What is a Corn Palace? Simply put, it is a building covered in corn.
Eastern South Dakota is corn country and corn is King! Mitchell, SD is home to the Corn Palace..the world’s only Corn Palace! The first Corn Palace was constructed in 1892. The early settlers displayed their agricultural bounty on the building’s exterior to prove the fertility of the soil and to attract immigrant farmers to settle in Mitchell. Each fall a festival was planned to celebrate agriculture and productivity. The festival tradition continues today in Mitchell.
Every year a new decorating theme is chosen and the Corn Palace is decorated with new corn and grains. Over 3000 bushels of grains are tied in bundles and attached to the building. When the corn crop is ready, 275,000 ears of corn are sawed in half lengthwise and nailed to the building following the pattern created for the season.
The Corn Palace structure is a multi-purpose arena hosting industrial exhibits, dances, stage shows, meetings, banquets, proms, graduations, and district, regional and state basketball tournaments.
Following tradition, every year in late August, the town of Mitchell hosts The Corn Palace Festival. The festival is a celebration of the annual redecoration of the World’s Only Corn Palace. The main street is closed off and becomes home to carnival rides, food and specialist vendors, along with the locals bringing in their best produce to be judged. We arrived on August 30, the last day of the festival. Since it was the last day, the crowd was rather small. We toured the Corn Palace observing the murals inside and out of the building. It was a very interesting place! Outside, we spotted a Funnel Cake vendor and decided to share one funnel cake between us. It was the biggest and best funnel cake we have ever purchased!
The Corn Palace is known around the world as a folk-art wonder on the prairie of South Dakota. After our short visit, it was time to get on the road again.
We continued west on I-90 to Chamberlain, SD. We were informed that the visitor center at exit 264 had a nice Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center. At the center, we were able to climb aboard a re-creation of the expedition’s 55-foot keelboat. The boat sits both inside and outside the center overlooking the Missouri River. We browsed the exhibits inside the center depicting items the explorers brought on their journey.
After visiting the Lewis and Clark Display, we decided to cross the Missouri River to Oacoma and call it a day. We checked into Al’s Oasis Campground. It wasn’t exactly an Oasis, since it was next to the freeway. When we checked in, there were only two RV’s in the campground and they assigned us a prime spot next to the freeway. We guessed that they parked us there to drum up business and it worked! By nightfall, there were several more RV’s parked next to us on our row!
We encountered our first Wall Drug Billboard sign today and are looking forward to stopping at Wall Drug tomorrow!
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