Taking The Family To Hill Cumorah

South Burlington, VT

On the evening after visiting Corning, we took the family to Palmyra, New York to see the Hill Cumorah Pageant.  I think it was a success,  each of them came away with memories of an experience that they'll remember forever.

Libby and I first saw the pageant more than 50 years ago.  We saw it again in 2011, when traveling on the Erie Canal.  This was our third time and we intended to share it with family.

Why would we do that?  It was not a religious experience for any of us.  Few people would have their religious views swayed by such a brief encounter.  Besides, the Mormons make no attempt to proselytize the audience.   On the other hand, the pageant is a cultural and historical event unique in the world.  It can be compared with the annual pilgramage to Mecca by Muslims.  But Mecca is far away and Palmyra is easly accesible in New York State.

There is even a bit of back door drama at the pageant because of the numerous protesters screaming hatred towards Mormons.  We would be shocked to see such overt display of hatred towards other minorities today.  It would be like witnessing a KKK rally.

Anyhow, most of my pictures didn't come out because of the low light levels.  Below are a few I picked up from the Internet.

The show is impressive technically.  The cast of 750 do their thing on a hill size 200 meters away from the audience.  Yet the visual and audio effects are so good, that one sees and hears very clearly.  The visual impact is spectacular.

Before the show, the cast mingles with the audience.  We met some very nice and very interesting people from the cast.  If you go to the pageant, go an hour early so that you can mingle with these people and talk with them.  It's very rewarding.

This woman is from Boulder, UT where Jen and I were in March.  Boulder is a beautiful, but tiny place.  She was surprised that we knew about it.