The 2009 Corn Palace
When we went west two years ago, I insisted we at least drive by the Corn Palace.
My family had toured it over 50 years ago and it certainly was worth a look.
I had just done a year or two before before when I went with Penny Pullen to a Pro-Life referendum committee meeting at Chamberlain.
Neither time did we go inside.
Time was the factor earlier this decade. So we just did a drive-by in Mitchell, South Dakota.
The Mitchell, S.D., City Hall is next to the Corn Palace. In 2009, there was not sign saying admission was free. Maybe it wasn't then.
My cheapness and mid-1950’s memory of there being not much worth seeing inside was the reason during our 2009 trip.
But when I was reading the December 3, 2010, article about the Corn Palace in the Chicago Tribune, I discovered there is no entrance fee.
Attendance is down from 500,000 twenty years ago to 279,000 in 2009.
Obviously free is this statue of an ear of corn across the street from the Corn Palace.
In 2010, it was up to 311,000.
So, what has the city council done?
Hidden away in the Chicago Tribune's December, 2010, Corn Palace article is the fact that admission is free. The building is ready for 2011 tourists. The new year's number is visible. Click to enlarge.
Besides making the price right, it still has a corn museum and a gift shop, but they’re trying to make it more of a destination.
Pretty much every gas station in South Dakota is a casino. If slot machines are legalized in Illinois, their hosts probably will not be called "casinos."
The next time we go west, it will be through S.D. and we’ll again take the highway exit from Interstate 94 at Mitchell.
And, my wife and son will go inside and look around while I take pictures, rather than their waiting for me in the car in a spot within eyesight of the Corn Palace.
And, you know I look for things political everywhere I go.
What I found in the local newspaper, the Daily Republic, was an article that, knowing George McGovern was born in Mitchell, North Dakota, might make perfect sense.
Good Samaritan Becky Handrahan was giving rides to people the way FISH of Crystal Lake did back in the 1970’s.
She was accepting tips to help pay for the gas.
The Mitchell City Council decided she needed a license like a taxi.
Read it for yourself.
If it moves, regulate it, I guess. Then, tax it.
Click to enlarge.
Turns out the plus gas has a high ethenol content that messed up both mine and my sister in laws car as we were diving through. We both got all the symptoms of putting e 85 in a car that isn’t approved. So the plus that is cheaper then regular is a scam it’s just e-85
I know this is a little out dated but @ Bill, I grew up near Mitchell SoDak always using the “plus” or “super unleaded” (as it was called) gas in my family’s car, its only 10% Ethenol. Out here in Virginia where I live now, all the gas has 10% Ethenol. Instead of it being cheaper it’s more expensive,
E85 is afaik 85% ethenol (Ethenol 85)
and as for the license thing…thats some stupid crap, a friend giving another a friend a ride across town isnt a business, its called being neighborly. If they give her gas money for it, that is their own choice.