In the hill country of Wisconsin, where the Mississippi River swells into the wide blue sheet of Lake Pepin, sits the village of Pepin, which has built its identity around a little girl born nearby more than a century and a half ago. Every September, the village transforms into a living page from a beloved childhood book, and for two full days its main park fills with fiddlers, tomahawk throwers, spelling-bee champions, pie-eaters, and thousands of pilgrims who have come to honor Laura Ingalls Wilder.
Laura Days, officially the Laura Ingalls Wilder Days, returns to Pepin's Laura Ingalls Wilder Park on September 12 and 13 in 2026, marking the festival's thirty-fifth year. The event began in 1991, the creation of a small group of local volunteers who first organized it as a committee under the village government and have kept it thriving ever since, supported by donations and grants rather than deep corporate pockets. In recent years the organizing group loaded up its wagon and made what its own website playfully calls the short trip across town, moving under the banner of the Pepin Peppies Community Club, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit whose mission is to connect neighbors across generations through projects and outreach. Admission has always been free, a decision that keeps the weekend as welcoming and down-to-earth as the frontier stories that inspired it.
The setting is inseparable from the story. Pepin sits at the foot of Lake Pepin, and Laura's own first book, Little House in the Big Woods, tells of her early childhood days in this area. The festival grounds occupy Laura Ingalls Wilder Park at 806 Third Street, on Highway 35, where the village's restored railroad depot now stands as a museum of the river-and-rail era, preserved by citizens in the 1980s when the building was scheduled for demolition. In the village, the Laura Ingalls Wilder Museum shares her story with visitors.
Yet the emotional heart of the weekend lies seven miles north of town on County Road CC, at the Little House Wayside, where a reconstructed cabin marks the site of Laura's birthplace. The cabin is surrounded by a park and picnic area, offering a quiet place for visitors to reflect on the pioneer childhood she wrote about.
Everything about the weekend itself is built to feel like stepping into the 1870s. The schedule unfolds like pages from a pioneer almanac. Early Saturday morning, runners line up for a 5K race; later, the festival's fiddlers take the main stage for Pa's Fiddle Showcase. Between fiddle sets, crafters demonstrate traditional hand skills, and contestants test themselves at flint-and-steel fire starting and tomahawk throwing.
The children take center stage as well. The festival hosts the Laura Contest, a spelling bee, a reading marathon, and appearances by an actor portraying Mary Ingalls, Laura's older sister. There are petting zoos, barrel train rides, kids' games, and a Hunt-and-Punch activity scattered through the park. Sunday brings a pancake breakfast in the school cafeteria, a pie-eating contest, and the beloved Grand Parade rolling down the village streets. Throughout both days, Laura's Vittles booth keeps visitors fed on what the festival affectionately calls vittles, and craft and food vendors line the grounds. When the sun goes down Saturday, square dancing with local caller Myron Hollatz and a late music jam keep the pioneer spirit alive into the evening.
The festival is a testament to what a small, dedicated community can build around its most famous native daughter. For thirty-five years it has been run by volunteers, evolving each September while clinging to its roots in celebrating Wilder's writing and life. The weekend offers stage entertainment, music, contests, traditional crafts, food, kids' activities, and more, all free and open to anyone with a love for the stories that began here. Somewhere between the fiddle contest and the tomahawk throw, between the spellers and the little girls in calico who have read every page, the weekend manages the rare trick of making a 160-year-old memoir feel like living history. For two September days, the big woods still hum with Pa's music, and Pepin once again becomes the place where Laura's story begins.