Walnut Grove Laura Ingalls Wilder Pageant

09/16/2025

Please enjoy a short video in review of the Walnut Grove Laura Ingalls Wilder Pageant 2025.

Be sure to join us July 10-11, 17-18 and 24-25 2026 for Wilder Pageant "Chasing the Dream" which takes place between the years of 1874-1875 of the Ingalls Family in Walnut Grove. Music by Mary Pat Kleven

09/15/2025

Shop Hop in the Walnut Grove area this coming weekend.

09/15/2025

The winners of our survey contest have been announced:
Crystal Enga of Lake Benton
Carrie Enga of Marshall
Jeffery Carlson of Le Suer
and Payton Fagre of Ashby

The winners had their choice of books; a set of the Laura Ingalls Wilder Little House books, The Selected Letters of Laura Ingalls Wilder by William Anderson or Pioneer Girl The Annotated Autobiography, Pamela Smith Hill, editor.

We would like to thank everyone who takes our surveys. This is how we make our Walnut Grove Laura Ingalls Wilder Pageant a better experience for our audiences year after year. We take into account your responses and make changes where applicable. Again, many thanks to those who took the time to answer the surveys.

09/11/2025

In our production in 2026 of "Chasing the Dream" at the Laura Ingalls Wilder Outdoor Theater in the scene, "Dancing in the Blizzard", the Ingalls take some time during a blizzard to learn some dance steps and a bit of dance etiquette.

Ma teaches the girls some dance steps as Pa plays the fiddle.
In the long cold 1875 winters, families had to entertain themselves. With reading the bible, music, storytelling and games.

Make plans to join us next year as the Ingalls' story in Walnut Grove continues with " Chasing the Dream" which covers the years of 1875-1876. Check back with our page and web page for updates about next year's production. www.walnutgrove.org/pageant

09/10/2025

Attention Walnut Grove Community, past & present pageant cast & crew, city council & personnel, businesses, church groups, community groups and individuals with great ideas.

The Walnut Grove Laura Ingalls Wilder Outdoor Theater is hosting a Community Meeting September 22nd at 6:30 P.M. We are looking for your input, not only about the pageant, but how to utilize the theater with more events, how the pageant can help grow the community and what has been happening at the Walnut Grove Laura Ingalls Wilder Outdoor Theater.

09/09/2025

Fun Saturday in Walnut Grove this weekend!

Come to Walnut Grove this Saturday afternoon! Fun for the entire family!

09/08/2025

Part two: Backstage

The booth in the middle of the seating is for the lighting person, sound people, the and the director. They all work together to get their timing synched, so the lights and sound come together at the right times as the script dictates.

The sets are run by the set crew, which consists of 5-6 people. The main sets are run with motors and hydraulics and some manpower. It is quite a site to watch one of the sets roll out and open up into a house, a church a store and a hotel. Our hopes are to have our newest set run with the help of robotics of a sort.

There is a cleaning team, ticket booth personnel, car parkers, ushers, the T-Shirt stand workers, and the concession stand people. We have a few seamstresses who make costumes and do repairs if needed. And a good amount of volunteer helpers who work hard to get the production up and running and keep it running smoothly.

On a given production weekend there are more than 100 people, including cast, crew and all other volunteers who keep the show running.

The Walnut Grove Lara Ingalls Wilder Pageant thanks each and every person who helped with the production this season and hope to see you all next year for another great show!

09/07/2025

Behind the scenes at the Walnut Grove Laura Ingalls Wilder Pageant. Part One, check back tomorrow for part two.

What happens behind the scenes, where does the sounds and lights come from, how do the sets work? These are some of the questions we have heard over the years.

The backstage area is for the actors, set crew, animals, assistant director, stage manager, and props person and the props. There are 3 dressing rooms, restrooms, the barn, a storage shed for chairs and a large grassy area that the animals can utilize. The actors wait backstage for their scenes and have benches to sit on, or they mingle around and go over their lines. Some of the children play games. The set crew is also backstage waiting for their turn to move sets and some of the props. The animals and their handlers are cued when it's their time to be on stage with the use of headphones; one set backstage and one set in the booth for the director to give direction to the assistant director and she/he carries out the directions to the cast and crew. All the people involved have learned what lines are pertinent to themselves from the script and like many people in the pageant by the end of the season everyone in the production can recite the lines pretty well.

09/03/2025

Another schoolyear has begun for most of Minnestoa's children as it has here in Walnut Grove.

In 1874 children were probably going to school by now as well. Thet generally started in August or early September. In the Walnut Grove area the school consisted of one room. There was no breakfast or lunch served at school, the children brought their own food in a lunch pail. The teacher sometimes would stay with one of the families. In our 1983 Walnut Grove Laura Ingalls Wilder pageant program it was written: "During fall harvest many of the boys attending school stayed home to help with the harvest. The children had to finish school in the 8th grade to find work and help support their families."

How schools have changed over the years. Each student now has their own tablet, versus a slate that you sometimes had to share, books were also shared, most children now have a breakfast, and a hot lunch served every day. The school year is also shorter now; according to AI the school year was about 180 days in the late 1870's compared to, also from AI, the WWG school year this year is 165 days. The children are either taking a school bus or have their parents drive them to school. In 1874 you walked to school, rode a horse or on a lucky day catch a ride if your pa needed to go to town.

Below is a photo of the Dist5 24 schoolhouse from our 1983 Walnut Grove Laura Ingalls Wilder pageant program and some photos from our Walnut Grove Laura Ingalls Wilder Pageant

08/29/2025

If you came to any of the 2025 productions of Walnut Grove Laura Ingalls Wilder Pageant "Faith in the Dream"; tell us your thoughts.
For instance, one favorite scene is building the church, others are Oleson's Store, the dance or the fire.

08/28/2025

Next year (2026) the Walnut Grove Laura Ingalls Wilder Pageant will present "Chasing the Dream". This will be part 2 of the 3-part trilogy. There will be some tweaking of the production since the 2023 performances to follow up with surveys and to accommodate the cast from year to year.

"Chasing the Dream" takes place between 1875 and 1876. The Ingalls saga continues: Ma is expecting a baby; Baby Freddie was born November 11, 1875. The Ingalls had moved into town for the winter. Mary & Laura are invited to a party at Nellie Oleson's. At school the children participate in a spelling contest. The Ingalls move back to their farm in the spring. Doctor Hoyt arrives in Walnut Grove to replace Dr Welcome. There is fire, a blizzard and Willie plays with fireworks.

Below are photos from 2023's "Chasing the Dream"

08/26/2025

The Wilder Pageant Committee met Monday evening.

Topics discussed were Village Fair updates: The Village Fair met with the City Council about the success of the all-new fair. What activities were most enjoyed and needing more funds for paying someone for set up and tear down of the fair. Grant updates, not much new, still no replacement for the concession stand manager.

The Walnut Grove Laura Ingalls Wilder Museum gave an update; they are still short of funds for the depot roof and are planning an ice cream social fund raiser for this Saturday at the museum; there was discussion about the old lumberyard being used for a display and meeting room for the Walnut Grove Laura Ingalls Wilder Pageant; at the next committee meeting in September some committee members will go look at the building.

Old Business: Fall Event Committee discussed their ideas for a fall event and decided it may be good to plan for 2026 to give more time for planning and executing those plans.

Ideas for Laura's Birthday Party were discussed and Adisyn, director of the Walnut Grove Laura Ingalls Wilder Museum suggested that the pageant and museum join together for an event. More discussions will be held in the coming months.

The ash trees were discussed again, and more information will be gathered on tree injections to help with any future problems, as of right now there is no visible signs of tree infestation. Restrooms are awaiting bids for the floor.

Next month September 22nd at 6:30 will be the Wilder Pageant's community meeting at the Walnut Grove Community Center. Invitations will be sent out or delivered.

Bill Richards had a power point presentation of this years pageant recap and updates. There were survey results from the audience and the cast, what was new this year, how the grants have been allocated, the Village Fair, scholarship winners, the page, the show this season and storm damages. Thank you, Bill, for your work on the power point presentation!