Mitchell Tourism Data Analysis

Roger Musick

I am a lifelong resident of Mitchell, a graduate of Mitchell High School, and earned my degree in electrical engineering from the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology. Over the course of my career, I was a Professional Engineer, partner at Martin and Associates—now known as CHR—and later founded Innovative Systems.

In 2012, as a member of the Mitchell Development Corporation board, I had the opportunity to work with Dr. Ralph Brown to better understand the structure and dynamics of the Mitchell economy. Following that effort, I was appointed by Governor Dennis Daugaard to serve on the Governor's Council of Economic Advisors. I served for several years alongside Dr. Brown, fellow South Dakotans, and economists. The goal of the council was to provide insights that would help the state achieve a AAA bond rating.

I don't claim to be an economist. What we did was straightforward: we used publicly available state and city data, analyzed it, and presented it in graphs to help policymakers and community members understand economic trends.

The data clearly demonstrates that Mitchell is not a tourism-based economy. Rather, it is driven by its residents and by regional shoppers. Tourism plays a very small role, but it is not the economic foundation of our community. We have a truly year round economy. Thank goodness.