Sioux Falls South Dakota 6-12-09

Rain fell in buckets as we edged our way toward Sioux Falls. Before leaving Mitchell, we drove by the Corn Palace - a huge community hall decorated in dyed corn hucks in murals depicting the area. We stopped for gas was we were leaving town and found gas was $2.49/gal for 89 octane. This is about ten cents a gallon less than other places of lower octane. The friendly clerk explained that they buy their gas direct from the local refinery and pass the discount along to their customers. The store even gave us a free cup of coffee. What nice friendly folks.

There is not a scrap of trash along the highway, on sidewalks or by doorways. Cleanliness must be next to Godliness as least in this part of South Dakota.

Sioux Falls is only 67 miles from Mitchell. We are excited to hear the bands at the 3 day Polka Festival.

When leaving Mitchell at the I90 entrance is a giant Cabelas. We stopped and I could have done some serious shopping if we had more time. Pretty Niffty stuff. It is not all flannel shirts with patterns of wolves and coyotes.

The 2nd Annual South Dakota Polkafest should have been our clue to things to come. Second doesn't mean that things will run smoothly. The farigrounds exhibit hall was huge. A new wooden dance floor had just been constructed from non-treated masonite type material. Dance wax was thrown on the floor for smooth sailing. A little too smooth as I soon put on my rubber soled shoes to keep from falling. Stan did the same. Others wore tennis shoes.

The hall was split down the middle with 4 bands on each side. It was separated by about 20 feet by the concession with tables set up for eating. Two large tarps were hung behind the bands from the high ceiling to the floor along with bedspreads at a lower level right behind the bands.

These are some of the best Polka bands from Chicago, Cleveland, Twin Cities MN, Omaha and Fargo ND. It was OK at first when they started playing. Then the bleed over of noise from the other band playing at the same time started. Each band cranked up the sound louder and louder. I stuffed ear plugs in to stay coherent. Others asked for their entry fee back. Most were denied.

Each band had their own special talents to offer. If you were right in front of the band you could hear it. Johnny Koenig was the sleeper. At 23 he can really play that accordion. He started playing when he was 5. We bought one of his CDs. It is really great music. Another band - Freeze Dried caught our attention. It combined Polka beat to rock tunes with some peppy singers. A real entertainment. See video clips on my polka blog. http://www.polkacolorado.blogspot.com