I-9-

Today was a truckiing and traveling day, as we headed east on I-90.  We did make one brief stop at a South Dakota landmark...The Corn Palace, in Mitchell, South Dakota.  Here's some history for you:
The original Mitchell Corn Palace (known as "The Corn Belt Exposition") was built in 1892 to showcase the rich soil of South Dakota and encourage people to settle in the area. It was a wooden castle structure on Mitchell's Main Street.. In 1921 the Corn Palace was rebuilt once again, with a design by the architectural firm Rapp and Rapp of Chicago. Moorish domes and minarets were added in 1937, giving the Palace the distinctive appearance that it has today. It costs $130,000 annually to decorate the Palace.
The exterior corn murals are replaced and redesigned each year with a new theme. The designs are created by local artists. No new mural was created in 2006 due to an extreme drought.
Besides being a tourist attraction, the Corn Palace also serves the local community as a venue for concerts, sports events, exhibits and other community events. Each year, the Corn Palace is celebrated with a citywide festival, the Corn Palace Festival.. It is also home to the Dakota Wesleyan University Tigers and the Mitchell High School Kernels basketball teams.

This year's theme has been "Saluting Youth Activities."  Here are some of the scenes from the Corn Palace today...

This is the final panel to be completed before this year's Corn Festival,
which is held the last week of August!