- Mormon Handcart Pageant to be presented July 25-28th
|
By Myrna Trauntvein
Times-News Correspondent
The Mormon Handcart Pageant is currently in it’s fifth season of re-enacting the struggles, triumphs, and heroic rescue of the Martin and Willie Handcart Companies of 1856.
The theatrical re-enactment, dedicated to the Martin and Willie Handcart Companies of 1856 and their Rescuers, both past and present, will be held July 25-28, 2007 at the Juab County Fairgrounds Outdoor Arena, 350 West Center Street, Nephi, UT (the same location as previous years).
Admission is free.
Pre-pageant activities start at 6:30 p.m. and the actual pageant starts at “dusk” (9:15 p.m.)
More information can also be obtained by calling the “Pageant Hotline” at (435) 623-0196.
“And now, at the end of season five the pageant has been performed for an estimated seventy-two thousand souls,” said Brent Boswell, Author/Director.
“We invite each of you to come to the pageant and feel what is there to be felt, then gather the rest of your friends and family and come again.”
Pre-pageant activities, including the Pioneer Supper, concession stand, live entertainment, and the pioneer history fair will begin each evening at 6:30.
“The craft fair for the 2007 season has been canceled as we do not have a person to be in charge,” he said.
The craft fair will be replaced by a larger Handcart History Fair that will take place in the small building adjacent to the Pioneer Supper Hall. Many of the history fair activities will also take place outside.
“We are adding a series of theatrical handcart pioneer readings and some ‘hands on’ activities for the children. The pioneer art exhibit/sale will still take place as before”Boswell said.
Those who are interested in entering a history fair display, should please call Dee Sparks at (801) 756-6965.
The pioneer supper will be held from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. nightly at the county fairgrounds multipurpose center. Adult meals will cost $9.00 and $6.00 will be charged for our friends 12 and under.
The menu will include: fresh mixed greens, home made ranch dressing; a cool watermelon slice; End of the Trail Baked Beans, Cook’ies Famous pulled BBQ chicken, corn cobbette with hot butter dip; Idaho Baked Potatoes with all the fixin’s, Mac and Cheese for young’uns of all ages, fresh baked dinner rolls, punch or water; Dixie Krisp—a delicious apple crisp with a rich butter sauce; raspberry sherbet—just like the pioneers would eat on the plains.
The meal is being prepared by JC Mickelsen’s and a portion of all proceeds go to support the Handcart Pageant.
“For reasons I do not completely understand, when you walk through the gates of Rock Creek Hollow along the Mormon Trail in Wyoming, you seem to naturally know to sweep your hat from your head. As you make your way forward, you come to a tiny fenced-in area with two stone markers, one large and the other small, but both built and dedicated to a people who lived and died a long time ago. Who were those people and what is their story? What exactly happened here that makes this place feel as if you are walking on sacred ground?,” said Boswell.
“It was these types of feelings and questions that became the foundation of what is now called The Mormon Handcart Pageant.”
“We are looking for names and contact information of anyone who is a descendant of one of the handcart companies of 1856, or their rescuers.
It would be wonderful to learn who you are and even put you in touch with others who share your same ancestor,” he said.
“There is a possibility that we could rope off a special section for the posterity of individual pioneers so you could meet and mingle at the pageant. Please contact us and let us know who you are, and what pioneer you are related to and we’ll take care of the rest.”
Contact the pageant at their hotline: (435) 623.0196; by e-mail: info@handcartpageant.com; or by writing to the mailing address: The Mormon Handcart Pageant, 25 West 600 North, Nephi, UT 84648.
If making a donation, please make checks payable to “The Mormon Handcart Pageant.”
|
