If you drive across North Dakota and South Dakota, you start to understand, they raise a lot of corn there, a whole lot of corn! So it is not surprising that someone came up with the idea of the Corn Palace in Mitchell, South Dakota. But, pulling it off is another thing. You see, all the outside of the building except the lower walls is decorated yearly with corn and grain. The great thing is that they actually grow the many colors of corn in the area only to decorate this building. The many inside and outside murals are done by local families, groups, and organizations. There is big competition for these mural decorating rights.
The building is nothing but a town recreation center. It has basketball courts and can seat a few thousand, I suppose. But, it draws tourists from across the land. It is a great symbol of the crops that are grown locally, but also the great spirit of the people.
Visiting Mitchell, South Dakota, and standing in front of this magnificent structure, it hit me that my home had so changed that if we were to set out to copy Mitchell in some fashion, our palace would have to be covered with money, I suppose. That seems to be what everybody around here is so proud about. A past mayor of Weddington made no qualms about wanting to close the town to only "the right kind of people", and he meant those who had wealth. Even the local church that was once the proud center of a community of small farms gave its thumbs up to a minister who openly recruited "moneyed people" into his fold.
There is no substitute for the wonderful experience of growing up in a town where there is purpose that goes beyond personal financial success. I stood looking at the building and was jealous in a way that I had not been jealous in a long time. I wanted what they had, but I wanted it where I live.
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