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The
World's Only Corn Place
is Mitchell's premier tourist attraction. Some
500,000 tourists come from around the nation each
year to see the uniquely designed corn murals. The
city's first Corn Palace was build as a way to prove
to the world that South Dakota had a healthy
agricultural climate.
Eight years before
the turn of the 20th century -1892- when Mitchell,
South Dakota was a small, 12-year-old city of 3,000
inhabitants - the WORLD’S ONLY CORN PALACE was
established on the city’s Main Street. During
its over 100 years of existence, it has become known
worldwide and now attracts more than a half a
million visitors annually.
The palace was
conceived as a gathering place where city residents
and their rural neighbors could enjoy a fall
festival with extraordinary stage entertainment – a
celebration to climax a crop-growing season and
harvest. This tradition continues today with
the annual Corn Palace Festival, August 20th –
August 24th, 2008.
By 1905 the success of the Corn Palace had been
assured and a new Palace was to be built, but this
building soon became too small. In 1919, the
decision to build a third Corn Palace was made.
This one was to be permanent and more purposeful
than its predecessors. The present building
was completed in 1921, just in time for the Corn
Palace Festivities. That winter Mitchell
hosted its first boys state basketball tournament.
The building was considered to have the finest
basketball arena in the upper Midwest area.
In the 1930’s, steps were taken to recapture the
artistic decorative features of the building and
minarets and kiosks of Moorish design were added
restoring the appearance of early day Corn Palace.
Today, the Corn Palace is more than the home of the
festival or a point of interest of tourists.
It is a practical structure adaptable to many
purposes. Included among its many uses are
industrial exhibits, dances, stage shows, meetings,
banquets, proms, graduations arena for Mitchell High
School and Dakota Wesleyan University as well as
district, regional and state basketball tournaments.
USA Today named the Corn Palace one of the
top 10 places in America for high school basketball.
The Palace is redecorated each year with naturally
colored corn and other grains and native grasses to
make it “the agricultural show-place of the world”.
We currently use 13 different colors or shades of
corn to decorate the Corn Palace: red, brown, black,
blue, white, orange, calico, yellow and now we have
green corn! A different theme is chosen each
year, and murals are designed to reflect that theme.
Ear by ear the corn is nailed to the Corn Palace
to create a scene. The decorating process
usually starts in late May with the removal of the
rye and dock. The corn murals are stripped at
the end of August and the new ones are completed by
the first of October.
Cherie Ramsdell is the
current panel designer. Our decorating crew is
currently working on the new theme entitled
"America's Destinations". Click here to view the
a-maize-ing
corn mural drawing.
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