The City of Joseph Pageant will be held
July
30-31, and August 3-7 for a final time!
8:30
PM
Admission
is free!
“CITY OF JOSEPH” POPULAR
OUTDOOR PAGEANT RETURNS For
its Final Year !!
Nauvoo, Illinois–This year will be especially
significant for the City of Joseph Pageant. The story is one that
tells, through song and dance, the history of early Latter-day Saints
living in Nauvoo between 1839 and 1846. This will be the final
year and will be the best ever.
Five years ago, the entire focus of the City of Joseph pageant changed entirely. Prior to that time, it primarily dealt with the life of Joseph Smith, the Mormon Prophet, and the early Latter-day Saint pioneers who resided in Nauvoo. Now its centerpiece is “the Temple,” which truly was a focal point of LDS theology – then as now. Temples are not simply houses of worship. They become the spiritual bridges between this mortal life and the eternities to come, because of the teachings received and the spiritual ordinances performed within their walls. The building of the Nauvoo Temple between 1841 and 1846 required indescribable sacrifice. In turn, the faith and courage developed in Nauvoo made it possible for those early pioneers to survive and even flourish during the westward trek to the Salt Lake Valley.
The City of Joseph Pageant 2003 will consist of almost 600 cast and crew members from approximately 32 states and foreign countries. Participants come as families, paying their own expenses, living for 2½ weeks in tents, campers or RVs. Some stay in cabins, while others are housed at the Joseph Smith Academy dorms or in local hotels. The Pageant experience is grueling, to be certain, with participants rehearsing all day in very hot and humid conditions. But many families come back again and again, saying the the “City of Joseph is the greatest family experience we've ever had.”
The cast consist of about 480 people on
stage and approximately 80 staff,
tech and security. There is a great feeling of
excitement, as always, as the date
moves ever nearer.
The temple prop, added four years ago, has
been redone to give the temple a
better perspective and make the visual
impact more reminiscent of the actual
temple which was recently rebuilt. I
As always, NRI, the organization that oversees
the work of the Nauvoo
historical sights, is a great support to
the pageant and under the direction
of Elder Hollingsworth, has been a great
help this year in preparing for
what may prove to be again a great pageant.
Nauvoo Internet News,
28 June 2004
Copyright 2004 Fred Coté, all rights reserved