Mitchell Corn Palace
Friday, July 28- Spent the morning driving West on Interstate 90 into South Dakota. One of our side trips was to an oddity called the Corn Palace in Mitchell, South Dakota. A building that is decorated anew each year, with colored corn cobs to make a design on (and in!) the building. Discovered this strange place on my last trip 8 years ago, and had to show my son. Inside is a gift shop, concession stand, and....basketball court??? Yes, the local high school plays here!
They also have concerts here, as there were posters all over advertising an upcoming show featuring LeeAnn Rimes. The Corn Palace serves as the local civic center, I guess! Inside, they have a gallery of photos of the different looks the Palace has had since the turn of the century, since they tear all the corn off and redecorate it each year.
how they do it...corn by numbers!
One year it even burned down, probably from a careless cigarette on the sidewalk. Now, the corn cannot start at ground level because of this... it needs to be about six feet up at least.
Interesting to note: The 1914 Corn Palace had a large Swastika on the front of it...this was an ancient Native American good luck symbol until the Nazi's got ahold of it and ruined it for everybody! There is a disclaimer on that photo, lest anyone think the Palace was anti-Semetic! We bought some souvenirs, took some pictures, and headed back to the truck. Next Stop, Prairie Homestead in Philip, SD!
