Continuing our journey east from Kadoka, we made an overnight stop in Mitchell, staying in Cabela’s parking lot with 10 or so other RV’ers. They even had a dump and water station. And it was much quieter than a Walmart parking lot.
Our friends Phil and Sue suggested that on our way east through SD we needed to check out the Corn Palace. So after some shopping at Cabela’s we headed off to see the palace.
The first Corn Palace was built in 1892 as a way for early settlers to display their agricultural bounty on the buildings exterior to prove the fertility of the regions soil.
The colorful murals on the building are redesigned every year by local artists. Twelve shades of colored corn are planted in separate fields to maintain color purity.
Each ear of corn is sawed in half, trimmed to fit and then nailed in place. Roughly 275,000 ears of corn are used as well as sourdock and rye bundles as additional material.
The Corn Palace is the only place in the world where this type of folk art is being preserved.
Inside the halls are lined with pictures of all of the murals ever gracing the sides of the building. There are craft vendors, all types of good made from corn (soups, popcorn…) as well as hands on activities.
We bought some Corn Husk Jelly, popcorn, corn chowder soup mix and some of their famous popcorn balls. Mmmmm, they were DELICIOUS!
Next stop Sioux Falls.
