75 years of Oz in town that gave us Judy, but lost Ruby Slippers

courtesy Judy Garland Museum, Grand Rapids, Minnesota

courtesy Judy Garland Museum, Grand Rapids, Minnesota

Starting Tuesday, June 10 and running until Sunday, June 15, Judy Garland’s northern Minnesota hometown of Grand Rapids, Minnesota, will celebrate the 75th anniversary of “The Wizard of Oz” with films, family events and entertainment.

The 1939 picture based on L. Frank Baum’s fantastical novel (itself a thinly-veiled satire of late 19th Century American politics) is a touchstone Hollywood movie that people have enjoyed for at least four generations. Grand Rapids used to host the “Judy Garland Festival” but has renamed the reincarnated event the “Wizard of Oz Festival” for the movie in honor of the special anniversary year.

Grand Rapids, Minnesota, holds more than just the Garland childhood story (Garland, nee Frances Gumm, was the youngest of a vaudeville family that owned a theater in Grand Rapids for several years.) It’s also the place where one of the pairs of the iconic “Ruby Slippers” from the actual motion picture were stolen in 2005. This ongoing mystery persists not only in Grand Rapids, but across the legions of Judy Garland fandom, where the ruby slippers are more than a prop: they’re a promise.

You can read the surprisingly long list of interesting events at the Judy Garland Museum’s website. The Wizard of Oz Festival includes movie screenings, kids events, a panel discussion on the missing ruby slippers, a Guinness World Record attempt for most people wearing Wizard of Oz costumes, new exhibits at the museum, even a Toto dog talent show.

The Gumm Sisters were an act in their parents' Grand Rapids, MN-based Vaudeville show. The youngest, Frances, would go on to become Judy Garland, star of the "Wizard of Oz." PHOTO courtesy Judy Garland Museum.

The Gumm Sisters were an act in their parents’ Grand Rapids, MN-based Vaudeville show. The youngest, Frances, would go on to become Judy Garland, star of the “Wizard of Oz.” PHOTO courtesy Judy Garland Museum.

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