When Lewis & Clark came through South Dakota on their journey of discovery, they wrote that the place was unfit for farming of any kind. Years later, the business men of Mitchell South Dakota wanted to prove to the world that Lewis & Clark were wrong. So in 1892 they built the “The Corn Belt Exposition” and covered the entire outside of it with mosaics and designs made from local corn and other grass crops. It was an instant hit, with people coming from all over the country to view it.

The original 'Corn Belt Exposition" (Later named the "Corn Palace"

118 years, two buildings, and a new name later, they are still at it. Every year, the Corn Palace murals are redone to a new theme. This year’s theme is transportation through the years. The murals are constructed with twelve varieties of corn, each providing a different color for the murals. This corn is all grown in the Mitchell area.

One of the Corn Palace murals

The mural artist first creates a small painting of the desired design. The painting is then divided in to a grid. Each square in the grid will be a 1 foot square in the finished mural. The artist then transfers the grid section designs to sheets of tar paper. These sheets are attached to the building, then cobs of the appropriate colored corn are trimmed to the appropriate size and nailed to the mural, using the designs on the tar paper as a guide. Local grass crops are used to create the designs that fill in the areas between and around the murals.

A partially completed mural

The completed mural

Birds and other creatures do eat some of the corn in the murals, which is one reason why they redo it every year, at a cost of $30,000. There are also murals on the inside of the building (which is an arena) that are more permanent.

Murals inside the Corn Palace

This evening we are staying in the parking lot of a Cabela’s store just outside of Mitchell. The have an area of the parking lot reserved for RV parking, complete with a dump station and it’s OK to spend the night there. This is the first time we have boondocked at a Cabela’s, and it worked out well. It was a lot quieter than a Walmart parking lot. We now plan to use their facilities more often when we travel..

You can see more Corn Palace photos in the Photo Gallery on our Web Site.