There is apparently a law stating that one MUST stop and view the Corn Palace when traveling to the Black Hills on vacation. I wasn’t enthusiastic about stopping, but what could I do? Besides, my wife wanted to see it.
What we saw was the third Corn Palace. The first was built, and decorated in 1892 “to prove the fertility of the soil and to attract immigrant farmers to settle.” It was soon too small, and was replaced by a second Corn Palace in 1905. There was concern about fire in the large wooden building, so it was replaced by the current, concrete building in 1921.
As you can see from the photos, they used to decorate more of the building than they do now. This disappointed me. I wasn’t taken in by the gaudy paint job. The theme this year was “Saluting Youth Activities,” which I also thought was lame. I wanted to see murals of agricultural or western scenes.
I thought this mural was particularly unattractive.
We went inside and found a basketball court that was also covered with corn murals. These were a little better.
The hallways were lined with photos of past years. Here are the designs from the years we were born.
The 1907 design featured a swastika, which they hastened to explain was really just an Indian good luck symbol.
That was pretty much it except for a gift shop and a snack stand where we ordered corn chips and corn dogs, just to get into the spirit of the thing.
The most interesting part of the experience was watching a guy create a Halloween-themed mural on the outside wall. The picture was lined in white on black, with the colors of corn to be used marked on the panel.
Seven days later, we were headed east across South Dakota and stopped in Mitchell for a break. Since we were so close, we drove over to the Corn Palace to see the completed mural.
I think the idea of a Corn Palace is a fine one. But it felt like everyone was a bit tired of it and just doing it for the tourists. Like us. But don’t let me discourage you from going to see it for yourself. Like I said, I think it’s required.