The Winner mansion was once the object of curiosity for people around the world.
They wanted to know: What's the deal with that hundred-year-old house in Small-Town Somewhere? It had five bedrooms and four baths. It was for sale for $137,900.
Where is South Dakota, again?
But last May a local couple snagged the prize. David and Tessa Howard, managers of the Winner airport, bought the mansion for $119,000. The international hubbub died down.
That's when the real work began.
"It needed some work because it was kind of let go for awhile," David Howard said.
The mansion in Winner – population 2,900 – has been quietly getting an overhaul, and providing shelter with some overnight guests of its new owners, possibly previewing a future as a bed and breakfast or Airbnb rental.
The Howards, who continued to live at their house at the airport, painted up the front of the house, replaced windows and did some other updates, with plenty of local interest. And there's more to do.
"We wanted to be ready to go, or well on the way to ready to go, before we do anything major with it," he said.
David Howard said they still haven't decided what's next for the Winner mansion, but they're still pondering what to do. They could rent it. They could sell it. Or there are other options.
"There are just tremendous possibilities," he said. "It could be Airbnb, it could be a bed and breakfast, it could be a hunting lodge, it could be about anything. It pretty easily fits 16 people probably. Weddings, reunions, whatever. There are just a lot of possibilities."
The mansion has already welcomed its first guests. The Howards rented it to pilot crews who flew to Winner during the busy pheasant hunting season and found all the local hotel rooms booked up. But the Howards had just the place.
"We said, 'We've got this work in progress. You can at least stay here,'" he said. "They had a good time. They bought some local steaks, grilled them out in the backyard and just made it like home."
Howard jokingly pitched the Sioux Falls Business Journal on coming out to Winner to take over the work, and maybe running it as a bed and breakfast. He got a no. But if readers are interested, they know where to find him.
He's at the famous Winner mansion.
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