City: Rapid City, SD

Category: Shopping

Telephone: (605) 342-3086, (800) 541-2388

Address: 606 Main St.

Insider Pick:

Description: If you’re captivated by Native American crafts and culture and you love fine handmade items, go straight to Prairie Edge. You’ll know you’re someplace special the instant you step into the spacious showrooms gleaming with polished-wood floors and fixtures. Set aside plenty of time for your visit, not only because there are three floors’ worth of wonderful merchandise to look at, but also because the serene beauty of the displays makes you want to linger to examine each exquisite piece.When you enter, locally made star quilts and colorful Pendleton blankets catch your eye, and cases of jewelry, beadwork, and intricate quillwork beckon. You might feel inspired to buy supplies for your own creations in the Sioux Trading Post portion of the store. The toy assortment offers games, marbles, puzzles, and many breeds of fuzzy stuffed animals. You’re sure to be dazzled by the Italian Glass Bead Library, where jars upon jars hold beads in all kinds of colors and almost as many sizes—intriguingly, they’re from a Venetian supplier that provided beads to 19th-century fur traders.Most enchanting of all, perhaps, is the Plains Indian Gallery, where you’ll see magnificent reproductions of traditional clothing and artifacts, including beaded cradle boards, fringed and beaded leather dresses, ceremonial garments embroidered with porcupine quills, decorative vessels, dolls, and more. From here, climb the wide staircase to browse among the fascinating books on Native American subjects, crafts, and the West, as well as a selection of tapes and CDs by Native American musicians. Finally, visit the third-floor art gallery to see works by acclaimed regional and national artists, sculptors, photographers, and craftspeople. If once is not enough, you can return seven days a week to see it all again at this 125-year-old building.