Day 4.2: The Corn Palace!

Several years ago, I don't when or on what channel, I saw a TV show about the Corn Palace in Mitchell, SD. It's a large building in the center of a small town, and every year since the late 1800s, they have decorated it with murals created with ears of corn. Each year, the murals are different, created with specially grown corn of various colors. The designs are drawn on tar paper, mounted on the building, and then the corn is cut and nailed in place. It's like a giant paint-by-number. After watching the show, I knew that one day, this was a place that I had to visit.

Today was that day!

Luckily, it's just a quick drive from Sioux Falls. They have free parking, corn decorations on the street signs, and a free corn-tastic tour! 

After taking in the outside, we went in to watch the 15-minute video about the history of the Corn Palace, and then were given a quick tour. It seems the Palace was built to bring visitors into Mitchell (something from which the people of Gary could learn). We also learned that the inside, in addition to a mini-museum, is mainly a multi-purpose facility. They host everything from basketball games to weddings to stage productions to even rodeos there. Whatever works.

And if that wasn't great enough, they didn't have the right size of the T-shirt I wanted (their most popular design), so the gift shop manager let me go ahead and pay for it, then will mail me one as soon as the new shipment comes in with no charge for shipping.  Now, that's service!