I love those names. I love getting email from people who have visited for the Laura Ingalls Wilder experience or who plan to visit. I’m so glad to see more people signing up for updates on the events at Wilder Days 2010. We set out to put the basic plan together early and now we have only the ‘catch-up’ things to do. The Committee wants to get to September 18 in fairly sane condition and I think they have every opportunity to do that.

Last year, we had the ground breaking for the Carl Mays memorial and this summer it is ready and in place. The dedication will be held on June 26 at the traditional annual freedom celebration. The monument is remarkable, using a huge upright slab of concrete with a baseball pitcher engraved on the side facing the highway. The pitcher is posed in a similar position as one of the photos of Mays.

The tickets for the raffle of the lawn tractor should be ‘on the streets’. If not by today, they will be shortly. They will be available at Mansfield businesses and through the Chamber of Commerce (417-924-3525).

Ozarks Mystique broke the news last week about the Husqvarna Lawn Tractor being given away on September 18, 2010 at the annual Wilder Days event in Mansfield,Missouri.

This week, the Wilder Days’ committee announced that raffle tickets for the lawn tractor are being printed and will be $5 each or 5 for $20.

The lawn tractor/mower can be seen ‘in person’ at the Mansfield Community Center.   Contact local businesses, such as Bank of Mansfield or Backdoor Video and the Mansfield Chamber of Commerce (417-924-3525) to get your tickets.  You need not be present to win.

Follow us on Twitter: http;//www.twitter.com/WilderDays

And Join us on Facebook:  http://www.facebook.com/WilderDaysMansfieldMO

Sandbags ready for the bedraces.

Someone spent the day clipping and snipping, then sewing fine quartz sand into bags for the Mansfield Freedom Celebration 2010 — June 26, 2010 and Wilder Days 2010, September 17-18, 2010.

The fine, white sand is first poured into bags made from an old sheet.  Then, the first bag was enclosed in a tightly sewn wrap of old jeans denim.  That double bag was slipped into a little ‘pillow case’ and is ready for the bed races.

A work day for the rest of the props is planned for May 8, 2010 at Engrave-A-Crete.

Plans are for the work day to begin early — 8:00 am.  If you can come, wear work clothes.  Things you could get paint on.

Someone said something about food.

Since I can’t be there, I spent today making the sandbags.

The Mansfield Chamber of Commerce which is the foundation for the Wilder Days Committee had a membership meeting on April 22.

The Weaver Inn hosted the event and served lunch. Besides a little good old networking, the agenda covered several community events that are upcoming and entertained a presentation by Darrel Adamson regarding the BedRaces event.

Several in the group committed to help construct the props needed to make this event fun for participants and the audience. There will be warm-ups on Friday evening, with the REAL race to be held on Saturday afternoon. If teams can only race one time, that is fine, but our sooper-dooper trophies will be reserved for the Saturday races.

The actual race ‘track’ won’t be very long because it will be held on the south side of the Town Square. In true furniture rodeo fashion, the competitors will be challenged by various time consuming road blocks which might include a marshmallow catch, hula-hoop twirl, bean bag toss and about 15 others that are being ‘cooked’ up by the committee.

The rules are still being edited for clarity. They’ve tried to cover safety, fairness and fun. We will have them posted on the website with links in as many places as we can think of as soon as they are ready.

We’re inviting racers from anywhere to bring their beds and have a good time.   Check out our Facebook Fan Page:  Wilder Days-Mansfield Be sure to follow us on Twitter:  Wilder Days

Music and entertainment from Laura’s country will be the focus of entertainment at Wilder Days on September 18, 2010.  The committee members who are in charge of reserving musicians are choosing talent from the ample local pool.  The intent is for visitors to have a chance to enjoy the same sort of talent that Laura Ingalls Wilder would have enjoyed at music parties in the neighborhood of Rocky Ridge Farm.

As we get confirmation of the specific bands or singers, we will post that information on the Website.

Keep making your plans to spend time visiting us in Mansfield for Wilder Days.

This week I had an email from a fan/follower/READER who pointed out an error on the dates I had listed for Wilder Days 2010.  I was so glad to hear from another reader and to have the dates pointed out so I could fix them.  I found at least one other one.

Sometimes these things happen when the pressure to get too many things done rises and everything becomes “Slam Bam, Who shot Sam?

Before I got the errors corrected, my Google alerts brought some blog posts from a freelance writer who had been in the center of an error storm of her own making.

That chained to a blog post at my other blog “Errors? | Mistakes? | Sloppy? Or Overload?” Plus, it gave me fodder for posts on the Facebook page and Twitter account for Wilder Days.  That all helps keep the universe aware of the goings on at Mansfield, Missouri as we plan for Wilder Days 2010.   As part of that ‘internet-verse, we welcome you to become a fan or a follower of us at Facebook and Twitter.

Wilder Days is looking for you everywhere.  Besides this website and lots of mention on other websites, we’ve moved into Twitter Country.  You can follow us easily by clicking on the link in the sidebar.

We would love to have you among the fans at the Fanpage on FaceBook.  Your picture or avatar would look smashing on that roster of members photos.  Just click on the Facebook widget and you will be taken right to our Fanpage.

Isn’t it just a wonder how far we’ve come in event promotion from the days of running off flyers on the school mimeograph machine!

The brochure for the 2010 performances of Laura’s Memories has been released and a copy has been posted on the sidebar for your convenience.  It is printer friendly in a pdf format that will open in the Adobe Reader that comes on computers.

(If you want the newest version of Adobe Reader, it is a free download at Adobe.com)

The Laura’s Memories website is going to see some updates in the next few weeks, as well.  This pageant features excellent, dedicated local talent from writers to actors who lead visitors through the tableau of Laura Ingalls Wilder and her family, ending with acknowledgment of the family’s commitment to Mansfield.

We’ve gone TECH — and we’re pursuing as many social media processes as we can.  We would love to have you join the fans on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.  You can click the links in the sidebar and do just that.

Sho-Me Your Wheels, the mechanical show which began at Wilder Days 2009 will be onsite again this year.

Plans are for the show to be held on Saturday, September 18, 2010, which will give exhibitors to show off their projects and also participate in the HUGE PARADE if they can.

Sho-Me Your Wheels is a MECHANICAL show — Cars, Motorcycles, Bicycles, Tractors, Trucks, Gas Engines, Pumps, Chain saws or whatever your mechanical restoration, preservation or beautification is.   We like ‘em all! Vintage, Antique, Souped-Up, Scale Models, Sportser-ized, Works-in-Progress.

The Wilder Days Committee set most of the other projects and events for 2010.  They will meet again in March, planning to have the schedule very nearly final by April.