Located in Mitchell, Iowa, The Corn Palace sounded too strange to pass up on. Spoiler alert: it wasn’t that strange. However, seeing the pictures of the original Corn Palaces (this is the 3rd one) and reading the history, I get what the hype is about. I was thankful for the mini “museum” within the Palace — it allowed me to look past the modern, cookie cutter capitalist form, and see its original spirit: a grand display of grains unmatched elsewhere on earth.
Perhaps I was spoiled by the Grotto of the Redemption on the previous day, but I was expecting more…corn? I mean yeah, there is a very large mural on the outside of the building, indeed comprised entirely of corn glued to the wall. The front entrance is impressive with giant metal corn sculptures. But once inside, it just felt like a high school gym, or any smaller event center.
The first thing you get to is an open air gift shop, mostly selling snacks and candy. Behind the displays of confections are 2 more places to purchase snacks, this time of the deep fried variety. Walking between the snack bars I entered a basketball court? Turns out this is where the local high schools do rallies and games, so I wasn’t far off.
Looking at the displays that outlined in the interior of the building, I started catching the corn fever. I love trying to imagine what life was like in the distant past — so many things being completely different, yet so many (human) things the same. Coupling this is my lifelong obsession with pioneers: the idea of just “going west”, not knowing what the hell was out there. These old Corn Palace pictures really capture the romanticized versions of these ideas to me. Even as I get older and learn the darker aspects of this era (what it cost in human lives and culture to have the space to build a Corn Palace) I can’t help indulging in daydreams of western adventure when seeing things like this.
Some highlights below:
Bonus Bigfoot mural from across the street. What beautiful blue eyes 😂
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