The Corn Palace is a multi-purpose community building and visitor attraction located at 604 North Main Street in Mitchell, South Dakota. The current building is actually the third Corn Palace. The first Corn Palace was called the Corn Belt Exposition and celebrated the annual corn harvest.
The first Corn Palace opened in 1892, just three years after South Dakota achieved statehood, according to the Mitchell Convention and Visitors Bureau. Settlers used the outside of the original building to display their crops. The current Corn Palace opened in 1921.
The Corn Palace Festival is held every summer in late August and coincides with the corn harvest. The Corn Palace Festival Committee decides on a theme, and then a local artist creates new murals out of 12 different colors of corn for the building exterior. A local farmer grows the corn and workers replace the old murals with the new every year.
The Corn Palace offers free guided tours from Memorial Day through Labor Day. In addition to the annual festival, the building hosts concerts, sports events and trade shows.
