Levitt at the Falls now has a winter season. It runs on a $5.6 million indoor addition that opened on Oct. 8. Through March 2027 it has two ticketed concerts, a monthly free talk series, and a few civic rentals. That's a small calendar. The paid nights help fund the free summer concerts that drew more than 130,000 people in 2026, and the venue plans to spend the colder months lining up the money for the next summer.
That link between the paid indoor nights and the free lawn shapes how the calendar reads, which nights cost money, and why your ticket on a December evening matters to a July concert.
A Room Built on the Last Open Ground
The Sweetman Atrium adds 7,000 square feet to a venue that opened in 2019. It has the DSU Community Room, the Lust Family Second Stage, the Paulson Family Greenroom for artists, a dressing room, six offices and two storage rooms. Co-op Architecture designed it and Beck & Hofer Construction built it.
It also took up the last of the land. In SiouxFalls.Business's opening-day report, president and CEO Nancy Halverson put it plainly: "We'd have to go up, and we didn't design for that." With no room left to expand, this building is the indoor space the Levitt will have for the foreseeable future.
The design came from running the summer series. The same report explains that the staff used to work several blocks away and often had to haul heavy sound equipment back and forth to the Shell. The original stage had a ramp in front but none backstage. An artist with a mobility issue had to come in from the front, which Halverson called technically accessible but "not welcoming." Staff moved into the atrium about two weeks before the Oct. 8 grand opening, and Halverson described the Levitt as now "bringing everything we do mission-wise under our roof."
The building opened without debt, according to Halverson. She told SiouxFalls.Business that part of the off-season will go to researching and booking acts and to raising more than $1.3 million in sponsorships.
Two Paid Nights, Tied to the Summer Lawn
The Levitt calls its indoor concert series Levitt UpClose. Shows happen in the DSU Community Room. The venue's own description says every ticket "supports Levitt at the Falls' free summer concert series, keeping the music accessible to everyone." Its FAQ adds that some UpClose events cost money so the regular programming can stay free.
The summer the tickets support is big. The Levitt scheduled 50 concerts in 2026, and weather canceled five. Halverson told SiouxFalls.Business that without the cancellations, 2026 "definitely would have had the highest attendance ever." There were also 225 volunteers who logged 5,140 hours, and livestreams that drew 149,122 viewers.
Next to those summer numbers, the winter lineup is short. Two UpClose shows are on sale:
- The Two Tracks, Friday, Nov. 6. An Americana-folk rock quartet from Sheridan, Wyoming, with local openers Fairy Blue and Inkwell Echo. Doors open at 7 p.m. and music starts at 8 p.m. Tickets are $35 in advance or $40 at the door. This is the atrium's first ticketed event.
- A Very Jazzy Christmas, Saturday, Dec. 19. The Fellowship Jazz Center Orchestra featuring Andrea Ross. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. and music starts at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $45 in advance or $50 at the door.
The Levitt says its ticket prices are all-in, so the posted price already includes sales tax and processing fees.
The December show came out of talks that were already underway at the opening. SiouxFalls.Business reported on Oct. 8 that Levitt staff were in conversations with both the Fellowship Jazz Center and the South Dakota Symphony Orchestra about atrium performances. The jazz date is now on the calendar. No symphony date has been announced yet.
The opening-act choice fits the summer pattern. About half of the 2026 summer concert dates had a local or regional artist opening or headlining, and some of the summer's biggest crowds came for local acts. The That Sounds Decent Festival drew 6,407 people and Kory & The Fireflies drew 6,000.
The Free Side of the Calendar
Most nights in the atrium this winter are free. They also show the second purpose of the building. Halverson told SiouxFalls.Business the expansion came out of a city arts report that found artists needed affordable places to work and take chances. The aim is to help artists "make a living and stay here."
The main free series is the Artist Speaker Series, run by Levitt at the Falls with The Watering Can and Arts South Dakota. It meets on the second Tuesday of the month from 6:30 to 8 p.m. It's free, needs no registration, and streams on Facebook Live. Here are the announced dates:
November
- Tuesday, Nov. 10: a Grant Recipient Q&A with panelists Brian Bonde, Edwin Galindo, Mecca Rutherford and Xavier Pastrano.
January through March 2027
- Tuesday, Jan. 12: "Using Opportunities to Talk About Your Art" with Dave Holly.
- Tuesday, Feb. 9: "Business Planning for the Artist" with Sadie Swier and Myriam Medina of the SD CEO East Women's Business Center.
- Tuesday, March 9: "Social Media Strategies for Artists" with Nicole David.
The building is also rented out for city events. The City of Sioux Falls is holding two free "Sioux Falls Listens" sessions there, which the Levitt lists as rentals rather than its own programming. Both run from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. The Business Community session is Thursday, Nov. 5, and the Economic Development session is Thursday, Nov. 12. That means the first full week of November has a city listening session Thursday and the first paid concert Friday, in the same room on back-to-back nights.
What a Winter Night There Involves
The Shell sits at 504 N. Phillips Ave., and indoor events work differently from summer evenings on the lawn. According to the Levitt's UpClose FAQ:
- Use the west entrance on Phillips Avenue. All Sweetman Atrium events enter there.
- Park after 6 p.m. You can park behind the Levitt Shell or in the CHN Industries lot at Phillips Avenue and Sixth Street. Spots are first come, first served, and the Levitt lot has limited ADA parking.
- Arrive when doors open. Doors open one hour before music starts.
- Leave food, drinks and big bags in the car. Outside food and beverages aren't allowed, and neither are large backpacks or bags.
- Plan to buy drinks inside. There's a smaller concessions setup in the atrium, and JJ's Wine, Spirits & Cigars runs the bar.
Parking behind the Shell after 6 p.m., a one-hour doors window, and concessions inside make an 8 p.m. show in November easy to plan, even when a lawn chair at the Shell sounds like a bad idea.
The Plaza Next Door
The atrium also opened in a newly connected part of downtown. A week after the grand opening, Dakota News Now reported that Jacobson Plaza Phase 2 was open. It adds gathering spaces and pedestrian walkways linking Falls Park, the Levitt Shell and the Steel District. It also has a new overlook with views of the falls and the Big Sioux River.
The city plans to use the new plaza as the permanent home for its large Christmas tree and other community events. The City Council approved the project in March 2026, and the city keeps a Jacobson Plaza Phase 2 project page with more details.
On a Dec. 19 evening, you could take the plaza walkways past the tree and out to the overlook, then come in through the Phillips Avenue door for doors at 6:30 p.m. and A Very Jazzy Christmas at 7:30 p.m. Your ticket that night helps fund next summer's free concerts on the lawn outside.
At Amanda Buell, we follow how places like the Levitt change the rhythm of a Sioux Falls year, including what the off-season looks like when a summer venue moves indoors. If you'd like to know how downtown's new year-round spaces are showing up in your part of the city, request your personalized home valuation and we'll go through it with you.
