Travel and Other Adventures On Tap...

On tap for the winter...travel plans to explore the Little House on the Prairie 75th Anniversary exhibit, "Laura's Enduring Tale," honoring all things Laura, at the Mardigian Library at University of Michigan-Dearborn.  The exhibit has been extended a bit through this weekend, so I'm making the pilgrimmage to spy copious collections of artifacts and meet up with a few LauraPalooza friends.  Bill Anderson told me it was a must-see, and, while it is true that Well-Behaved Women Seldom Make History, I think Laurel Thatcher Ulrich would forgive me for doing what I'm told (just this once!).  To that end, I am following directions and checking out the artifacts of our very dear, though only-slightly-rebellious, Laura Ingalls Wilder, her devoted Farmer "Boy" Almanzo, and their mischievous-but-loveable daughter Rose!

By all accounts, this exhibit is absolutely worth a 15-hour drive...30 hours round-trip...and I'm certain I will NOT be disappointed.  Full report to follow, I promise.

Being pressed for time and braving the early-winter lake effect snows which are sure to come about, I'll stick relatively close to greater Detroit for this adventure...but there's no way I'm going to bypass Cuba, NY for a little nod to Pa's childhood. Through an interesting twist of Providence, I've recently gotten in touch with a photographer who is native to Cuba and will be planning a shoot in the spring...perhaps at the Charles Ingalls Birthplace dedication???

Meanwhile, one of my favorite New England living history sites, Old Sturbridge Village, has invited me to present day-long programs for 2 different events in April and May!  OSV has been on my roadtrip circuit for over 13 years and my membership card is ragged from all the visits, yet it never loses its charm for me.  Being able to bring Laura to a village which evokes the time of her maternal grandmother, Charlotte Tucker Quiner Holbrook, and (bonus!) within a short distance of the area where Charlotte spent her youth, is a pleasure indeed.  One program is designed especially for Girl Scouts and focuses upon the changes in culture and society within Massachusetts and New England throughout the last 200+ years.  "Laura" will engage the children in a discussion about the differences in daily living experience and the wider worlds of society, work, and technology between her own youth and that of her Grandma Charlotte.  The second program is particularly for home-schooled students who are studying Westward Expansion, and Laura will help the children understand how a person makes a decision to pack up and move to unfamiliar territory...and what to expect along the way!

Then there are the low-key events, such as the meeting of the NH Antiquarian Booksellers Association, and some oddball requests, such as perhaps a visit to a hardware store that has a history as long as Laura's.  People want to talk to Laura, so who am I to say no to a little chitchat around a woodstove with a checkerboard?

...Other programs are coming along, as well, and I'll tell more about them as the plans are solidified.  If you would like to check out my programs, either by attending a presentation or discussing one designed especially for your school, museum, or group, drop me a line:  info@meetlauraingallswilder.com  and I can give more details to you directly while my website, Meet Laura Ingalls Wilder!, is under re-construction.  Hitting the road for now, but I'll see you later and talk to you soon!

Genesee Country Village & Museum, 7 & 8 August 2010

...After a little glitch in the transportation sector, I have recently arrived home from my first "official" Laura gig, Laura Ingalls Wilder Days at the lively and picturesque Genesee Country Village & Museum in Mumford, NY...and all is wonderful!  

Laura Days, as told by me:

This event has run for three successive years, and each has been a raging success.  From what I have observed, each event is bigger and better than the last, so I can only imagine how 2011's Laura Days will turn out, given the tremendous success of 2010.  GCV& M President and CEO, Peter Arnold, brought this event to the museum from his former position at Old World Wisconsin.  Laura fans aplenty have now enjoyed exploring Laura's world and honoring her works and memory at this gorgeous outdoor living history museum near Rochester, NY since 2008, when our friend Alison Arngrim made a celebrity appearance at the first Laura Days.  During her visit, Alison shared her experiences playing Nellie Oleson for seven seasons of the long-running Little House on the Prairie TV series, and spent hours interacting with the visitors answering questions, posing for photos and signing autographs.  Earlier this summer, Alison published her memoir, Confessions of a Prairie B*^@#, to much acclaim--as evidenced by sold-out autographing appearances at bookstores all over the country.  In 2009, Karen Grassle, also known as the beloved Caroline "Ma" Ingalls, stopped by.  Like Alison, Karen presented stories of the cast and production of the television series and appeared for several meet-and-greet autograph sessions.  Both ladies posed for hundreds of photos and admired the many children who attended dressed in their 19th Century finery to compete in the Laura, Almanzo, and friends look-alike contests.  Their visits were memorable, and many fans attending this year's festivities made references to both Alison's and Karen's prior appearances...which confirms this event has a lot of repeat business, not just a history geek from New Hampshire in a brown calico dress!


Well, this year, the highly anticipated event was greatly expanded so that Genesee's 2010 Laura Days visitors had twice the treat!  A local radio station advertised that "Hot Farmer" Almanzo Wilder--you may also know him as actor Dean Butler--would be on-site, and the turnout of female fans would attest to Dean's continued appeal.  While Dean first gained fame as an actor (after Little House, Dean was Moondoggie on The New Gidget and later played Dad to Sara Michelle Gellar on Buffy the Vampire Slayer), he has now spent the last decade putting his "techie" side to use as a documentary filmmaker who has just wrapped the production of his second Laura-related film.  Dean entertained the audience in four separate Q&A sessions and graciously posed for countless photographs while quipping with the guests and staff and signing every manner of memorabilia for the throngs of fans who attended the event.  But that's not all...


Now, I did say TWICE the treat, right?  Well, of course!  This year there was no shortage of opportunity for Laura fans of all interest to ask their most pressing biographical and literary questions, due to the presence of a second celebrity guest.  At GCV&M's 2010 Laura Days,  the museum and guests were delighted with the appearance of none other than acclaimed Laura biographer and hands-down PREMIER EXPERT in all Laura matters, WILLIAM ANDERSON!  Bill answered questions and spoke extensively of details in Laura, Almanzo, and Rose's lives which many Laura fans haven't before heard, and kindly spent many hours signing autographs for hundreds of guests all weekend.  He also brought along a display of rarely-seen artifacts pertaining to the Ingalls and Wilder families, and the viewing line for the artifacts remained long and steady all weekend.  


My participation was multi-faceted, and I am happy to report that attending for the third time made the transition from "guest" to "guest interpreter" much much easier than it otherwise might have been.  My previous trips to this event were intially motivated purely by subject interest, but by the second day of the 2009 event, I was curious as to the opportunity to bring Laura to life at this event and others like it.  That prompted me to seek out staffer Melanie Neth, and discuss the possibility of bringing my program--then in the earliest stages of development--to this venue.  


After a lot of hard work, long hours, and at least as much expense as I had guessed to get the materials and clothing together, and not without a few fortunate turns of events, this summer I guested as Laura herself, to much enthusiasm all around.  Parents and children alike approached me throughout the weekend to ask questions, and I have never had my "likeness taken" so many times in my life!  Throughout the grounds I met with people who wanted to know more about Laura's travels and what happened to the other members of the family.  I had fun describing swampy Westville, Florida to some curious children who, with a little prompting from their mothers, figured out the horrible beast Laura encountered there was probably an alligator.  Others thought it funny that Laura had never seen such a tiny box camera and exclaimed at how quickly a likeness could be taken and revealed--and with color!  


Everyone wanted to know something, it would seem.  Whether talking to Bill, Dean, or myself, many people asked the same questions, but there were plenty of unexpected and thoughtfully-presented queries.  The best questions asked of me came from a man in his mid-40s who grew up in Viet Nam.  A bit of a newcomer to the United States, as I gather, he is now married to an American-born Laura fan who has taught him to appreciate this facet of our history.  I confess I had to break character for this one.  He asked me to compare Laura's time and experience to that of the existing Mennonite and Amish communities, and we had a lovely discussion about the differences between a lifestyle which is a cultural choice intended to reject much of the modern "English" society and technology versus a lifestyle born of necessity and survival in an earlier time.  

I was surprised to find that many other patrons wanted to know about me personally--what was my educational background, and why did I want to be Laura?  How did I get into this, and would I "do" birthday parties?!?  These questions were likely, in part at least, prompted by my position as emcee for the Children's Promenade.  This event was held both days, immediately following Dean's 11 am question-and-answer session.  The children were divided into 3 categories, according to their character.  "Almanzo and Friends" was the boys' category, and the girls were divided according to two groups: "Laura's Sisters and Friends" (yes, including Nellie!!) and "Laura" herself.  Many of the children had clearly worked long and hard to put their outfits together.  Prizes were awarded both days to those with the most votes in each category.  Several costumes were so convincing it must have been very difficult for the audience to choose their favorites, as many of the participants accessorized with lunch pails, school books, pinafores, and straw hats.  I'm still waiting for those bare-footed kids to join me down at the creek for some fishing first and wading after!!  


It's just as well the waders blew me off, though, because that night I had the privilege of attending the "VIP" dinner at an undisclosed location with Bill, Dean, and several museum staff.  Melanie Neth, the museum's Director of Special Events, was thoughtful enough to include me in this event, and I am very grateful to her for the opportunity.  This was an unexpected perk of "being Laura" for the weekend, as I was delighted enough just to have any additional opportunity to visit with Bill and Dean.  Being invited to dinner elevated an already wonderful experience to an exceptionally rare opportunity, and I thought I could not have felt more honored.   But, I was mistaken.  The next day, I had the further privilege of introducing Bill Anderson on stage, and that was an honor indeed.  After all, who am I?  Just a little Laura fan with a big passion--and lofty aspirations to someday be half as knowledgeable and accomplished as the other folks at Saturday's dinner.  To all of you, I say Thank You So Very Much for making me feel like I have something to contribute!


And lastly, as Luck would have it, driving the extra few miles back and forth to that special dinner turned out to be incredibly fortuitous, as my car chose exactly that evening to have a breakdown.  As I returned to my hotel after dinner, my little chariot suffered a spontaneous failure of a critical part of the transmission mount!  The gracious people at Genesee and Mumford spent Sunday helping me to navigate the complicated web of damage assessment, mechanic-location, AAA towing coordination, and an additional night of accommodations.  My most heartfelt thanks to Melanie (I owe you lots of fancy good food!), Ed (your reputation for "knowing a guy" is well-earned!), Bill (who knew you were also a great "hash out the options when there is a tough decision at hand" sort of guy?) and Deborah ("Bed, Breakfast, and Beyond!") for seeing me through the "assess and make decisions" process.  Thanks to Marc for dropping everything to work on my car...and most especially thanks to Ed & Kathy for everything from finding Marc the mechanic and shuttling me around town for two days, to feeding me some more AND opening up their home to me so I had a safe place to stay on Sunday night!  This situation could have been so much uglier under different circumstances and in different company; I can't thank you all enough for your kindness and generosity...

Exploring the Banks of Laura's Plum Creek

The last official day of LauraPalooza 2010 culminated in a field trip to Walnut Grove, Minnesota. 

There, we had the privilege of exploring 
Laura's mid-1870s home at Plum Creek, 
where the House in the Ground once sheltered the Ingalls family until Pa could build the 
"wonderful house," complete with glass windows!

Sadly, the locust plagues of the '70s hit the area especially hard, and made the living--

surviving, really--particularly difficult. 
 With no crops to harvest and no money to start over, what's a family to do?

Move to I-O-WAY, of course!

For a little while, anyway. 

But Iowa proved little better, and Burr Oak came with its own set of tribulations and further struggles.

Never one to be dissuaded by a rotten run of luck, Pa soon brought Ma, Mary, Laura, Carrie, and newest daughter--aptly named Grace--back to Walnut Grove.
The family's hardships were far from over, as they continued to grieve the loss of little Freddie and made the further adjustment of grappling with Mary's recent loss of sight, but better times were on the horizon.  Within a year, the Ingalls clan was on the move again, leaving the lush greenery of Plum Creek and heading out to try their luck at the site of a new town at the end of the Chicago & Northwestern Railroad.  The future "first family" of DeSmet was about to settle down on the golden plains of Dakota Territory.  

Although much altered by thirteen decades of howling Winter freezes, eroding Spring thaws, and sweltering Summer storms, Plum Creek still retains an awe-inspiring air of tranquil beauty that is utterly irresistible.  
True, Pa's "wonderful house" no longer stands, and all that remains of the dugout is a square depression on the Northeast bank of the creek.  Former wheatfields now boast grand stalks of corn, and the creek itself has changed course greatly in the 131 years since first Charles, then Caroline and their four girls, set out for a new life in DeSmet.  Yet, something amazing remains.  
The plum thickets still bear lush fruit which welcomes visitors as they cross the footbridge to investigate the former dugout and pay homage at the yellow-lettered wooden sign which indicates its presumed location.  
From there, the tablelands beckon the child in all of us to imagine Laura and Mary running along the ridge, and perhaps tumbling down the hill, grasping at stray black-eyed Susans along the way.

I'd like to take this moment to thank the people responsible for keeping a portion of Laura's famous 
childhood playground intact.  








For decades--and to the delight of many tens of thousands of "LauraPhiles"--generations of the Gordon family 
 have maintained the Ingalls' legacy at Plum Creek by putting tremendous time, effort, planning, and funding
 into the conservation and preservation of this hallowed ground...
thereby saving a special little piece of heaven for us all...

Coming soon to a Laura Event near you!

...So, apparently there is something beyond magical about having a gorgeous 1880s traveling suit specially made for oneself and wearing it to the first-ever all-Laura all-the-time academic conference LauraPalooza...  That is, after spending a wonderful week in LauraLand, and coming home more charged up than ever about my foray into the world of first-person historical interpretation, I suddenly have the best news!  I just landed my very first Laura GIG!  


Genesee Country Village & Museum has kindly extended the invitation to have me join in the festivities next weekend for their "Laura Ingalls Wilder Days," and I could not be more excited!