Pepin/Spring Valley Trip 2007 – Part 2

Saturday morning I was ready to go before Anderson House started serving breakfast, but I decided to hang around and start with a hardy meal. A good idea when you are festivaling. I made a quick stop at the museum again and then headed for the Pepin Public Library. If at all possible when you stop in Pepin, stop at the library. It was the primary spot for information before the museum opened and they still have a nice display including a couple of rare pieces (a Garth Williams cardboard cabin I’ve never seen anywhere else, a felt pennant for the birthplace, etc.). I did some set up for my program and then started over to the park, where most of the festival takes place. I did a plug for my program at 11 am and then circled the park talking to people. I’ll admit I was beginning to be nervous if people would show because so many people said they wanted to come, but they had been told (wrongly it turned out) that all the Little Miss Laura candidates had to be some place starting at 11:30. However, I shouldn’t have worried. We had 90 people and they ran out of chairs. Christy asked me back for next year already. So mark your calendars now for next September!

After one more announcement at the stage I was officially off the clock. I took a quick look around the park and stopped in at the Depot Museum. They have a fundraising craft show during Days and I always like to take a look around. They have a couple of Laura letters on display and a tribute to Fern Mercks. They are also the group who marked Anna Barry’s grave, so if you make a trip to the cemetery be sure to thank them. It would be very hard to spot without their historical marker sign.

Next I took the guided bus tour. Get your Days pin early, they  or $3 are the ticket on the bus tour and last year they ran out of buttons. Mike Gleue, author of “Laura Ingalls Wilder Historic Highway Guide,” was the tour guide. This time it only went by Barry’s Corner and stopped at the cabin, but he gave a fairly nice running commentary on the way out and back. Out at the Wayside the Plum Creek Quilters Guild, headed by Jean Elefson, have a quilt display. They have quilts and props in all the cabin rooms and then Jean has a program about quilt blocks and tying them to the books, based heavily on Johanna Wilson’s quilt books. The Quilt Guild also had a hands on quilt sewing craft. They only had one volunteer on Saturday, so Linda Starbuck and her mother agreed to come up from Iowa City to work it all day. It went over very well. I drove back to the cabin in time to help with the last bus trip and some straggling tourist. It was quite an experience. Then, since the cabin doesn’t lock, they took everything down, just to put it up again on Sunday.

I took time for a quick swing down both main streets. The original one at the bottom of the hill and the later one at the top. As previously reported in the Pepin newsletter, the former Lake Pepin Players Theater has been torn down. I drove by the Latanes shop and admired their sign. Then I was surprised to see a new store called “Wilder Trail Books.” It’s a used bookstore. It just opened in April and they have a great sign and a Laura timeline painted around the top of the shop. They do most of their business online, but I’d recommend stopping in when you go to Pepin to see it. They don’t have much in the way of Laura books, but I recommended they might want to get some copies of Pa’s Big Green Animal Book and Millbank to have on hand. They also seem to be the exclusive source for shirts and mugs featuring Peppy, the Lake Pepin monster. Visit them online here http://www.wildertrailbooks.com/ I think it’s nice that there’s a bookstore in Pepin now and I want to encourage it.

Supper, again with Linda, was at the Pickle Factory. I hadn’t been there before and I really enjoyed it. All the waitresses were wearing little bonnets in honor of Laura Days. I would recommend this place right on the water. The Harbor Inn restaurant’s fame continues to draw people in. They had an hour wait when we checked before the Pickle Factory. Finally we went out to the Buckskinners camp for the musical performance around the campfire and I got a chance to catch up with Kitty Latane. Make sure you stop to say hi to this talented tinsmith, Laura fan, and author whenever you get to Pepin.

I had to leave the next morning, but was delayed by meeting up with 3 guys who had been at my program the day before. They were all from Tennessee and decided a good reason to drive across the Midwest and look around was to follow the Laura trail and they were having a ball. They had a lot of questions and I ended up leaving 2 hours later than planned. They gave me what I consider a great compliment, that my program (I did my Packing Up one) reminded them of a Simpsons episode in that there was stuff there for different levels, but enough to keep everybody interested.

I stopped in Spring Valley again on the way home. Took a few more barn shots and then headed to the museum. It was open this time and I dropped off my latest envelope of stuff for them. They’ve changed the Laura display a little bit and expanded it. They seemed to have replaced the useful information about South Troy and its Three Graces Museum with photocopies of the covers of the books available in the gift store and the picture parts of one of the Les Kelly calendars that you see everywhere. Other than that there were some additional pictures of Royal and his family and where they lived. There was the account book page of the family trading with a store and other interesting things. It’s enough of an addition that it would be worth seeing again if its been awhile.

I was glad to get the opportunity and I’m already planning what I’m going to try to do next year. So go ahead and mark your calendars for September 13-14th.

Sarah Uthoff

New Addition to Program Additions Page

I’ve added a direct link has been added to the wildflower prairie coloring book from the Homestead National Monument to the Program Additions page. Here it is below.

http://www.nps.gov/home/forkids/upload/coloring%20book%205-22-06.pdf

Sarah Uthoff

Pepin/Spring Valley Trip 2007 – Part 1

I had a great trip this last weekend. I only wish it could have been a longer trip, but hopefully next year I’ll be able to stay for Sunday and Kitty Latane’s Pepin in Laura’s time program. I tried a different route up to Pepin this year that I was told was shorter. It ended up being within 15 minutes of the other route. It did take me through some different country.

One new place I stopped was New Hampton, Iowa. They have a great public library. It’s the prettiest new construction library I’ve ever seen and I recommend anyone considering an addition or new construction of a library to visit them.

I stopped along the way at Spring Valley, MN. I had lunch at the A & W there. (It’s a genuine drive-in and I highly recommend it to anyone whose passing through the area.) The Laura Museum was closed and I was in route so I didn’t try to find anyone. I did get some more photos of the Wilder barn while it’s still there. (You’d think they could at least move the boat so you could get some decent photos while it’s still standing.) I also tried for more downtown photos since it was such a lovely day and visited Royal in the cemetery. It is the hardest stone to get a decent photo of I’ve ever seen. I’ve been there at several times of year and at different times of day and it’s always in shadow. I didn’t take time to stop at Historic Forrestville this time, another stop I always recommend, but hope to make it back there again.

I pressed on towards Pepin. I stopped at the Reads Landing museum described in the “Little House Guidebook,” but at present it’s only open on weekend afternoons. I thought I may have made it back over on Saturday, but as you will see another opportunity came up instead. I stopped at Anderson House to check in. Since I was working, I didn’t get one of the cats which you can get with your room. I really enjoy the food there and would encourage anyone heading to Pepin to make a side trip at least to eat there.

Next stop was Pepin. I got some photos of the Laura Ingalls Wilder Historic Highway sign with the coulees in the background (makes quite a change from the prairie stops) on my way into town and then headed for the museum. The crowd there was surprisingly small, but not many people seem to come down for the Friday. Almost all of the special events don’t start until Saturday, but it’s a good chance to see the museum and the birthplace without a lot of people around and still see all the events the next day. You might want to try it for yourself next year.

There have been a few small changes in the museum, but not much. You should especially look for Anna Barry’s photo and autograph album, the pig bladder balloon, the button string, the records showing Mary and Laura’s enrollment in school, 2 of the 5 variations of china shepherdess replicas, and a quilt made by Laura. Also, be sure to notice the photos (now unavailable) showing the Franklin House of History’s Almanzo exhibits. Not to be missed are the scrapbooks assembled by Fern Mercks in the bedroom. I stayed at the museum with the scrapbooks until they closed. Then I drove out to the birthplace.

I got another shot in the doorway to add to my through the years collection. I had much better luck taking photos with my digital camera than my film inside the cabin. I worked again at trying to take photos to make the cabin look like it’s in the woods and to take photos of other sides of the cabin than the front. Two miles farther on I stopped at the Little House Store in Lund, which always has some unique stuff. I stopped and got some Big Woods photos and some Lake Pepin photos and I’m glad because the sky was much bluer Friday than Saturday.

I met Linda Starbuck, a fellow Laura fan from Iowa City, and her mother. We had supper at the Garden Pub, the restaurant without walls in Pepin and headed back to Wabasha for the night.

Sarah Uthoff

Hoover Program

We’re nearing 10 years that I’ve been part of the annual Labor Day Program at the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library, Laura Ingalls Wilder Remembered. For those of you unfamiliar with the program, it’s a free addition during their open hours on Labor Day. Each year I do a different program because many people come back more than once. In fact, it’s often my test ground for new programs. What works there I continue to develop into a regular offering. Such will be the case with this year’s program which focused on the landscape of each place Laura lived and her love for trees, nature, and conservation. I want to pull in more quotes from her pre-book writing and talk more about her work with the tree claim and the orchard, but this is a good start, it brought a good reaction and it’s going to be added to my regular line up of programs as soon as I do just a little polishing.

I was very pleased this the Marengo Civil War Band this year. They added Old Dan Tucker to their line-up and have a good introduction tying to Laura each of the songs they play. They paired Old Dan Tucker with Maryland, My Maryland. I suggested they change it to Dakotaland, Sweet Dakotaland, since it’s the same tune.

They also have guided prairie walks and volunteers doing living history around the various places of the birthplace. I was sorry I didn’t get over to the school which they now let you walk into to do living history, a major innovation for the site. (Before even when giving a program you could only go in a couple of feet until you hit a plastic fence you weren’t allowed to go beyond.)

In addition, both the Hoover display (which I highly recommend) and the temporary display (the Hoover library excels in original temporary exhibits) were available. The temporary one this year, American Mysteries, Riddles, and Controversies features displays on the Kennedy and Lincoln Assassinations, Amelia Earhart’s disappearance, and even on the existence of Big Foot. It’s a great display and if you’ll be anywhere near I encourage you to make it over before the end of October. Afterall this is the only place you can see it and once it’s gone, it’s gone.

Sarah Uthoff

P.S. Tomorrow morning I’m leaving for Pepin.

Hoover Program

We’re nearing 10 years that I’ve been part of the annual Labor Day Program at the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library, Laura Ingalls Wilder Remembered. For those of you unfamiliar with the program, it’s a free addition during their open hours on Labor Day. Each year I do a different program because many people come back more than once. In fact, it’s often my test ground for new programs. What works there I continue to develop into a regular offering. Such will be the case with this year’s program which focused on the landscape of each place Laura lived and her love for trees, nature, and conservation. I want to pull in more quotes from her pre-book writing and talk more about her work with the tree claim and the orchard, but this is a good start, it brought a good reaction and it’s going to be added to my regular line up of programs as soon as I do just a little polishing.

I was very pleased this the Marengo Civil War Band this year. They added Old Dan Tucker to their line-up and have a good introduction tying to Laura each of the songs they play. They paired Old Dan Tucker with Maryland, My Maryland. I suggested they change it to Dakotaland, Sweet Dakotaland, since it’s the same tune.

They also have guided prairie walks and volunteers doing living history around the various places of the birthplace. I was sorry I didn’t get over to the school which they now let you walk into to do living history, a major innovation for the site. (Before even when giving a program you could only go in a couple of feet until you hit a plastic fence you weren’t allowed to go beyond.)

In addition, both the Hoover display (which I highly recommend) and the temporary display (the Hoover library excels in original temporary exhibits) were available. The temporary one this year, American Mysteries, Riddles, and Controversies features displays on the Kennedy and Lincoln Assassinations, Amelia Earhart’s disappearance, and even on the existence of Big Foot. It’s a great display and if you’ll be anywhere near I encourage you to make it over before the end of October. Afterall this is the only place you can see it and once it’s gone, it’s gone.

Sarah Uthoff

P.S. Tomorrow morning I’m leaving for Pepin.