On a windy, cold, and damp 3rd of November 1938, Dell Rapids hosted the National Corn Husking Contest at the farm of Jim and Nellie Jensen, drawing an estimated 125,000 people from across the nation to watch 21 contestants, including 2 huskers from South Dakota, pick corn by hand in timed competition. An 80-acre area called Tent City included an Indian village, 48 concession stands, farm machinery, a replica of Mount Rushmore, a fire department, an emergency hospital staffed by a corps of physicians, hundreds of police officers, telegraph and telephone stations, a post office, and parking for 35,000 cars, and it was said to be the largest gathering ever recorded in South Dakota up to that time. The day began with a two-mile parade featuring seven marching bands, Contest Queen Venita Apply, 14 other queen contestants, political notables, decorated huskers' wagons, a band of Oglala Sioux Indians, and modern farm machinery. At 11:44 a.m., a starting bomb signaled the beginning of the contest, and contestants from 11 corn-growing states moved rapidly down the field, hand-ripping ears of corn from the stalks two rows at a time while marshals and referees totaling nearly 1000 men followed them. Score guards with ropes held back the crowd as gleaners gathered remaining marketable ears to be weighed and charged against the contestants, while thousands of ears struck the bang boards of the wagons, bands played, loudspeakers carried announcements and appeals, and the NBC radio network broadcast a live bang-by-bang account. Despite the penetrating damp cold and slippery ground, the contestants picked, husked, and tossed corn continuously for 80 minutes, averaging one ear a second without time-outs for rest or stops for water. At the end, Ted Balko of Redwood Falls, Minnesota, the 1934 champion, won his second national title with a net of 22.64 bushels of corn in the 1938 Battle of the Bang Boards.