Pam Wilson asks about fan/tourist connections--
 
Here in southern Minnesota, we grab our tourism dollars where we can.
On the literary scene, Mankato is the home of children's author Maud Hart
Lovelace and the setting of her "Betsy, Tacy and Tib" books, which are
still fairly popular.  There is a mini-tourist industry associated with
her (I get to watch the tour groups walk past my house).
 
On the literary/tv front, a portion of US Highway 14 was just designated
the Laura Ingalls Wilder Trail, since it stretches west from Mankato and
through other towns mentioned in the LITTLE HOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE books and
tv show.  The town of Blooming Grove does an annual festival about the
Wilders called Fragments of a Dream.
 
(And then there's the Hiawatha pageant in Pipestone, MN, if that's not going
too far off the track).
 
--Don Larsson, Mankato State U., MN