Mitchell, SD
My trip was pretty well outlined before I ever picked up and packed the rental convertible, but there were still a few holes here and there and some adjustments were made along the way. When I left Fargo ND headed for the Badlands I still had a night to kill somehow before I could show up for my Badlands camping reservation. Those National Park camping reservations are usually booked up a year in advance. The fact that I even had a reservation for the one night was an absolute miracle resulting from a cancellation in mid-June that I happened upon by checking daily. I had continued to check the NPS website hoping to score an additional night from someone else's cancellation, but got nothing. Looked as if lightening was not going to strike twice for me.
My goal was to wind up as close to Badlands as possible so I could get there fairly early the next day and have two days in the park along with my one night. I considered heading to Bismarck and then maybe down to Standing Rock Reservation. Where to stay for the night was a bit tricky for that route as there didn't seem to be much between Standing Rock and the Badlands except more reservation land and tiny towns with populations of about a hundred. I settled on heading to Sioux Falls.
Some time after crossing into South Dakota, the Minnesota Public Radio station I was listening to played a short six-minute piece about the Minnesota State Fair and a unique thing called crop art, which mentioned the Corn Palace in South Dakota. Here is the link if you want to listen for yourself while reading my blog: Minnesota State Fair Crop Art.
Oddly enough, when I was chatting with my friend Sarah, who I stayed with North Dakota, she mentioned that on her trip to the Badlands she had stayed in Mitchell SD and seen the Corn Palace. I took that chance radio broadcast on crop art as a sign that I too needed to see the Corn Palace. I got off at the next exit and rerouted myself to Mitchell. Sorry Sioux Falls, next time.
Apparently the Corn Palace is a huge tourist destination as Mitchell has a quaint little downtown area and a ton of hotels, gas stations, and chain restaurants just off the highway. I checked into a Hampton Inn that only had one room left, a "King suite with a hot tub." (Why not!) Then I headed over to the Corn Palace.
When I pulled up and saw that the theme for this year's Corn Palace was circus "Under the Big Top," I knew that my hearing that NPR piece was some sort of universe intervention. It is like they knew I was coming! I thoroughly enjoyed every minute (kernel?) at the Corn Palace, and yes I even took a selfie with Cornelius, the Corn Palace mascot.
The murals made of corn and other crop materials were truly amazing! And the history of "The World's Only Corn Palace" is quite entertaining. Apparently it has existed in some form since 1892. But it seems that each time they upgraded it for size, they outgrew it again within a couple of years. It was that big of a draw. The present building was completed in 1921, just in time for the harvest festival, and was used that winter for the boy's state basketball tournament. The building, considered one of the top 10 places in the country for high school basketball tournaments, is still used for that today, as well as concerts and stage performances, industrial exhibitions, and graduation ceremonies for Mitchell High and Dakota Wesleyan University. The corn art is stripped from the building at the end of August each year and designs for the next year begin, with the new installation beginning in late May when the rye and dock are removed from fields to begin planting of corn.
I set my alarm for about an hour before sunrise, packed up, and headed out to get photos of the Corn Palace at night. Then I drove out into the countryside to shoot some sunrise shots. A pheasant ran out in front of my car just after daybreak, a near miss. When deer started doing the same, I decided it was time to head back to the highway, grab breakfast and my bags at the hotel, and head toward the Badlands. The Corn Palace had been a great way to kill a night on my journey. I'm just glad that I didn't end up killing a pheasant or a deer.
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