When piecing together the schedule of activities that take place in Aberdeen throughout the year, finding the right pieces for the right space can be a bit of a challenge.

“It takes a lot of glue,” said Casey Weismantel, executive director of the Aberdeen Convention and Visitors Bureau.

Weismantel said that regardless of the event, the CVB is a conduit that brings it all together and it takes a lot of planning.

“The biggest resource we have is the Aberdeen Convention and Visitors Bureau, it really is,” Weismantel said, “and a lot of people in the community of Aberdeen have no idea what we do or see what we do behind the scenes.”

Of course, a lot of those activities are sports-related, and they don’t necessarily slow down even when school is out for the summer.

“The whole month of June was busy, the whole month of July is busy, and we’re already dipping into August. To find the fine line to host those events takes a lot of work on our end, it really does,” Weismantel said. “It takes a ton of work on the host organization and their volunteers. Nothing happens in Aberdeen without volunteers. Money aside, without volunteers, nothing happens.”

Weismantel said that Aberdeen tries to attract some events, while others contact the Hub City because of the desire to come here. Either way, Weismantel tries to ensure that there is enough lodging available for a particular time frame.

“There’s some events that are city-wide sellouts,” Weismantel said, “and there are some events that might take up 200 rooms and that jigsaw piece fits really nicely with a baseball tournament that might take up 100 rooms.”

And when all of those pieces fit together, it makes for a nice photo. It’s just that the pieces don’t automatically fall into place.

“We kind of have to navigate that and we have to do a lot of work on our end in order to make those jigsaw pieces come together,” Weismantel said.

Sometimes, there are too many events trying to utilize the Hub City at the same time, so difficult decisions need to be made.

Weismantel said there are some weekends that historically are already taken up each year on the calendar, like Father’s Day weekend which always features Arts in the Park and the Aberdeen Swim Club High Point Meet.

“We do try to protect those long-standing events,” Weismantel said. “We try to protect their position and tradition of hosting events in Aberdeen.”

Of course, Weismantel and his staff try to do their best to make sure everyone has an opportunity to come to town, and they make sure they are treated in the best way possible when they do.

“Everybody gets to reap the benefits of Aberdeen’s hospitality,” Weismantel said, “because everybody is an ambassador when it comes to that hospitality.”

He noted that Aberdeen’s ability to host certain events is dependent on the amount of lodging involved.

“Events create a need for hotels, and with hotel rooms we have the ability to host events,” Weismantel said. “It’s a fine line between the two.”

And finding the right pieces to fit into the puzzle frame can be an interesting task.

“We always want to fill up that calendar year midweek and weekends,” Weismantel said. “We want to fill up that calendar year the best we can, but we have to work in the parameters of what we have.”

And some weekends can get a bit interesting. For instance, there is one weekend coming up this month where the city will host the Massenomics power lifting event, the Western Pro-Am Golf Tournament, the Dacotah Bank Cup Soccer Tournament, and the Storybook Land Festival, in addition to the annual Rumble at Brown County Speedway and an Aberdeen Smittys baseball doubleheader.

Weismantel and his staff spend months planning out the year’s calendar. While some events such as pheasant hunting opener and state tournaments are obvious big weekends, Aberdeen is busy year around with a wide variety of activities, sports and non-sports alike.

“We’ve always said that Aberdeen is a four-season destination,” Weismantel said.

As the midway point of the year hits, there is still plenty of events to look forward to in the future.

“The calendar that we’re looking at, right here on my computer screen, it’s a full-dance card,” Weismantel said.