What's New in Sioux Falls: Raising Cane's and the Pork Showdown

Here is what is new in the Sioux Falls area this week: Raising Cane's has set its opening date for South Dakota's first location, the Downtown Pork Showdown is in its final days, and big entertainment and growth news is spread across the metro and its surrounding communities. I'm Jennifer Krosch, a Realtor with eXp Realty, and I keep this local beat because what is opening, being built, and being planned tells you which neighborhoods are gaining momentum.

Raising Cane's sets its Sioux Falls opening date

The chicken-finger chain everyone has been watching finally has a date. Raising Cane's will open its first South Dakota location, and its first Sioux Falls restaurant, on Tuesday, November 17, 2026, at 4004 W. 41st St., across the street from The Empire Mall and just east of I-29 at the former David's Bridal site. That is a big deal for the metro: it is the brand's first store in the entire state, and the kind of national name that draws customers from a wide radius.

It also means jobs. The location is expected to create about 165 positions, including cashiers, customer service associates, fry cooks, and other crew roles. Applications are open now at jobs.raisingcanes.com, and interviews are being held at the hiring center at 4304 W. Empire Place. If you have someone in the family looking for work before the holidays, that is worth knowing. For anyone watching the southwest side, a high-traffic national restaurant choosing the Empire Mall corridor is another sign that stretch of 41st Street keeps pulling new investment.

The Downtown Pork Showdown is in its final stretch

Downtown's big month-long food event is still running, and it is a fun, low-cost way to experience downtown right now. The Downtown Pork Showdown, now in its sixth year, is presented by Downtown Sioux Falls, Inc. in partnership with the South Dakota Pork Producers Council. From October 1 through 31, roughly 26 to 27 downtown restaurants each serve a unique entree built around South Dakota pork, and diners get to pick the winner.

Here is how it works: order a showdown dish at any participating restaurant, then vote through the DTSF Passport App by scanning the QR code at the table. Dishes are judged on best use of pork, flavor, tenderness, presentation, and customer service, and the restaurant with the most votes is named the 2026 Pork Showdown Champion. Entry is free; you just pay for the food you order, and prices vary by menu. Some of this year's entries include Big Sioux Burger's Sauced Swine fried pork loin sandwich, Black Watch's Bootlegger's Pork Belly, BlackFork Farms' The Heluka, Fernson Downtown's Sticky Ribs, Ironwood Steakhouse's Pork Tenderloin Roulade, Phillips Ave. Diner's Pork Fritter, Pomegranate Market's Pork and Melon Bistro Stack, and Rivage Oak Kitchen's braised pork collar.

Big shows on the calendar

The next two weeks bring some of the biggest entertainment dates of the season. On Saturday, October 24 at 7:00 p.m., Zac Brown Band plays Denny Sanford PREMIER Center as part of the Love & Fear Tour, with Brothers Osborne as the special guest. Tickets are sold through AXS, and if a big arena night is your kind of date night, this is the one to circle.

The Washington Pavilion has a strong run of theater, too. The Good Night Theatre Collective stages the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical Cats! October 22 through 25, and the national touring production of Jersey Boys lands October 27 and 28. Both are downtown, which makes them easy to pair with dinner at any of the Pork Showdown restaurants still in the running.

Tea's growth corridor keeps building

South of the city, the roadwork connecting Sioux Falls and Tea is the biggest story in the southwest corridor. The new I-29 and 85th Street diverging diamond interchange is under construction, a roughly $54 million project that will connect 85th Street from Sioux Falls east of I-29 to Tea city limits west of I-29. The project includes a pedestrian and bicycle underpass, traffic signals, streetlights, underground utilities, storm sewer, curb and gutter, sidewalks, and concrete surfacing. T&R Contracting is the contractor, and the City of Sioux Falls lists completion for December 31, 2027. Drivers can expect continuing lane closures on I-29 at mile marker 73 while pavement is placed.

For buyers, this interchange is about more than a faster commute. It ties Tea directly to Sioux Falls in a way the community has not had before, and infrastructure like this usually pulls commercial growth along with it. Tea has already seen its first Culver's open at the Bakker Landing development on 271st Street, next to Casey's. The Tea Chamber of Commerce hosted the grand-opening ribbon cutting on June 23, 2026, and the restaurant hired roughly 80 people, many of them students. A community that can support a new national restaurant and a major new interchange is a community with real momentum.

Brandon: a retail plaza filling in fast

In Brandon, the action is at Brandon 90 Plaza, the 50-acre commercial development at the intersection of I-90 and Splitrock Boulevard. Kwik Star, the second Brandon location for the convenience-store chain, opened there in late August 2026 with a gas station, convenience store, and car wash on the roughly three-acre site. The developer has called the store the linchpin of the development, and more is on the way.

Les Schwab Tire Center, the chain's first Brandon location, is planned as a full-service, seven-bay facility. Jimmy John's opened Brandon's first location there in 2024. And the broader plans for the remaining lots include one or more strip malls, a hotel, at least two fast-food restaurants, and a possible sit-down restaurant, with up to $50 million or more in buildings across the development plus a stocked public lake on the east side. For anyone who lives in Brandon or is considering it, that is a meaningful upgrade in everyday shopping and services without driving into Sioux Falls.

What this means for buyers and sellers

Here is the realtor's take. When a national restaurant like Raising Cane's commits to its first South Dakota location in a metro, and when a $54 million interchange is being built to connect a growing community, it tells you where demand is heading. Jobs, services, and infrastructure are what make a neighborhood feel complete, and each of these stories adds a little more to the case for the area it touches.

For buyers, the practical takeaway is timing. If Tea's new corridor or Brandon's growing retail scene appeals to you, those communities are still building out, which often means more choices in new construction before prices fully catch up to the amenities. For sellers, the same momentum is a good talking point when you price and market your home: buyers notice when a town is gaining restaurants, stores, and better roads. If you are thinking about buying or selling in any of these areas, I would love to walk through what the momentum means for your plans. Give me a call anytime.

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