He lives in New Auburn in rural northwestern Wisconsin with his wife and two daughters. He continues to serve on the local volunteer fire and rescue service and is an intermittent pig farmer. Raised on a small Midwestern dairy farm, Perry put himself through nursing school while working on a ranch in Wyoming, then wound up writing by happy accident.

His other bestselling memoirs include “Truck: A Love Story,” “Coop,” and “Visiting Tom,” “The Scavengers,” and “The Jesus Cow.” His most recent, 'Montaigne in Barn Boots,' hit bookshelves in November. People can’t seem to get enough of the humorist’s home-grown yarn spinning about life and the strength of a Midwest community. Perry is no stranger to Lake Country, nor the OAC stage. Carey and Bon Iver), the show made its debut in August 2016 under the Lake Superior Big Top Chautauqua tent near Bayfield. 27.īased on Perry’s popular book, “Population: 485,” the stage version picks up when Perry, who stars as the show’s narrator, returns to his childhood town of New Auburn in rural northwest Wisconsin and joins the volunteer fire and rescue department.ĭirected by Jake Lindgren and featuring original music by Sean Carey (of S. Tracing his calls on a map in the little firehouse, he sees 'a dense, benevolent web, spun one frantic zigzag at a time' from which the story of a tiny town emerges.New York Times best-selling author and master storyteller Michael Perry returns to the Oconomowoc Arts Center’s Main Stage with his new play, “Population: 485 – Meeting Your Neighbors One Alarm at a Time,” at 7:30 p.m. Against a backdrop of fires and tangled wrecks, bar fights and smelt feeds, he tells a frequently comic tale leavened with moments of heartbreaking delicacy and searing tragedy. Unable to polka or repair his own pickup, his farm-boy hands gone soft after years of writing, Mike figures the best way to regain his credibility is to join the volunteer fire department. He grew up here, and now-after a decade away-he has returned. Welcome to New Auburn, Wisconsin (population: 485) where the local vigilante is a farmer's wife armed with a pistol and a Bible, the most senior member of the volunteer fire department is a cross-eyed butcher with one kidney and two ex-wives (both of whom work at the only gas station in town), and the back roads are haunted by the ghosts of children and farmers. Mike Perry's extraordinary and thoughtful account of meeting the people of his small hometown by joining the fire and rescue team was a breakout hit that 'swells with unadorned heroism' ( USA Today ) We ship in recyclable American-made mailers.

Title: Population: 485: Meeting Your Neighbors One Siren at a TimeĬlean, unmarked copy with some edge wear.

Population 485 book