Jamestown tourism leader Allison Limke wins top state award for behind-the-scenes work

Allison Limke’s quiet work at Frontier Village helped earn Jamestown a place in North Dakota’s tourism spotlight. The Jamestown Tourism visitor experience manager was named winner of the Sakakawea Award for a Behind-the-Scenes Tourism Employee, one of seven honors presented during the 2026 Governor’s Travel and Tourism Awards in Grand Forks.

The award recognizes an individual who provides outstanding service behind the scenes in visitor-focused businesses, and state officials said Limke’s steady planning and research-driven decisions helped guide Frontier Village’s recent renewal. That effort has included improving interpretation, adding hands-on experiences and expanding amenities, changes meant to make the site more interactive and more family-focused.

For Jamestown, the recognition reaches beyond one employee. Frontier Village is one of the city’s signature attractions, and it helps shape how visitors see Stutsman County’s history, recreation and small-town identity. Limke also serves on the board of Jamestown Frontier Attractions, giving her a role in both daily visitor experience and broader operational decisions.

The honor came during a tourism conference that drew nearly 250 tourism and hospitality professionals, a sign of how closely state leaders are watching the visitor economy. Lt. Gov. Michelle Strinden, North Dakota Department of Commerce Commissioner Chris Schilken, Tourism and Marketing Director Sara Otte Coleman and North Dakota Travel Industry Association President Julie Rygg helped recognize the seven recipients. The same Sakakawea category went in 2024 to Kim Schmidt of the Department of Commerce, underscoring that North Dakota uses the award to recognize both state marketing work and local attraction leadership.

Limke’s award also arrives as Frontier Village keeps evolving. A 2025 report on a grant-backed miniature golf project said the new attraction was intended to fit the site’s mission of connecting people to Jamestown’s history and community spirit. Limke said, “The grant allows us to bring a fun, interactive attraction to Frontier Village that fits perfectly with the site’s mission of connecting people to Jamestown’s history and community spirit.” The project was designed around interpretive themes tied to Jamestown’s frontier heritage, local history and iconic landmarks.

That kind of reinvestment matters in a city where the visitor economy is part of the local brand. The Stutsman County Courthouse State Historic Site, which the State Historical Society of North Dakota says is the state’s oldest surviving courthouse, adds to that heritage draw. Limke’s award points to the people who keep those places relevant, and to the behind-the-scenes work that helps Jamestown stay visible well beyond the gates of Frontier Village.