Meet the man behind all of those Sioux Falls Feminists billboards

John Hult | Argus Leader

Show Caption Hide Caption Video: Sioux Falls Free Thinkers The founder of Sioux Falls Feminists and its associated groups is a retired 73-year-old man named Dale Hemming.

Anyone who’s spent any time driving in Sioux Falls in the past three years has seen them.

They’re difficult to miss.

The themes and photos shift from month to month, but the billboards’ distinct type and lengthy, confrontational messages are a consistent presence, as distinguishing a mark on the Sioux Falls skyline as photos of beaming doctors in lab coats or the Badlands Pawn skull.

J.D. Collins has wondered about them for years.

“I was always kind of curious about how they fund them,” Collins said. “You can tell by the style of the billboard that they’re all designed the same way and they’re probably from the same place.”

The Lincoln High School graduate has also wondered about the interest groups listed on each billboard - Sioux Falls Free Thinkers, Sioux Falls Feminists, Sioux Falls Atheists and the like.

“How big are these groups?” Collins said.

In truth, each group is an army of one.

The founder of Sioux Falls Feminists and its associated groups is a retired 73-year-old man named Dale Hemming.

The six groups meet on a rotating basis once every three weeks at a variety of locations, but most see fewer than eight visitors and almost none of them return.

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By now, Hemming suspects most residents have put together the same thing Collins did.

“People might not know my name, but if you ask somebody ‘who does those blue billboards,’ they know one guy does it,” Hemming said.

The real purpose of the billboards is to drive visitors to Hemming's various websites, which he updates daily with links to news on science, atheism, domestic abuse and his other interests.

Each site bears the same distinguishing characteristics as his billboards, from the typeface and liberal use of exclamation points to wordy, research-heavy news items.

Visitors spike in conjunction with each campaign, Hemming said, with more 124,686 new visitors in total since 2013.

“They do have an impact,” Hemming said.

The money that funds the billboards is actually the reason the longtime Minnesotan moved to South Dakota in 2008.

He spent most of his life working for Graco, Inc., where he patented five inventions, including a high-voltage multiplier used in electrostatic paint sprayers. He was promoted throughout his career, but also held on to his company stock each time it split.

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By the time he retired, it was worth more than he was willing to hand over to his home state’s hefty capital gains tax.

“I didn’t want to pay that,” Hemming said.

The longtime atheist tried to connect with locals who shared his beliefs on global warming, religion and the like, but he clashed with the leadership of the non-profit Siouxland Freethinkers group and struck out on his own.

He's not formally partnered with any of the interest groups who share his beliefs.

The Sioux Falls Feminist billboards focus on domestic violence and sexual assault. Hemming has approached places like the Compass Center in Sioux Falls for feedback since starting his group, but he's not aligned with them.

"I don’t think he’s ever used any of our input,” Compass Center Director Michelle Markgraf said.

Some visitors to his group meetings have urged him to put fewer words on the billboards or try a new tack, but he’s not interested in doing so.

“I’m not selling hamburgers,” he said. “I’m trying to educate people.”

His campaigns, which he says have cost less than a half million dollars in total, haven’t always been the most well-received. One billboard pointing out that 98 million Americans are non-religious was vandalized last June.

He screens his calls at home and asks site visitors to identify themselves for that reason.

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Even so, Hemming doesn’t see himself as overtly confrontational. He’s a member of a church, he said, though he declined to say which for fear of retribution. His church membership is social, not religious.

"I don't pressure them to talk about these things, and they don't pressure me to talk about them," Hemming said.

Ultimately, he sees his campaigning – and thousands in annual charity donations - as a way to stay busy and use his money for something more positive than new cars or fancy vacations. He’s twice-divorced with no children to support and few close family connections, and he maintains a keener interest in science than luxury anyway.

He drives a compact that could belong to any college student in the city, were it not for the car top sign announcing that “Child sex abuse is never your fault” and offering help at his Sioux Falls Feminists website.

“I’ve got nothing else to do with my time, I might as well try and educate people,” Hemming said.

John Hult is the Reader's Watchdog reporter for Argus Leader Media. Contact him with questions and concerns at 605-331-2301, 605-370-8617. You can tweet him @ArgusJHult or find him on Facebook at Facebook.com/ArgusReadersWatchdog