Today we started at the Corn Palace. What’s a Corn Palace
you ask?
From their website:
“The Palace is redecorated each year with naturally colored
corn and other grains and native grasses to make it “the agricultural
show-place of the world”. We currently use 13 different colors or shades of
corn to decorate the Corn Palace: red, brown, black, blue, white, orange,
calico, yellow and now we have green corn! A different theme is chosen each
year, and murals are designed to reflect that theme. Ear by ear the corn is
nailed to the Corn Palace to create a scene. The decorating process usually
starts in late May with the removal of the rye and dock. The corn murals are
stripped at the end of August and the new ones are completed by the first of
October.”
It's free to the public and upstairs you can see photos of
every year’s theme starting from 1892 to present. They are located upstairs
where the arena is. They were having a sound check while we were there as they
were preparing for a concert. It is a unique sports and entertainment venue for
concerts, basketball, volleyball, wrestling, bull riding, circus, banquets,
graduations and much more. The facility
can host up to 3,200 people.
Oscar Howe, who was a Yanktonai Sioux born on the Crow Creek
Indian Reservation designed the Corn Palace murals from 1948 to 1971.
Believe it or not it attracts more than a half a million
visitors annually. Yeah, you’re all just so jealous of us aren’t you?
Corn Palace
all covered with corn
uh, which one is cornier? (I know, groan.....)
the stadium - yep, the background are corn murals
closer look at the murals in the stadium
this is the outside of the building - the theme is veterans this year
Jim & Jennifer this one's for you!
this bird is in hog heaven
It really was interesting to see and the murals look so good, you forget you are looking at corn.
We then visited the Mitchell Prehistoric Indian Village. It
is the only archaeological site in South Dakota that is open to the public. It was discovered in 1910 by a student from
Dakota Wesleyan University.
Some of what they have learned about the people who lived
here 1,100 years ago is that this site was a major bison processing center and they
were processing bison on an industrial scale to extract bone grease for the
manufacture of pemmican. These people
were skilled farmers, growing crops such as corn, beans, squashes, sunflower,
tobacco and amaranth.
The people who lived here lived in earthen lodges (teepees
are a "modern" convenience - it was after the introduction of horses
that made it possible for the nomadic tribes to live in teepees) that were
built on a bluff overlooking what was then a creek; the creek was dammed in
1928 to create Lake Mitchell. There are
70 to 80 lodges buried on their grounds.
Excavations take place in the Thomsen Center Archeodome. When funding allows, they are able to work all
year in the comfort of the Archeodome. The laboratory and exhibits are also found in the Archeodome.
The Boehnen Memorial Museum houses a full-sized reproduction
of an earthen lodge, exhibits, a bison skeleton.
It was a nice museum that reminded me a little bit of the Heard Museum in Phoenix.
After that we went outside to walk to the Thomsen Center Archeodome.
the dig site
Bull Boat - one bison hide is stretched over framework of branches to create a boat
It didn't take long to tour either of these, but both were interesting.
Tomorrow, we plan a walk in the park and another museum.
No comments:
Post a Comment