The Ingalls family, played by Piper Manthei, Jennie Clapp, Tyler Edwards, Kalisa Jaimes and Raelynn Mattison, posed for a photo by a covered wagon at the set of the Laura Ingalls Wilder Pageant in Walnut Grove. This year’s pageant covers some of the earlier events during the Ingalls’ time in Walnut Grove in the 1870s, starting with their arrival at a dugout home near Walnut Grove.

WALNUT GROVE — It’s a story readers have loved for generations. But the cast and crew of the Laura Ingalls Wilder Pageant are always bringing something new to the story of the Ingalls family’s life in Walnut Grove in the 1870s.

“Every year is a new year,” said director Erin Altmann. Audiences can look forward to seeing some new performances and scenes at this year’s show.

Pageant rehearsals and set construction are both gearing up toward the start of performances on July 11.

“This is our first week doing full acts (in rehearsal),” Altmann said. “There are a few new scenes, so people are getting used to having new scenes there.”

Pageant performances will be July 11-12, July 18-19 and July 25-26 in Walnut Grove.

This year’s pageant, “Faith in the Dream,” is the first episode in a new series of three productions retelling the Ingalls family’s experiences living in Walnut Grove. Performances of the new Fragments of a Dream trilogy actually started with the Episode Two, which premiered in 2023. It was followed by Episode Three last year.

“Faith in the Dream” starts with the Ingalls family’s arrival near Walnut Grove, where they move into a dugout house, and survive blizzards and a prairie fire. The pageant follows the Ingalls’ history up to when their new house is built near Plum Creek, said Bill Richards, one of the pageant organizers.

“Some of it goes back to the original production in 1978,” Richards said. Some of the events in the pageant may be familiar to people who have read Laura Ingalls Wilder’s book “On the Banks of Plum Creek,” he said.

“We go a little beyond the end of that book,” Richards said. While Wilder based the “Little House” books on her own life, the events in the story weren’t all in chronological order, he said.

Altmann said one new scene in this year’s pageant is one where Pa Ingalls is caught in a blizzard. Pa is able to return home, and tells the story of how he survived by eating the Christmas candy he had planned on bringing back to the family.

Adding the blizzard scene meant the crew needed to build a new set piece for the pageant, Richards said.

“The scene will take place, for the most part, inside the dugout,” he said. So the pageant needed a new mobile set for the house’s interior. “We’ve been working on that for about a year and a half,” Richards said.

Altmann said it’s fun working with the pageant cast. “I love to see who comes back year after year,” she said. “And it’s always fun to see people become their characters.”

Some of this year’s cast are making their debut in the pageant, Altmann said. “Our Laura is coming from Tyler, and it’s her first time in it.”

In addition to the show, community members will be holding some new events in Walnut Grove on Saturdays during pageant weekends. The Walnut Grove Village Fair will include live music, pageant skits, historical demonstrations and more. The Village Fair will also be bringing back bus tours, where visitors can learn more about Walnut Grove’s history.

On July 19, Walnut Grove will celebrate Hometown Day, with additional attractions like a bouncy house, and activities like archery and axe throwing.

More information about the pageant, including ticket sales, and information about the Walnut Grove Village Fair can be found online at walnutgrove.org.