Museum will re-open in May 2025
"Something magical is about to happen"
PrancerPalooza coming to Three Oaks December 14!
35 years after the Three Oaks area provided the charming setting for the filming of Prancer, some of the film's stars will come back to town for PrancerPalooza. Rebecca Harrell, who played Jessica Riggs, the little girl at the heart of the movie, has confirmed that she'll attend the celebration being planned by the museum, the Village of Three Oaks, and the Downtown Development Authority.
The film's director, John Hancock (still an area resident) and Rutanya Alda (Jessica's Aunt Sarah) also plan to be on hand for a full day of festivities on Saturday, December 14th.
Sam Elliott (John Riggs) had planned to attend but is no longer able to come, due to an unexpected professional commitment. Mark Rolston (Herb Drier) also planned to attend, but had to drop out after a hiking injury that required surgery.
There will be plenty of festive events on tap on both December 14th and 15th, when the PrancerPalooza focus shifts to LaPorte, Indiana, which was also the filming sites of some scenes in Prancer.
The lineup of events in Three Oaks on December 14th is as follows:
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Screenings of the film are planned at the Vickers Theatre at 10 AM,1 PM and 6 PM (all times Eastern Standard). Each showing will be followed by a panel discussion featuring Hancock and the actors, answering audience questions and looking back on the experience of shooting a major motion picture in the Three Oaks area. Currently, these screenings are sold out, though more tickets could become available. Check ticket availability at vickerstheatre.com).
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At 4 PM, the Prancer celebrities will travel in sleighs through the streets of Three Oaks in a holiday-themed parade, featuring carolers, local folks who appeared as extras in the movie, and a gaggle of "rein-dogs" (maybe even a rein-llama!)wearing antlers.
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The museum will display the scale model of Three Oaks village used in the film's final scene, when the audience gets a "Santa's-eye" view of town. The restored model will be on view at Three Oaks Heritage Hall (8 E. Linden Street), along with several other Prancer-related artifacts. Don Bowman, who created the model, may drop by to talk about how he did it.
The museum will also be selling Prancer-related memorabilia, including the latest edition of Michigan History magazine, which features Three Oaks and its stint as a movie set on the cover. You can also purchase Prancer gift packs-- DVDs of both the movie and the museum's documentary about the filming of Prancer in 1989. The documentary will also be available on a hard drive.
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A photo op featuring a life-size blow-mold reindeer will be set up in a courtyard next to Drier's Butcher Shop (14 S. Elm Street). It'll be a great place for holiday photos with loved ones or pets, with both the reindeer and an assortment of decorated Christmas trees serving as a background. Christmas trees will be for sale on site, and holiday carolers will provide festive musical accompaniment.
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Downtown merchants will offer special bargains, hot drinks, and other treats throughout the day. Three Oaks restaurants will offer a great variety of food and beverage.
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Fliers mapping out a self-guided tour of Prancer filming sites will be available online (click HERE) and at local businesses, for those who want to check out parts of the area featured in the heartwarming reindeer-rescue story.
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A Prancer Walk of Fame will be set up along Elm Street, paying tribute to those who helped create cinematic holiday magic in the village in 1989, including late cast members Cloris Leachman, Abe Vigoda, and Michael Constantine.
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PrancerPalooza souvenirs (t-shirts, mugs, coasters) will be available at the Vickers Theatre (3 North Elm) at Drier's Meat Market (14 South Elm), and at Three Oaks Heritage Hall (8 East Linden St.).
On Sunday, December 15, LaPorte IN will host PrancerPalooza events, including a mass screening for as many as 1500 guests. Check laportecivicauditorium.com for details. Keep in mind, LaPorte events will take place on Central Standard Time.
Monitor our website for the latest Three Oaks schedules and events!
TROTOM VP presents the story of "The Sandburgs and the Nisei"
at statewide history conference.
History buffs from across the state of Michigan heard a remarkable tale of wartime Harbert at the annual conference of the Historical Society of Michigan in late September.
TROTOM Vice President Nick Bogert presented a 45-minute program on how famed poet Carl Sandburg and his wife Paula took in two young Japanese-Americans who had been detained by the government under rules later declared unconstitutional by the US Supreme Court. Sunao Imoto and Kaye Miyamoto left detention centers where their families were being held and lived with the Sandburgs in the early 1940s, helping Carl Sandburg as he wrote his massive biography of Abraham Lincoln and also tending Paula Sandburg's prize-winning goat herd.
Bogert had presented a similar program on this little-known chapter of Harbert history in June at the Chikaming Township Hall as part of TROTOM's summer lecture series.
Remembering Harold Russell
TROTOM lost an avid supporter and guiding force this summer with the passing of Harold Russell. Harold was a seminal player in the effort to revive a history museum in Three Oaks, motivated in part by fond boyhood memories of visiting the Chamberlain Museum, which closed down in the1950s.
Harold's love of local history and his skills as a lawyer were quite valuable to the effort to bring a museum back to the Three Oaks area in the early 2000s, and he served as a TROTOM board member for almost two decades. Our condolences go out to his wife Margo and Harold's family.
Prancer Self-Guided Tour HERE
