Howdy!

I live 15 miles from Walnut Grove and have been in the Wilder Pageant for 6 years now (6 as the mayor, and the past 3 as Rev. Alden as well). Always on the lookout for info and character development, this sounded like a good place to start!

I know you will love it here.....I live 30 miles from Laura's Rocky Ridge Farm where her and Almanzo lived out their lives....

Glad to have you here, Reverend!

Welcome to the prairie!

welcome

Welcome to the group.

Welcome to the Prairie "Reverend Alden"! I know you'll like it here! So, did you live so close from Walnut Grove? I'm from Argentina and I should like to visit there.

Vanesa.

Glad to have you here. Tell us all about the pagent, sounds fun. I've only been to Mansfield, MO.

The Pageant's a pretty big production, it's been going on for 34 years (I believe). We draw about 8,000 visitors a year, and the largest crowd we've had for a while was last year when Alison Arngrim came to visit (2200 showed up that night!). This is my 6th year, but my daughters have been in it for 7. One played Grace Ingalls for a couple of years, and the other got to be Carrie for a year. it's a lot of fun, it's based on the books and history of the town, but with a few nods to the TV show as well.

Vanesa, we bought a house in the area and found out about the Pageant later. Once my children were old enough, we started taking part in the Pageant. This year my oldest son will be in it as well.

Welcome to the forum Rev. Alden. Nice that you could join us!

Welcome home Reverend!

alexczarn wrote:

Welcome home Reverend!

Well put.

Thanks, everyone!

Rev. Alden wrote:

The Pageant's a pretty big production, it's been going on for 34 years (I believe). We draw about 8,000 visitors a year, and the largest crowd we've had for a while was last year when Alison Arngrim came to visit (2200 showed up that night!). This is my 6th year, but my daughters have been in it for 7. One played Grace Ingalls for a couple of years, and the other got to be Carrie for a year. it's a lot of fun, it's based on the books and history of the town, but with a few nods to the TV show as well.

I 've read that the Pageant's was based on Laura's book "On the Banks of Plum Creek" rather than on the the TV show, as you've wrote above. But you saids that it also takes some details from the show. For what I've could read, I think that the main part the Pageant took from TV show was the Oleson's family portrait.

Margaret Owens was very different from the Harriet Oleson we uses to see in the TV show. She looks as a nice lady to me. But in the Pageant, the character is pretty much similar to the fictional TV character. Isn't she?

Vanesa.

You're right. While we have William and Margaret running the store, they are Olesons, not Owens. And their children are named Nellie and Willie. The families are based on how many children we have trying out for the pageant, not on who the families actually had (this year I have 7 children; other years I've had 2). But we stay as true to the book as we can, while making it more about the town itself, not about the Ingalls family. They're definitely the main characters, but it's a group effort.

Welcome to ya!