mitchell, south dakota - the corn palace

Traveling westward on I-90 from Minnesota, it is hard to miss the roadside advertising that beacons all those who consider themselves adventurous to Mitchell, South Dakota's Corn Palace.

Corn Palace is an answer that has no question. No one ever asked "Why don't we have a building that's covered in corn?", and yet there it sits in downtown Mitchell. Every year the front of the Corn Palace is covered in a new corn conceived theme; this years' theme is "A Salute To Rodeo".

Here's what the official Corn Palace website has to say about the wondrous Corn Palace:

The original Corn Palace, called "The Corn Belt Exposition" was established in 1892. Early settlers displayed the fruits of their harvest on the building exterior in order to prove the fertility of South Dakota soil. The third and present building was completed for it first festival at the present location in 1921. The exterior decorations are completely stripped down and new murals are created each year. The murals are designed by local artists, Oscar Howe having been one. New materials are applied to the building with each mural depicting an important facet of the lifestyle of South Dakota. These murals require thousands of bushels of corn, grain, grasses, wild oats, brome grass, blue grass, rye, straw and wheat each year.

I'm as upset as anyone to learn that this is the third Corn Palace. What happened to the first two? You can't rebuild the Eiffel Tower!

Perhaps Corn Palace works like the Divine Trinity, in that Corn Palace I was the Father and Corn Palace II was the Holy Ghost. In that case, it would be fair to say I've seen the face of God, no? I'm sure the folks at Corn Palace would be happy to answer all my questions had I only stopped by during operating hours. Instead, our options were the gift/junk store across the street and the Casey's gas station on the opposite corner. In neither establishment would I have been comfortable asking who was responsible for the Corn Palace's immaculate conception.