Little House on the Prairie Cast Blasts Fired Event Organizer Who Continued to Market Canceled Fan Events

This is one commotion you can’t blame on that Nellie Oleson.

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 canceled events.

On Sept. 6, following what have been described as “poorly organized and executed events” in Connecticut and Pennsylvania, the Little House on the Prairie 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, SD, 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 canceled events, and to “continue requesting refunds from both Eventbrite and their credit card companies” as warranted.

TVLine has reached out to both Gravel Road Markets and Eventbrite for comment.