"We have no intentions of competing with anybody, so we want to do stuff that is specialized to just us," Asia Ballert told the Black Hills Pioneer about Asia's Buttercream Dreams, her new bakery at 403 W. Main St.
That line fits more of Lead than one bakery. Two weeks after the sesquicentennial weekend, Lead's fall calendar comes from a short run of West Main Street addresses: the Sanford Lab Homestake Visitor Center at 160, the Homestake Opera House at 313, Gnarly Pine Makerspace at 320, the new bakery at 403 and That Place in Lead at 501. These places don't really compete with each other. Their schedules overlap on the same days, and some of them are set up to send people next door. If you plan October by date instead of by venue, you get more out of it.
A bakery that left the coffee to its neighbor
The Pioneer reports that Ballert opened Asia's Buttercream Dreams on Lead's Main Street on June 30. She had been making custom cakes in her home kitchen for a few years before moving into a storefront. The case holds s'mores and turtle brownies, cookies, raspberry turnovers and cupcakes, and she takes custom orders for any kind of cake. She has said sourdough is coming.
The menu is defined just as much by what it leaves out. The bakery doesn't sell donuts or coffee, because Ballert doesn't want to compete with That Place in Lead, the nearby restaurant that serves both. Instead she sells "dirty sodas," regular sodas with flavored syrups and cream, plus ice cream. That Place is run by Tyneal and Justin Thorp at 501 W Main St. In practice, a morning on West Main can start with coffee and a donut at 501 and pick up dessert at 403 later on, without the two places chasing the same customer.
The bakery's Halloween cake-decorating class is Sunday, Oct. 11, from 5 to 6:30 p.m. It costs $40 per person, or $15 for kids decorating six cupcakes. Ballert described the shop as a rustic, cottage-themed bakery with seating where people can relax and talk, and she has said she plans to add seats and activities for kids.
Second Saturday runs through a makerspace
The Mile High Market is the same idea at Main Street scale. Each second Saturday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., the Lead Area Chamber lists hands-on arts and crafts from local makers, guided historic tours, a shopping stroll, food from local eateries, and open containers allowed in designated areas along Main Street. The October date is Oct. 10, and the next one is Nov. 14.
Vendor tables go through Gnarly Pine Makerspace at 320 West Main Street. Makers who want to sell rent space there by emailing [email protected]. Nick and Jenn Bennett, who bought the building in 2019, own the makerspace. The Black Hills Pioneer described it as a 5,000-square-foot multi-use space with classrooms and shared creative space.
The market isn't new. A Sanford Lab Homestake Visitor Center update from October 2025 reports the center taking part in the monthly Second Saturday market. So the science center, the makerspace and the storefronts were already working one shared Saturday a year ago. The listing also promises live music and food trucks "later this season." Those hadn't been confirmed when this was written, so check the Chamber calendar before you count on them.
Where the calendar stacks
Put the venues' October listings side by side and three dates stand out.
- Thursday, Oct. 8. Sanford Lab's Ask a Scientist with SURF research scientist Markus Horn runs from 1 to 3 p.m. at the Visitor Center. The same building holds Deep Talks that evening: a social hour at 5 p.m., then a 6 p.m. presentation by 2026 SURF Artist in Residence Rachel Berg on Kapemni: Twisting Between Worlds, her work exploring where art, science and Lakota star knowledge meet.
- Saturday, Oct. 10. The Mile High Market fills the day from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunny Sweeney plays the Homestake Opera House at 7:30 p.m.
- Sunday, Oct. 11. SCRIPTED! starts at 4 p.m. at the Opera House, and the cake-decorating class at Asia's Buttercream Dreams runs from 5 to 6:30 p.m.
Berg's exhibit continues with a reception and gallery talk on Thursday, Oct. 15, from 5 to 7 p.m. That makes the Oct. 8 talk a preview, and the gallery opening a week later is the follow-up.
| Address | Venue | October highlights |
|---|---|---|
| 160 W. Main St. | Sanford Lab Homestake Visitor Center | Ask a Scientist and Deep Talks, Oct. 8; Kapemni reception, Oct. 15; Trunk or Treat and Dark Matter Day, Oct. 30 or 31 |
| 313 W. Main St. | Homestake Opera House | Borderland, Oct. 3; Sunny Sweeney, Oct. 10; SCRIPTED!, Oct. 11; The Full Monty, Oct. 16–18 and 23–25; Poetry On The Road, Oct. 29; Jen Howard, Oct. 30 |
| 320 W. Main St. | Gnarly Pine Makerspace | Vendor tables for the Mile High Market, Oct. 10 |
| 403 W. Main St. | Asia's Buttercream Dreams | Halloween cake-decorating class, Oct. 11 |
| 501 W. Main St. | That Place in Lead | Coffee and donut pastries |
The Trunk or Treat date isn't settled. Sanford Lab lists it on Friday, Oct. 30, and the Chamber lists it on Oct. 31. Confirm it with SURF before promising it to the kids.
The Opera House carries the back half
The Opera House holds the second half of the month together. The Full Monty runs across two weekends, Oct. 16–18 and Oct. 23–25, with Friday and Saturday shows at 7 p.m. and Sunday shows at 2 p.m. The musical follows a group of unemployed steelworkers looking for a way forward. That plot carries some weight on a stage built by a mining town. On Oct. 16, the evening a run of Friday performances begins, the Play for Pink Cornhole Tournament runs from 4 to 7 p.m. at Manuel Brothers Park as a fundraiser for the Lead-Deadwood Foundation for Health.
The month ends with the South Dakota Poetry Society's Poetry On The Road at 6 p.m. on Oct. 29, and Jen Howard at 7 p.m. on Oct. 30.
November is already on the books at the same address:
- Nov. 6: a free Songwriters Showcase at 5:30 p.m.
- Nov. 7: the Lead Deadwood Arts Center Cheesecake Sampler and Battle of the Hors D'oeuvres, 5 to 8 p.m.
- Nov. 13: A Dickens Christmas: Festival of Trees preview night, starting at 4 p.m.
- Nov. 14: the Festival of Trees at 5 p.m., with a $10 entry, refreshments, entertainment, a silent auction and a live auction of trees and wreaths. That's also the November Mile High Market day, so the Main Street pattern repeats.
- Nov. 27 through Dec. 31: Light Up Lead at participating homes and businesses, with details still to come.
The trail that ties it to Deadwood
The sesquicentennial ran under the banner "Two Communities, One Path," and the path was real. The inaugural Homestake Trail Volksmarch drew roughly 250 walkers down a repurposed railroad grade from Lead into Deadwood, KOTA reported on Sept. 13. Up in Lead Park, the second annual Crafts at the Cut festival had pumpkin painting hosted by Gnarly Pine, with pumpkins donated by Lynn's Dakota Mart. Jesse Allen of the Deadwood Trails Committee told KOTA organizers hope to hold the walk again next year.
You don't need an event to walk it. The Homestake Trail follows the old Fremont, Elkhorn and Missouri Valley Railroad grade, built in 1890 to haul supplies to Lead and the Homestake Mine and taken out in 1934. The trail was dedicated on Sept. 9, 2017, after about two years of work, mostly by Northern Hills Recreation Association volunteers on a land easement from Barrick Gold. NHRA's 2025 Lead trail map lists it at 3.3 miles point to point, rated moderate, with 160 feet of elevation change. TrailLink puts it at 3.5 miles.
The Lead end starts at the City Dog Park on Washington Street. The Deadwood end comes out at Powerhouse Park near the Mickelson Trail, and the free Sherman Street lot has 280 spaces for anyone leaving a car at the bottom. Along the way you can see the Homestake Open Cut, the historic neighborhoods of both towns, and interpretive stops on local history. The City of Deadwood calls April through October the best season to visit, which makes this month the last good window. After that, NHRA says it grooms the trail in winter, though it doesn't spell out which winter uses are allowed.
Walk it on the morning of Oct. 10 and you can be back on West Main for the market by early afternoon, then stay for Sunny Sweeney at the Opera House at 7:30 p.m.
Gnarly Pine's vendor tables and Ballert's no-coffee menu both show how much of Lead's fall depends on owners deciding where their business fits on Main Street. If you own a building on that stretch, or you're thinking about what a West Main storefront could become, Jenni Sneesby is happy to talk it through over coffee at 501 and dessert at 403. Let's Connect.
