Carla and Ron Kaaz - Foote Creek B&B of Glacial Lakes and Prairies.

Other B&B/Inn members present were: Art and Marilyn Oaks-Buffalo Rock Lodge; Clark Edwards -Clark’s Prairie Gold; Lelia Gilbert - Flavia’s Place; Rick and Ana Jensen - The Norbeck House Inn; Harold and Darla Loewen - Possibility Farm; Larry and Connie Cheney - Prairie House Manor.

Minutes: The minutes from the 2007 Annual Meeting were read individually by all present. Eileen Russow made a motion to approve the minutes as written. Seconded by Marilyn Oaks. Motion carried.

Treasurer’s Report: The Treasurer’s report was given by Eileen Russow. Marilyn Oaks made the motion to accept the Treasurer’s report as given. Darla Loewen seconded the motion. Motion carried. The Proposed 2008 Budget was presented. Eileen discussed the “Great Getaway” and that it is now targeting the whole state of SD for the cost of about $500.00. The advertisement insert will also be in the Fargo, Des Moines, and Minneapolis newspapers giving us a wider exposure. Clark Edwards made the motion to accept the proposed budget. Marilyn Oaks seconded. Discussion: A correction was made to the report to delete the wording “Coop Ad” from the line item SD Tourism. Motion carried.
Membership Report: Eileen Russow presented the report in the absence of the Membership Chairman Nancy and Bernie Roth-Apple Annie’s Cottage. We currently have 50 B&B members across the state. We lost four B&B’s this year: Granite Springs Lodge, Jenny Gulch, The Victorian Country and Elkridge B&B. But, we gained four new members during 2007: the Sweetgrass Inn B&B owned by Shari Rose and Lee Haverka, Rapid City; Anise’s B&B 4 Pets owned by Stephanie Anise, Hot Springs; The Norbeck House Inn owned by Rick and Ana Jensen, Pierre; and Elkridge B&B, Keystone. It was noted that Smiling Bear B&B has changed their name to Mountains to Prairies B&B at Hill City.

Marketing Report: Chairman Judy Parker talked on the importance of “Travel the Inn Route,” a prominent feature on our website with its logo and map locations of statewide B&Bs. She asked us to think of ways to expand this tool, possibly packages to put on the “Inn Route” with links to individual B&Bs. We need more visibility and ideas that target the B&B areas in SD. The Marketing Committee decided not to do the “Giant Step” advertising with SD Tourism. Instead, in the spring we are advertising in Midwest Living Magazine. We will have 1/6 page color ad in a 16 page Black Hills Badlands and Lakes supplement at a cost of approximately $1,100.00. The ad will direct travelers to our INN-Route link. BBISD association will continue to be in the “Great Getaway” this fall, which is now state wide. We would like to have a package on SD Tourism because people search for special packages. Check out TravelSD.com and sdmaid.com. It is one more link and it’s free. The Department of Tourism is an excellent source of information. BBISD is planning to take the “Matching Grant Fund Challenge” from SD Tourism. She explained that SD Tourism wants to help us with projects that will promote the state and bring more travelers to SD and keep them longer. We will be eligible for matching funds to market BBISD inns and having more guests staying on the INN-Route. There was a discussion of possibly taking half of the money we spend on brochures and invest in CD’s for the web site. The more links on the website the higher up on Google we would be.

Marilyn Oaks shared about the VIA, Visitor Industry Alliance, and how effective they were at changing the start date for schools in SD on behalf of tourism. She suggested doing image building by putting a local face on tourism. People in tourism are part of SD’s “great places have great faces.” Tourism works for SD, it literally turns the state green. She also enlightened us on two upcoming bills in the legislature that could affect us and that the Department of Health helped design the public health definition but it was confusing as to clarification of B&Bs, Inns, and Specialty Inns. She encouraged all of us to take the responsibility of keeping track of what is going on in our legislature and go to a cracker-barrel session. President Ron Kaaz encouraged us to all get to know the representatives in our area and talk to them about our issues.

Regional Reports: Glacial Lakes and Prairies: Carla Kaaz said they were glad to have the opportunity to host the annual conference this year. Black Hills Badlands and Lakes: Lyndy Ireland said they would like to host a region-wide open house this year, possibly on Mother’s Day as a spring tour of B&B’s is good exposure and advertisement for the upcoming summer season. Southeast SD: Ila Rumbolz wanted to mention that a new prospective B&B owner in their region, Joyce Metz from Mitchell, was featured in “The Parade of Homes” this year. Great Lakes: No report.

Old Business: The Board was prepared to present the changes to the By-Laws for voting however, it was noted that the proposed changes needed to be presented to every B&B in the association first and not just to the ones that attended the conference. So the By-Law changes were tabled for voting purposes to follow procedure. They will be mailed/emailed to every B&B in our association for their review. We also had discussion concerning the Amendments: Article 12 states that we are a 501(c) (3) but Eileen Russow thought we were actually a 501 (d). The President appointed Eileen Russow and Marilyn Oaks to research and present the findings at our April BBISD Board meeting.

New Business: In the past, BBISD has sponsored a table at the Triple A Luncheon in Pierre for $75. The theme was “Driving Forward” and they used SD maps to mark Association member locations. B&Bs donated items to give away (i.e. cookbooks, mugs, pens, wine glasses, aprons etc.). It was a very positive tool in recognizing our involvement in tourism. Eileen is recommending that we do it again next year.

We need to have more participation at the Governor’s Conference on Tourism held annually in Pierre. To motivate more participation, Eileen Russow made a motion to provide a scholarship in the amount of $165.00 ($150.00 Conference fee plus $15.00 for VIA Luncheon) for one of our associate B&B members, who have never attended a SD Governor’s Conference on Tourism, to attend the conference. Judy Parker seconded the motion. Discussion: Interested and eligible B&B member’s names will be collected and a drawing will be held. Motion Carried.

Next years host for the Annual Conference will be the Southeast Region.

BBISD extended a heart-felt thank you to Larry and Connie Cheney, local B&B owners, for the gracious use of their facilities for the conference. They extended an invitation to tour their Prairie House Manor B&B after this evening’s business meeting for fellowship time with coffee and dessert.

The meeting was adjourned to keep the scheduled free tour of the Laura Ingalls Wilder Homes. The tour guide was very informative about SD history, something we can all share with guests to promote interest in SD.
The business meeting reconvened for its second session at 7:15 pm on Friday, January 18, 2008. We applauded the caterers, Patty at Wards Store, for the delicious evening meal they served.

Because Ron and Carla Kaaz were serving as President and Regional Tourism Director for Glacial Lakes and Prairies it was necessary to elect another board member. Carla Kaaz nominated Harold and Darla Loewen - Possibility Farm B&B. Being no other nominations from the floor, nominations ceased. Carla made motion to accept Harold and Darla Loewen of Possibility Farms for the position of Regional Tourism Director for Glacial Lakes and Prairies. Lelia Gilbert seconded the motion. Motion carried.

Lelia Gilbert made a motion to re-elect the existing Board members in their current prospective positions. Marilyn Oaks seconded. Motion carried.

Sara Steever presented a survey to be completed and returned so she could compile the results for tomorrow morning’s business session.

Vixie Miller made a motion that the second session of the annual business meeting be adjourned. Clark Edwards seconded. Motion carried.

The BBISD then welcomed Anne Sullivan who gave a presentation on the Ingalls Homestead. It is an educational experience as well as a tourist attraction. They offer covered wagon and pony rides, an old country schoolhouse on the area homestead to demonstrate how they learned in the 1890’s. They show how wheat was ground back then and exemplify the hardships of that point and time in history. The BBISD members signed a thank you card and donated $100.00 to the Society of Laura Ingalls Wilder. Afterwards, we all journeyed to the Prairie House Manor B&B for coffee and dessert.

The third session of our annual business meeting reconvened on Saturday morning, January 19, 2008, at 8:30 am. Sara Steever, Public Relations/Newsletter Chairman, gave a presentation on “Marketing Your Inn on the Internet” and shared a wealth of information about website management. She stressed the importance of a professional photographer, which increased her business 50%. It’s important to have your own domain name, it’s costly but very beneficial. She said to check your search engines. We need title tags, meta tags, headlines and subheadings, need 250 key-words/dense words per page, alt image tags, links to/from bbonline.com and to check key-words for relevancy. Be sure to give valuable information: where to eat, what to do, recipes, why you are unique, attractions, events in your area. She instructed us to check out the free stuff: setting up a dmoz.org listing, setting up a google.com account and Google.com/local for map listings, set up a yahoo submission, submit your site to MSN.com. Also paid economical advertising: Google keywords and targeted ads (buying google keywords is cheaper than the yellow pages), MSN Ads and Yahoo ads and use the following directories: bbonline.com; bedandbreakfast.com, lanierbb.com; theinnkeeper.com, travelsd.com; and Iloveinns.com. Make sure your emails contain all your B&B information: phone #, website, email address, blogs. Since Sara has taken over the maintenance of www.southdakotabb.com it has risen from being buried on the 4th or 5th page of the top search engines to being one of the top three (3) on the first page!

Joan Hegerfeld, Extension Food Safety Specialist at the SD State University Cooperative Extension Service in Brookings, SD, gave a presentation on Marketing your Jams and Jellies. She covered the microbiology of Food Preservation and that jams and jellies are basically low risk foods. For those considering selling home-cooked products as part of their business, get information relating to regulations and safe food handling practices that reduce or eliminate possible risks. She discussed environments that cause botulism poisoning and stressed the importance of following strictly the national home food preservation guide and required food-labeling restrictions.

Our final session was a group discussion presented by Ron Kaaz on “Knowing Your Rights as an Innkeeper.” Seek legal council if you have questions, there are changes to the laws; guest records: make sure you have the names, number in the party, guest residence, date of registration, date of departure, daily rate charged, vehicle license plate number and keep your records for one year. Consider your guest’s safety: remove snow and put out salt - show an attempt to keep cleared; areas and walkways well lighted, proper handrails; follow safety codes: water temperature is suppose to be set at 120 degrees; if you suspect there might be a crime going on - report it; place deadbolts where needed and stay consistent with your policy. If you are going to do packaging with another entity (recreational service/restaurant etc.) have an agreement prepared and signed that you/they are operating as an independent contractor so that you are not liable for any accident or injury that happens while they are using a portion of the package they purchased from you.

Meeting adjourned at 11:15 am.

We sponsored a table this year and decorated with our theme "Travel the INN-Route". Check out the good looking faces at our table!

South Dakota’s official state dessert.

2 packages buttermilk or homestyle biscuits Break apart and press into bottom and partially up the sides of large muffin tin.

Put 1 teaspoon of pie filling on top of the biscuit (blueberry, strawberry, apple, or chopped peaches).
Topping:
2 cups whipping cream
1 cup milk
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 tablespoons corn starch

Mix together in heavy saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly with wire whisk to prevent scorching.

Place 1 tablespoon of topping over pie filling – sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar – bake at 350 for 10-14 minutes or until edges of biscuits are brown.

The filling recipe makes more than you will need for the 20 mini-kuchen. I often make the filling, and finish the recipe using only 1 of the packages of biscuits. The filling freezes well. The next time I need the mini-kuchens, I can easily defrost the filling and quickly make a fresh batch. The completed mini-kuchen freeze well also.