SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) – This week’s “Beg Knows America” series for CBS Mornings featured a South Dakota connection.
CBS News Contributor David Begnaud featured the Nora Store in rural Union County. KELOLAND’s Chief Photographer Kevin Kjergaard worked with Begnaud to shoot the story that was submitted as a story idea to Begnaud by Rob Monson.
You can watch the full story in the video player above.
Monson’s son, Dylan, produced a story on the Nora Store as a college assignment for South Dakota State University in 2016. Part of that video was included in Begnaud’s report.
“I’ve told people, I said, when you come here, it’s like stepping into a Norman Rockwell picture. I mean, just everything, the small little town, the country store, the pot belly stove, just everything that’s here is just a time that we don’t have anymore,” Rob Monson said.
Mike Pedersen, who owns the store, started the holiday tradition along with his pipe organ back in 1989. KELOLAND News has done multiple stories with Pedersen and the Nora Store over the years.
“My joy is when this thing is packed out with people and people are people are singing their hearts out,” Pedersen said in a 2019 story. “And everybody feels like they’re somebody at Nora.”
The store near Alcester, S.D. opened for the season Dec. 6. They’ll be open every Friday, Saturday and Sunday in December.
