Mitchell, S.D., may just be the corniest city in America. Excuse the pun, Mitchell.
The city loves corn and you can see it just about everywhere in the city of about 15,000 people along Interstate 90. The local AM radio station's call letters are KORN, the Corn Palace is the city's main tourist attraction - and the local high school's mascot name is the Kernels.
Photo courtesy of Mitchell baseball
You'll find Kernels at one other high school (Mansfield High in Washington), but what makes the Kernels from
Mitchell (S.D.) so special is the place that they play indoor home sporting events. The Corn Palace is a building in downtown Mitchell that is decorated with murals made of many colors of corn and other grains. More than 500,000 people visit the attraction each year and a number of those people come to see basketball games.
The Kernels and the local university each play their home basketball games at the Corn Palace, competing in a building that also is used for concerts, local festivals and community events. Murals adorn the walls, profiling the history of the area and celebrating agriculture and Native American culture. The murals on the outside of the building are redone each year and it's been reported that it costs $130,000 a year to make the new murals.
You can even see what's going on at the Corn Palace by looking at the
Corn Cam.
It's a corn-crazy city, and it's a corn-clad building in the center of town, one of the more unique spots to host prep sporting events. And it's all about the Kernels.
