more postcards
Traveling east to Wisconsin last year, I wasn’t really prepared for all the cheesiness. Going west into the Dakotas this year, I was greeted with much corniness. So, one might say that Minnesota is located at the intersection of corny and cheesy.
The tradition of ice palaces in St. Paul goes back to 1886, and I suspect whole corn palace phenomenon is related. According to some piece of tourist literature I can’t find right now, this corn palace had some competition from another, perhaps earlier, corn palace in Dubuque. But the Iowa corn palace has long since faded from memory, leaving the corniness crown in the hands of Mitchell, South Dakota.
At least it makes for interesting postcards. The swastikas on the 1907 palace are quite striking.
I visited the Corn Palace in 96. I made this video in honor.