Laura Ingalls Wilder Days

I live in the birthplace of Laura Ingalls Wilder, and this weekend is our Laura Days celebration. We’ll have 3000-4000 people come through here, and that’s pretty good for a festival that doesn’t serve beer!

When I was 10 I read the “Laura books”, as they are called. It’s a series of books written about pioneer life on the prairie. The most well-known television series was called “Little House on the Prairie”, named after one of the books. I live in Pepin, Wisconsin, home of “Little House in the Big Woods”.

(picture at right courtesy of Midge Bolt)

My Grandma Anderson was born in a sod hut in North Dakota, and never read a book in English until she was 70, when I was 10 and introduced her to the Laura books. We read them together, and I remember that time in my life with great affection.

When I started my first company I needed to come up with a name. Anderson Consulting was taken at the time (who’d want it now?) and BMA Consulting was just too boring. Then I remembered the Laura books, and since my favorite color at the time was purple, Plum Creek Consulting it was. When I say my company name in front of women of a certain age, 95% get the connection immediately. Men, maybe 30%.

And everyone in my village thinks it’s amazing that I named my company Plum Creek and then ended up making this my home. I think it’s pretty amazing too! Stop by sometime, if only virtually. www.pepinwisconsin.com. Check out the photo albums - I have this thing about taking sunset photos from my sailboat.