Every week on Prairie Home, Garrison tells the news of Lake Wobegon; a small Minnesotan town where “all the women are strong, all the men are good looking, and all the children are above average.” Wikipedia labels it a fictional town, while strangely adding: “said to be the boyhood home of Garrison Keillor.”
As an adult, Garrison has lived in New York and St. Paul – neither place small. How do you bring a small town to life every week without living in one?
One thing he did was call in help. Holly Harden. A writer who lives in a small town, a Lake Wobegon-type town of ice fishing, loon calls and Midwestern values. Each week she sent concrete details of life there, allowing Garrison to set his tales in proper time.
From her notes in early June 2016:
“The cottonwood fuzz is floating about now, blowing everywhere like a light springtime snow, drifting against the curbs.”
“There’s a solar farm going up a mile out of town and it’s causing a lot of controversy.”
“Vacation Bible School starts next week. Seventeen kids are enrolled and the teachers are doing some decorating.”
“The school secretary is at her wit’s end. Parents are calling about grades. The supply room is out of paper clips. The lost and found box is overflowing. Someone threw up in the teacher’s bathroom. There is a tornado drill scheduled for Monday morning. One of the cooks is out with whatever chest thing is going around. It’s a kind of chaos, a hot mess.”
by Katy Sewall
