Walnut Grove Laura Ingalls Wilder Pageant

Name: Walnut Grove Laura Ingalls Wilder Pageant
Address: 11505 Crown Avenue, PO Box 313, Walnut Grove, MN, 56180, US
Telephone: +18888593102
Price range: $$
Rating: 4.7

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Walnut Grove Laura Ingalls Wilder Pageant

2026 Wilder Pageant dates:
July 10-11, July 17-18, July 24-25. Tickets available February 2026

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!

08/25/2025

In our Walnut Grove Laura Ingalls Wilder Pageant "Faith in the Dream" in Scene 3 Act I, Pa asks Mary & Laura if they want to come check the fish trap with him. Mary doesn't want to because it's "muddy and swampy". Laura readily wants to go as long as she can "wade in the creek".
Pa and Laura head out to check the fish trap with Jack and a flour sack to put the fish in.

In 2026 part 2 of the trilogy is called "Chasing the Dream". We hope you will join us next July and see what other antics Laura; the rest of the Ingalls and the townsfolk of Walnut Grove will have to share with you. Keep checking back to our page and our website www.walnutgrove.org/pageant for updates and happening at the Walnut Grove Laura Ingalls Wilder Pageant.

08/21/2025

Our second scholarship winner is Jayden Haen.

Jayden was in the pageant for several years as a young child. He played the roles of Rueban Steadman, Edwin Kennedy and has helped backstage and did videography and stagehand for 2 years at Loose Gravel Music Festival.

In High School Jayden was in one act plays and performed as Lurch in the Adams Family at Redwood Valley High School. Jayden was also in choir most of his school years and at Bethel College during his senior year.

Jayden is planning on continuing his education at Crown College majoring in social studies education with a minor in counseling. His goals are to "Giving all of my energy to make a better world. I will be able to make true and lasting impacts on other's lives for the better".

08/20/2025

When we called for help, the area folks listened.

Yesterday we had many helpers show up; before they got to the site, they did not know what they would be doing, but they came prepared. It turned out to be a very productive afternoon thanks to: Dan, Kenny, Julie, Bill, Shalayna, Daniel, Rick, Lori, Greg, Signe, Zack and Kerry.

Water and mud had gotten into the storage area, ticket booth, t-shirt shack and the backstage restrooms. We managed to get the storage room, ticket booth, t-shirt shack and the backstage restrooms cleaned out and power washed. The floor mats from the t-shirt shack were also power washed. We cleaned mud from the sidewalk to the new restrooms and hung all the shirts that were on the shelves in the shirt shack to assure they were dry. Some of the smaller wash outs were filled by hand shoveling crushed rock into the holes. Kerry & Greg cut down a couple trees along the tar road that were in bad shape.

There is still more work to do, and it will require larger machinery since the driveway to backstage at this time is impassable. The new driveway to the restrooms area is impassable as well and the entrance road needs to be repaired too. It was also decided we need a larger power washer for the barn and lean-to.

We cannot thank those enough who showed up to help us get some of the work done before any more damage was done. Thank you also to Dan for bringing ice water and Julie for finding us extra hangers.

“In dark times, good people rebound, determined through faith and friends to not give up.” Act I - Scene 7
Walnut Grove Laura Ingalls Wilder Pageant

08/19/2025

Just a few more photos around Walnut Grove of all the water that was still around yesterday. Most of the water has subsided from the roads and lawns, the water has also gone down along the creek but still running at a steady rate. Thankfully we are getting a reprieve from the rain and the heat coming later this week.

The clean up at the site will commence today at 1:00 P.M. if anyone is available to help out.

08/18/2025

Since last Friday Walnut Grove and some surrounding towns have received about 7" to 8" of rain. Streets were flooded, roads were flooded, basements were flooded and yes, the Walnut Grove Laura Ingalls Wilder Pageant Site was also flooded.

There is quite a bit of damage and clean-up to be done. There is mud, sand, rock and water in almost every building with the exception of the concession stand. Below is an inspection report done by Bill Richards of what he could see needs attention.

In the next several days we will need help with all the cleaning and repairing that may be needed. We will be working from 1 P.M. Tomorrow Tuesday August 19 until about 5 P.M. Anyone who is able and willing to come help is greatly appreciated.

We will announce any other clean up days in the coming days.

08/15/2025

Shoutout to our groundkeepers.

Gabby & Isabella were the groundskeepers this year and what a bang-up job they did. They not only kept the grounds and bathrooms clean they did much extra work. They were seen putting in fence posts and fencing, cleaning up the barn and storage areas, putting away unused items and washing the quilts and other items after the show. They were even caught scraping mud off the sidewalk before a show weekend.

Thank you, Gabby & Isabella for all the hard work you did this year as groundskeepers. We hope to see you back next year!

08/13/2025

We have to give a shout out to our animals this year.

The horses were provided by Josh Vogel and Tia. The horses names were Sky (the grey horse) and Bo (the black horse) . It was so great to get them at almost the last minute and they did a fine job pulling the wagons.

Lucy the cow was provided by the Plaetz Family. Lucy has been in the pageant before. It seems she had a hunger for the hay that was on stage for Charles and Eleck to be working with. Lucy you did great!

Thank you to Josh, Tia, Annalie, Fred & Lila for bringing the animals to our production.

08/12/2025

This year we had a family drive an hour and 25 minutes each way from Sherburn, MN. This is the Lutterman's second year at the pageant. When interviewed the Lutterman's told what drove them to be a part of Walnut Grove Laura Ingalls Wilder Pageant and how it has impacted their lives. Thank you Lutterman's for your interview and can't wait to see you back again next year!

Enjoy a short video below of the Lutterman's

08/11/2025

Cookie Decorating Challenge. During this season Director Erin had challenges for the cast as team building exercises. The cast were only given about 10 minutes to decorate their cut out cookies. They were also only given their choice of two colors of frostings and whatever sprinkles they would like. The Nelson Family won the overall challenges.

Address

11505 Crown Avenue, PO Box 313
Walnut Grove, MN
56180

Telephone

+18888593102

Website

https://walnutgrove.org/

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Laura Ingalls Wilder Outdoor Drama

WEBSITE: www.walnutgrove.org. Due to the Covid -19 virus and the safety of everyone, this years’s Pageant has been rescheduled. We are in the midst of planning a miniseries “Laura’s Prairie Summer” and we will share it on YouTube and Facebook starting July 10th at 7:00 pm. Check our website at walnutgrove.org for updates.

The dates for 2021 are July 9, 10; July 16,17 and July 23,24. Come experience the pioneer days on the prairie in Walnut Grove.