After our visit to The World’s Only Corn Palace this morning, I didn’t think the day could get any better. Then we stumbled upon Porter Sculpture Park. Located about 30 miles west of Sioux Falls in the middle of some farmlands, Porter Sculpture Park is truly out in the middle of nowhere. It’s definitely worth a visit, however, as the sculptures are really quite compelling.
60-foot bull statue at the Porter Sculpture Park
A Brief History of Porter Sculpture Park
Porter Sculpture Park is the brainchild of Wayne Porter, who greeted us when we arrived. Wayne, who has never taken an art class, learned the art of blacksmithing from his father. He started out by making small sculptures and then moved on to progressively bigger artworks over time.
His largest sculpture is a 60-foot bull which is visible from I-90. The bull took over three years to build and weighs 25 tons. That’s the same size as one of the heads on Mount Rushmore.
The bull is just one of over 50 sculptures located at the sculpture park. We spent about an hour wandering around the mowed grass pathway between the sculptures and admiring each one.
50-foot tall horse. This sculpture weighs 40 tons and was transported here in 2018.
Daniel hangs out with the bull statue
Four ancient warriors guard the bull statue
Blue dragon statue
Pink rocking horse sculpture
Our Visit to Porter Sculpture Park
The sculpture park is a terrific place to visit for maintaining a social distance from other people. The sculptures are all located outside and are spaced well apart from each other. Only a handful of other visitors were there when we stopped by – and there was plenty of room to spread out.
The closest we got to another living creature was Wayne’s albino dog, Bambino. He is an extremely friendly animal and eagerly approached me for some attention. I couldn’t help myself and gave him lots of pets (and then washed my hands afterwards).
These goldfish are making a break for it
A vulture guards the path along buzzard row. According to Wayne, they are reincarnated politicians ready to pick the bones of their next constituents.
Red dragon sculpture. There’s a great view of the cow pasture behind the sculpture park in this photo.
Robed priests marching towards the bull’s head statue
Curvy lady
Side Note
After visiting the Corn Palace this morning and then Porter Sculpture Park this afternoon, I didn’t think the day could get any better.
Well, I was wrong.
We saw so many great things on Saturday that I decided to break the day’s shenanigans into three separate blog posts. So stay tuned for the third installment – which features my favorite tourist attraction of the day.
On the road towards Porter Sculpture Park
Where are we now?
We are at the Porter Sculpture Park in Montrose, South Dakota!
Date: August 8, 2020 – Part II
Great American Road Trip Status: Day 34
Starting Location: AmericInn – Mitchell SD
Ending Location: Shrine of the Grotto of the Redemption – West Bend, IA
Miles Traveled: 214
Total Trip Mileage: 3583.0
For more details on our Great America (Socially Distanced) Road Trip, see my previous posts:
0 Comments