This first production played to standing room only crowds in the sweltering summer heat in the Walnut Grove School auditorium. The following summer the pageant moved to its permanent home on the banks of Plum Creek, one mile west of Walnut Grove. The outdoor amphitheater was developed to allow for improved lighting, sound, special effects, and imaginative sets. Director Ross Alford, with assistance from technical director Bill Richards, transformed the successful play into an outdoor pageant. Throughout the years the production has gone through many changes.
Research continues to authenticate the story and characters.
Script revisions have been made by former directors Ross Alford, Bill Richards, Deb Kuehl, and Todd Snyder. They were aided by author William T. Anderson and writer and actor Mark Rosenwinkel. Originally the script focused on the Ingalls' family life as seen through the eyes of Caroline Ingalls, Laura's mother. The 1994 production turned the focus toward Laura Ingalls Wilder and her recollections of life in Walnut Grove when she was a child during the 1870's. It is the hope of the Wilder Pageant Committee that visitors will take with them a sense of history and a deeper appreciation of the joys and hardships that challenged our ancestors when settling the prairie.