Wendy McClure

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LauraPalooza 2010: Putting the "Oh!" in Mankato

July 23, 2010 by Wendy

We went to LauraPalooza last week. Yes, it was really called “LauraPalooza”: the first-ever combined academic conference/fan fair/geekcon devoted to Laura Ingalls Wilder, and YES, it was all that and a bag of cracklings.

Last Wednesday Chris and I drove up to Minnesota State University in Mankato, MN, a town that has no real historical significance to the Little House books, though I understand that on the TV Little House on the Prairie, Mankato was where various characters went whenever they had a tragic illness. But what was our sickness? LOVING LAURA INGALLS WILDER. And we were not there to be cured, nor were the other 150+ folks who showed up for this thing.

Yes, that is the brown poplin with the poke bonnet!!!!!

The night before the official conference kick-off we attended an ice-cream social, where we met a great many of the Laurarati (I like that term better than “bonnetheads”), including a few folks in costume. I had a great time talking to Melanie (above), and somewhere on Facebook there’s a photo of her downing a beer on Friday night in her poke bonnet, and I am very very  sad not to have seen that in person.

My friend Shae, who I’d met about fifty-seven internet years ago at something called “JournalCon” in 2001 (and hadn’t seen since) had decided to attend, and she in turn had just met Eleanor, and from that first night on it was clear that they were going to be our conference buddies.

I also got to see my friend Sandra again (who runs The Homesteader and Beyond Little House) and FINALLY meet Erin Blakemore, whose book, The Heroine’s Bookshelf, is coming out in October. The three of us were doing a panel on Saturday called “Loving Laura in a Lindsay Lohan World,” and I’m proud to say we thought that up months before the whole Lindsay prison thing.

As early as the very first night, people were willing to give Chris the Boyfriend of the Year Award just for attending LauraPalooza with me, but he shrugged it off, because that’s just the kind of guy he is. (Although it’s true that in exchange, I’ve agreed to watch The Cremaster Cycle in its entirety with him.)

That night we ALSO got to see Dean Butler, who played ALMANZO on the TV show, and who is now making documentaries about the real-life Wilders, and he was at LauraPalooza to show his new Laura video, and… and okay, let me just get this photo out of the way, because OMG ALMANZO:

ALMANZO ALMANZO ALMANZO

(Did you know that he was also the guy in the movie adapation of Judy Blume’s Forever? I just found this out from Sandra! If it turns out he also had a part in a movie based on a VC Andrews novel my head will explode.)

On Thursday morning the conference began in earnest, with presentations ranging from academic papers to creative writing (Kelly Kathleen Ferguson’s amazing book chapter!) to a lecture by a high school physics teacher about how he figured out that Almanzo and Cap Garland could only have traveled about eight miles during the seed wheat trip in The Long Winter, based on calculations of average sled speed and load weight and snow friction and angle of drag, and how he used this data to find the homestead of the guy who sold them the wheat. NO, REALLY.  Jim Hicks, who gave that talk, needs to have his own Discovery Channel show about solving literary and historical mysteries with science.

But the more scholarly stuff was great, too. I was really impressed with Jenna Hunnef’s paper on homestead claims and Michelle McClellan’s talk on the meaning of place in the Little House homesites. I also met Pamela Smith Hill and John Miller, two of my favorite Laura biographers, and loved the talks that they gave. I learned about the political strategies behind the Homestead Act, the weather anomalies of the Hard Winter of 1880-81, and the theory that Almanzo Wilder may have had polio instead of diphtheria!  There was so much information that by the end of the first day we were exhausted.

The conference ballroom

On the second day,  LauraPalooza attendees had the option of visiting the Betsy-Tacy houses in Mankato and seeing where the Betsy-Tacy books took place. (Note: Betsy-Tacy fans are HARDCORE. There are tons of casual Little House fans in the world, but the moment you pick up a Betsy-Tacy book for the first time, a secret alert goes out to Betsy-Tacy fans everywhere and they send a representative to fly out to your house on a pink feather to recruit you. I’ve only read three books so far but they are great.) When we got to the houses there was a Maud Hart Lovelace impersonator ready to show us around.

Maud Hart Lovelace impersonator

She had the best handbag ever.

Mrs. Lovelace's lovely bag

It was actually a little surreal walking around with her as she showed us Tib’s house and the bench on the hill and all the other spots from the books, because she wasn’t projecting her voice the way a tour guide would, but instead spoke softly and gently as she recounted the storylines of various Betsy-Tacy books as if they were her own Maud Hart Lovelace memories. The thing about the younger Betsy-Tacy books, though (and this is why I love them so far), is that the plots sound really bizarre when you try to describe them, and after awhile I found myself thinking that maybe we weren’t on the tour at all but were just coincidentally following a woman who truly believed she was Maud Hart Lovelace and was deep in the throes of a lovely delusion. Anyway, we enjoyed that.

Back at the conference, there was more awesomeness, including Kay Weisman’s presentation on the artwork in Little House in the Big Woods and a great feminist paper by Emily Woster about Little House on the Prairie. We also saw a video interview with an Osage man who posits that the Osage in LHOP wore fresh skunk pelts as a joke on the white settlers, sort of like a 19th-century Punk’d stunt. Gives you something to think about!

Garth Williams FTW!

On Friday night, Dean Butler screened Little House on the Prairie: The Legacy of Laura Ingalls Wilder, which I will tell you all to buy as soon as he gets a distributor.  Until then, you will just have to be jealous of me for getting to see Little House on the Prairie: The Legacy of Laura Ingalls Wilder, which stars a real sixteen-year-old as Laura and was filmed in part in De Smet, SD.

Dean Butler at documentary screening

My panel was the last one of the conference, and I’m glad, because while Sandra and Erin and I talked about our own experiences as fans of the Little House books, we wanted people to share their stories, too, and people started to stand up and talk about how they came to love the books.  One woman had had to leave for a few minutes to compose herself when we’d started talking about our families, then she came back in and stood up and spoke so movingly about how the Ingalls family helped her survive her own childhood that I looked for her afterwards but couldn’t find her (and if she’s reading, I hope she writes me).

And then it was over! Or almost: the conference ended with a lunch, a spelling bee (SPELLING BEE!) and an optional field trip to Walnut Grove (where On the Banks of Plum Creek was set). Chris and I needed to make it to Iowa City that night, and since the weather reports were warning of storms and tornado conditions in the late afternoon, we decided it was best to skip lunch and head out to to Walnut Grove early.  We wound up eating hot dogs and Hmong sesame balls at the Walnut Grove family festival.

We’d been at this very same festival last year, but back then we’d had to drive out to South Dakota and missed the judging of the Laura-Nellie lookalike contest.  This year, though, we managed to come back almost where we left off and catch the judging of the Nellie contest. There were only 10 Nellies to 34 Lauras, which I’ve learned is the typical ratio every year. Alas, ringlets are hard to pull off, especially in summer humidity. But you have to love these girls:

The few, the proud, the Nellies

Over at the Walnut Grove museum, more LauraPalooza attendees had started to show up, and from my friend Sue I found out that Erin Blakemore had won the spelling bee, which is so befitting a heroine! We got to finally talk to Amy Lauters, the MSU professor who organized LauraPalooza in the first place and who was signing copies of her book about Rose at the museum store. She was at a table with John Miller and also William Anderson, who was the only Laura biographer that I hadn’t met yet. If the Laura Ingalls Wilder community has a rock star, it’s Anderson, who has written more than a dozen books and probably knows more  about the Ingalls and the Wilders and the home sites than any other living human being. And he was very nice and funny and gracious and took one of my Wilder Life postcards.

By now the heat index was well over 100 degrees, and the air conditioning could barely keep up in the busy museum store (where Nicole from the museum was kind enough to let me leave a batch of postcards). We had only the dugout site at Plum Creek left to visit before we hit the road, and I worried that it would be as hot and crowded as everything else in town. But we went anyway, and somehow the place it was even more gorgeous than it had been the year before. It was quiet and breezy: it was the same Laura World that I remembered.

Crossing Plum Creek

I got my feet wet once again, wandered the prairie a little, and then we got back in the car and headed back east on 14.

*    *    *

Thanks so much to everyone we met at LauraPalooza for being so kind and friendly (and if I didn’t get a chance to meet you, feel free to drop me a line). I have to confess that sometimes the thought of coming to this terrified me—I didn’t know what to expect, showing up with my blue postcards for this book of mine that I hope will be good enough, meeting over a hundred people who all have a stake in this world I’ve come to know and love. But it was everything I hoped it would be.

(cross-posted on wendymcclure.net)

Filed Under: General, Laura Ingalls Wilder, personal, The Wilder Life, Writing

Comments

  1. Karen says

    July 23, 2010 at 12:40 pm

    I really enjoyed reading about your experience at the LauraPalooza. I do love the Little House books but am not quite as hardcore as some fans out there. I doubt I’d ever get a chance to go, but it was very interesting to read about it nonetheless. I’m also looking forward to that documentary! Thanks again.

  2. SDpfeiffy says

    July 23, 2010 at 1:07 pm

    I’m so sad to have missed this! I live in Brookings, SD (Brookins to some of you) and if another event of this magnitude is planned I will move heaven and earth to be there. Thanks for the jealousy-inducing report.

  3. Melanie says

    July 23, 2010 at 1:26 pm

    Wendy, it was great talking with you too! You might be interested to know that at the community supper Amy, Sandra and I had the opportunity to sit with Bill Anderson who graciously introduced us to the GORDONS, the couple who own the Plum Creek site. Amy noted that Bill had your postcard in his breast pocket, which I had noticed was there a few hours earlier…and he said he was interested to read it when it comes out…What a guy!

  4. Book Club Girl says

    July 23, 2010 at 1:39 pm

    Great post! And as one of the hardcore, feather toting Betsy-Tacy fans, may I say, you nailed us perfectly. I’m so glad you’re enjoying the books. I’ll be at your house to complete your conversion soon. 😉

  5. Kelly Reuter says

    July 23, 2010 at 2:19 pm

    As you may already know, I am also a lifelong feather-toting hardcore Betsy-Tacy person (5 generations of my family are currently fans). I was pleased to hear your description of Maud’s Hill St. neighborhood tour, for if you thought I was living a lovely delusion as MHL, I have done my “job” aka “labor of love”. The soft gentle voice came right from Maud/Betsy, which I remember from the day in 1974 when I listened in awe as I sat beside her in her CA home. She got out her scrapbooks and photos and we looked through them together as she softly told me about her family and friends (using their BT book names). I’m glad that you enjoyed my purse, it is a vintage original from “Villager Antiques” in Amboy (shameless plug for Dad’s business, celebrating 40 years in a 115 year old building on Maine St.). The next day, I was inside Betsy’s house with my treasure box, telling families about Betsy-Tacy & Tib adventures, and pulling out such things as Betsy’s 5th birthday photo, a forget-me-not hanky, “little glass pitcher”, Easter egg dyes, and a sand bottle from the Piano Box. Be sure to read the whole BT series…you will love them all….and come back to visit Hill St. where I..er, Maud…lived the “happiest childhood a child could possibly know”.

  6. Jule says

    July 23, 2010 at 2:56 pm

    Wonderful post! I wish I could have attended this event. As a life-long Laura AND hardcore Betsy Ray fan (I live in Minnesota, after all!), I would have loved going (the topics of the sessions sounded really interesting). I have been to the Walnut Grove the Plum Creek dugout site, and loved it, but going with other fans would have been sweet. Maybe next time!

  7. Guusje says

    July 23, 2010 at 6:10 pm

    You gotta watch out for us Betsy Tacy Fans. We’re really members of a secret cult and plan to take over the world!

  8. Sandra Hume says

    July 23, 2010 at 10:43 pm

    Melanie, I got a nice photo of that card in Bill’s pocket. Coolness!

  9. Ranger Doris says

    July 24, 2010 at 8:41 am

    Did you know there is a National Park site devoted to telling the story of the Homestead Act of 1862? To learn more about what may be the most influential piece of legislation this country has ever created go to http://www.nps.gov/home or visit Homestead National Monument of America. Located in Nebraska, the Monument includes one of the first 160 acres homestead claims but tells the story of homesteading throughout the United States. Nearly 4 million claims in 30 states were made under the Homestead Act and 1.6 million or 40 percent were successful. The Homestead Act was not repealed until 1976 and extended in Alaska until 1986. Homesteads could be claimed by “head of households” that were citizens or eligible for citizenship. New immigrants, African-Americans, women who were single, widowed or divorced all took advantage of the Homestead Act. It is estimated that as many as 93 million Americans are descendents of these homesteaders today. This is a story as big, fascinating, conflicted and contradictory as the United States itself. Learn more!

  10. Wendy says

    July 24, 2010 at 12:31 pm

    I am so excited that Kelly Reuter posted here! Thank you, Kelly, for sharing your story!

    And I love that photo, Sandra. I’m just about to check out Melanie’s website, and Book Club Girl, please teach me the secret handshake!

  11. Emily Woster says

    July 24, 2010 at 4:50 pm

    Wendy – thanks for the compliment and great post! It really was a weekend of dreams – I can’t wait to see what great things the Laurarati can do in the years to come!

  12. Eleanor says

    July 25, 2010 at 7:27 pm

    Wendy, it was a reall treat to meet you and Chris. After your presentation, and some other moments, I now refer to people at the convention “giving their testimony” about how they came to be Laura fans. People look at me a little funny when I say it, but WE know what we mean, right. I’m so glad I met you two and Shae, and that we were able to embrace the crazy together!

  13. Becki says

    July 27, 2010 at 12:13 pm

    Thank you SO MUCH for sharing!! I too am a HUGE Little House devotee and also loved Betsy/Tacy/Tib et al. It is truly special when one gets to visit an actual site – a few years ago when traveling to visit relatives we stopped (because I INSISTED) and visited the church in MN that Laura and Almanzo attended early in their marriage. Something I will always remember.

    Very curious about the polio theory .. . what did YOU conclude?

    (Long been a follower of your books/blog – thanks!)

  14. Kara says

    July 27, 2010 at 2:36 pm

    Why, is that Nellie-in-the-running holding an American Girl doll?

  15. Margaret says

    August 13, 2010 at 9:52 am

    Couldn’t resist sending this Little House reference:
    http://www.kqed.org/a/perspectives/R201008050735

    I love that this Dad is the one willing to read all the books and try all the crafts.

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