Almanzo & Nellie to Visit Walnut Grove, Minnesota

Laura Ingalls Wilder Museum open April 1 - Oct 31st Gift Store Open Year Round

Wilder Pageant (an outdoor play about Laura's life in Walnut Grove, MN) Fridays & Saturdays July 09, 10, 16, 17, 23, 24

Dean Butler "Almanzo Wilder" will be in Walnut Grove, Minnesota on Saturday, July 17th!

Alison Arngrim "Nellie Oleson" will be in Walnut Grove, Minnesota on Saturday, July 24th!

walnutgrove.org for more information.

We are very excited about our upcoming visitors and new exhibits at the museum. If you have never been to Walnut Grove this is the year to visit!

I am expanding the exhibits that include Dean & Alison. I would love your opinion on their "Little House" career; your favorite episodes; if you've met them before; etc.

Here is a link to their website if anyone is interested: http://www.walnutgrove.org/

How exciting! I wish I could go, but we'll be in North Carolina part of that time.

As for Dean Butler, I haven't met him in person, though several of my friends have. I interviewed him over the phone prior to the release of Almanzo Wilder: Life Before Laura. We have a fan group dedicated to Dean, which encouraged him to create an online presence for his work. You can find his website at http://www.legacydocumentaries.com/

Favorite episodes: Back to School, Sweet Sixteen, Laura Ingalls Wilder, and Days of Sunshine, Days of Shadow. My interview with Dean, along with a character profile of Almanzo Wilder can be found at my Laura's Little Houses blog. The interview with Dean starts here: http://lauralittlehouseontheprairie.blogspot.com/2008/10/conversation-with-dean-butler-part-1.html You can find the character profile here: http://lauralittlehouseontheprairie.blogspot.com/2009/02/character-profile-for-almanzo-james.html

Some of my friends have also met Alison, but I've never had the pleasure. The show would not have been the same without Nellie Oleson. Some of my favorite Nellie episodes are: Country Girls, The Talking Machine, Bunny, Here Comes the Brides, He Loves Me He Loves Me Not, Come Let Us Reason Together, and The Return of Nellie.

It was nice to see the transition in Nellie's character after she meets Percival and marries.

You know, living in a suburb of Minneapolis, and only being 2 hours east of Walnut Grove, one would think that I've traveled there many times. I'm embarrassed to say that I've never been there yet. I'm thinking, this summer would be the perfect time to visit and see the pageant, especially since Dean and Alison will be there. I wish that the two of them were going to be there the same weekend. My daughter would love to see either one of them in person.

Teresa---seriously?! It sounds like this is definitely the year for you! I agree though---too bad they couldn't have timed it where Dean and Alison were there at the same time.

Oh, how I wish I could be there!!!

I think Dean is attending LauraPalooza in Mankato the same weekend he'll be at the pageant, so maybe that's why they are going on different weekends.

Alison will be in France the beginning of July so we were lucky to get her for the last Saturday of the Wilder Pageant!

I'm so mad I'm way down here in Texas. We(the 4 of us) aren't planning a vacation for this summer only for '11. We are planning for Tennessee then.
I might be going to Mansfield either this summer or fall on a mini getaway weekend with my aunt. She has never been there and I know she wouldn't get to unless I take her.
I've told her she has to read the books first though!

I was in DeSmet and Walnut Grove this past summer. Beth were great places to visit. Standing outside where the dugout was located was a very cool experience. The creek was all dried up tho which was kinda disappointing. But my buddies and I had a great time anyway.
Teresa, you need to go there. It's very nice.

Sorry about the creek. We did not have a lot of rain or snow last year. This year with record snow it will be full!

I'm seriously considering making a trip to Walnut Grove for my vacation this summer. I'd like to be there on one of the weekends that Dean or Alison is going to be there. I'd like to see the Wilder Pageant too. I'm thinking of maybe two days in Walnut Grove and another day in De Smet. Google maps says it's 854 miles to WG from my home on the east side of Cincinnati. That's a long drive -- definitely a two-day trip each way.