"Little House" Cast Blasts Fired Event Organizer for Promoting Cancelled Events

[JamesG]

"Little House on the Prairie" Cast Blasts Fired Event Organizer who Continued to Market Cancelled Fan Events
by Matt Webb Mitovich
October 1, 2024


Melissa Gilbert, Karen Grassle and Alison Arngrim are among nearly 20 "Little House on the Prairie" stars who have called out a recently terminated promoter of fan gatherings for the beloved TV series for “taking advantage” of people by continuing to market cancelled events.

On Sept. 6, following what have been described as “poorly organized and executed events” in Connecticut and Pennsylvania, the cast declared on social media — and in a letter sent to promoter Jack Bishop — that they would “no longer support, promote, or appear at” events produced by Bishop and his company, Gravel Road Markets.

The cast’s letter instructed Bishop to “remove our names and likenesses from sales and marketing assets supporting any upcoming Little House on the Prairie 50th Anniversary events produced or promoted by Gravel Road Markets, LLC.” (Little House marked the 50th anniversary of its premiere on Sept. 11.)




Friendly Family Productions terminated Bishop’s "Little House on the Prairie" event license in early September, only to learn that just this past weekend, “many fans traveled to Keystone, S.D., to attend what Jack Bishop should have announced weeks ago as a canceled Little House on the Prairie 50th Anniversary Event.”

A similar mischaracterization impacted fans in Lyles, Tenn. over the weekend of September 13-15, and while Friendly Family Productions says that Bishop reportedly failed to announce the cancellation of other, upcoming "Little House" events (in Branson, Mo. and Corsicana, Texas), neither of those events are currently listed on the Gravel Road Markets site.

Similarly, whereas Eventbrite reportedly had tickets to Gravel Road Markets’ upcoming Little House events listed as “Sold Out,” they now are properly labeled “Cancelled.”




Friendly Family Productions encourages "Little House" event ticketholders to seek clarification from Eventbrite on the status of purchased tickets to cancelled events, and to “continue requesting refunds from both Eventbrite and their credit card companies” as warranted.

https://tvline.com/news/little-house...ed-1235345445/

[JamesG]

Melissa Gilbert Slams "Appalling" Little House on the Prairie Reunion Events
by Wesley Stenzel
October 5, 2024


Melissa Gilbert has strong feelings about some controversial "Little House on the Prairie" reunion events that took place this year.

The cast of the beloved period drama recently announced that they would no longer support or appear at fan events produced by Jack Bishop and Gravel Road Markets, and now Gilbert, who played writer Laura Ingalls Wilder on the series, is tearing into the allegedly mismanaged events.



"From what I understand, it became a waking nightmare," Gilbert said of an event in Pennsylvania in a new interview with PEOPLE. "They ran [out of] food. He oversold tickets. He didn't pay the vendors."

Gilbert said that the events were "a shocking affront to the fans of Little House on the Prairie," adding, "If I were the owner of the IP, I would be infuriated because I think it really sheds a terrible light on the brand."

https://ew.com/melissa-gilbert-slams...unions-8723898