Wait for it……The Corn Palace!

273 miles east of Rapid City, SD, finds us in Mitchell, SD, at the Famil-E-Fun Campground, space 72.  This is a very nice, shady, rv park that is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year.  The temp is about 78 deg F, and overcast.  I told you yesterday how we spent the day tidying up, including washing Nessie and Gus.  Dumb idea. Rain started about dusk last night and continued through the night.  It was still raining this morning when we left, and the rain chased us for 150 miles to Murdo, SD, and then changed to just overcast skies with occasional showers.  We're hoping that we'll run away from the rain soon, as we've had significant rain on each of the last 14 straight days, and we're getting bored with it.

The terrain changed as we left the Badlands of southwest South Dakota, changing to rolling grasslands and fields of corn.

In it's own way, this countryside is every bit as beautiful as the Badlands or Black Hills National Forest.  Knowing that this is part of the breadbasket of America is important, because even though it doesn't look like much, corn and cattle account for a huge part of our national foodstuffs. Particularly corn.

In the 19th century, a race by farming communities to promote their products produced "Palaces" all over the upper midwest.  34 palaces in 24 communities included the Grain Palace in Aberdeen and the Alfalfa Palace in Rapid City.  All are gone now, except the Corn Palace in Mitchell.

Each of the murals and the coverings around them are made of corn.  12 different colors of corn are planted in the spring and then sliced in half and nailed to the sides of the building.  Some of the decoration is made of bundles of ryegrass and sour dock, a hearty prairie plant.  The design changes every year in the fall and is designed by a local artist Cherie Ramsdell.

The Corn Palace is currently undergoing a multimillion dollar renovation, which will be completed in time for the fall 2014 theme change.

The interior of the Corn Palace is a performing arts location with a state of the art stage, and a basketball court complete with seating for 500 spectators.

The basketball floor is turned over to tourists during the summer, with thousands of trinkets designed to produce income to support the facility. Trivia: the Corn Palace is home to the local high school basketball team……the kernels.  The school mascot is an oversized ear of corn with google eyes. The local radio station call letters are KORN. A lawsuit prohibited the old television program Hee Haw from using those call letters in their skits.

On that note….