Laurens, Iowa is the community where the movie "the Straight story" was filmed in 1998. The streets, roads and home where the picture was filmed are here for you to visit and enjoy.  See where Richard Farnsworth and Sissy Spacek re-enacted Alvin Straight's trip on a lawn mower to visit his ill brother in Wisconsin.                                                             
        Come tour the Laurens community.  See the Straight house. Sit on the actual lawn mower that Alvin Straight drove on his odyssey.                                    
              Let your journey begin in Laurens.

The Final Chapter

In July of 1996 Alvin started a mower trip to Idaho.  Near the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota, about 400 miles from Laurens, he was found in his pull trailer suffering from dehydration and severe sunburn.  He never fully recovered from this, later suffering a stroke.  He passed away November 9, 1996 at a Sioux City, Iowa hospital.  He was survived by a brother, five sons, and two daughters.

For more local information call

the LAURENS SUN Newspaper

712-841-4541