Pageant.
Each year overlooking the Ingalls homesite De Smet holds its pageant. As the sun begins to set, members of the cast entertain the children with games which is useful because many people have come early to get a good seat and there is not much to do until the play starts. There is something special about being in the actual place where these events happened seeing them being re-enacted with the huge prairie sky overhead and the seemingly constant warm prairie wind. The pageant tells the story of the Ingalls Family from their arrival by train and wagon until Laura's marriage. It appears that the publisher's of Laura's books didn't approve of the books being turned into a play so the pageant uses other documents to tell the story. This has worked in the pageant's favour because the new material gives the play a much more original feeling.
The play we saw was mimed by local actors to a recorded tape. This gets rid of the need for complicated sound equipment but leads to the inevitable problem associated with timing the actions to the speech and sound. The evening ended with an opportunity to meet the cast and take photographs. At this point the horizon was lit with constant, but distant flashes of lightening reminding us of the risk that is taken over the weather with outdoor plays. However on this occasion the weather was perfect. A 'Real Video' File showing a few seconds of the pageant can be downloaded HERE.
A 'Windows Media' File showing a few seconds of the pageant can be downloaded HERE.
Rocky Ridge Museum, Rocky Ridge House, Mansfield, Mansfield Cemetery
Kansas Prairie, Independence Kansas, Keystone South Dakota,
De Smet, Pa's Claim site, The Homestead, De Smet Cemetery, De Smet Pageant.
Tracy, Walnut Grove Museum, Plum Creek, Walnut Grove Pageant.
South Troy, Lake Pepin, Pepin Museum, Big Woods house.
Burr Oak, Ia., Vinton Iowa.
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