Corn Palace Festival

Corn Palace Festival

Last week in August

The world's only Corn Palace was built in Mitchell, South Dakota, in 1892. It was home to the Corn Belt Exposition, designed to encourage farmers to settle in the area by displaying its corn and wheat crops on the building's exterior. A second and larger Corn Palace was built in 1905 to accommodate the growing crowds, and in 1937 a third Corn Palace was completed, this time with the addition of Moorish-looking minarets, turrets, and kiosks. The outside of the Palace is covered entirely with decorations consisting of dock, wild oats, bromegrass, blue grass, rye straw, and wheat tied in bunches. Corn of different colors, sawed in half lengthwise and nailed to the outside walls, is also used to complete the design, which changes every year. The decorating process usually begins in mid-summer and is completed in time for the festival.
Entertainment at the festival has reflected changing public tastes over the years. Stage revues in the 1920s gave way to the "big bands" of the '30s and '40s. Standup comedians and television entertainers in the '50s and '60s have yielded to country and western stars today.

CONTACTS:
Mitchell Corn Palace Festival
P.O. Box 250
Mitchell, SD 57301
866-273-2676 or 605-995-8427
www.cornpalacefestival.com

SOURCES:
GdUSFest-1984, p. 173

Celebration days: Aug 25 - Aug 31