Scenic USA - South Dakota

Each day Scenic USA presents a different and interesting photo feature from somewhere in
the United States. Chosen from a wide variety of historic sites, city scenes, back-country
byways, points of interest and America's best parklands, this site offers the viewer hundreds
of unique vacation destinations and photographic subjects. Each feature is coupled with a
brief explanation. For further detailed information, links to other sites are provided, however
these links should not be considered an endorsement.

Corn Palace

Corn Palace - Mitchell, South Dakota

Photo by Scott Dommin
Scott's PBase Gallery
Corn Mural Inset Photos - Jim Stiles

     Corntrary to popular belief, the Corn Palace isn't entirely made of corn Corn Palace Mural - Mitchell Convention & Visitors Bureau, SD (actually it's constructed of reinforced concrete), but it's only the exterior that's decorated with thousands of bushels of corn every year. Jokingly referred to as corn-septual art and ear-chitecture, wall murals using corn and other grains depict an assortment of folk art themes every year. Themes range from American destinations to modes of transportation. Each year the decorations are stripped off and new ideas are designed and applied. Looking more like an Eastern European cathedral, with its minarets and onion-shaped domes, the corn palace uses every variety of South Dakota's corn imaginable. Sometimes called the world's largest bird feeder, the palace is covered with 13 colors of corn kernels, varying from blacks and browns, to calicos and whites.
     Entertaining a half million visitors every year, Corn Palace Mural - Mitchell Convention & Visitors Bureau, SD the Mitchell community center also serves as a venue for concerts, sporting events, graduations and hometown basketball games. The original Palace, known as the Corn Belt Exposition, first opened in 1892. One of a dozen countrywide corn festivals, South Dakota farmers are proud of their crops and eager to show off their harvests. Today's Palace is the third rendition, dating back to 1921. Billboards all across South Dakota point toward Mitchell, home of the Corn Palace and the corn capital of the world.

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