Nauvoo Pageant

We've been in Iowa for 3 years now and we FINALLY made it to the Nauvoo Pageant. We drove down late yesterday afternoon and managed to do some Temple work and see the pageant. We had a lot of fun, but we were dead tired when we got home at 12:30 am this morning.
There were many activities for everyone to do before the show started. There was stickball, tug-of-war, relay and sack races, handcart pull, graces and hoops, horseshoes, log saw and branding, stick pull, stilt walking, stick and hoop, dancing, and games (like checkers).

The best part of the festivities...watching these guys playing the bagpipes. They were amazing.

As the sun was setting over the Mississippi, we decided that we needed to go get in our seats for the show. According to the Nauvoo Neighbor (the program for the pageant that looks like the old Nauvoo Neighbor newspaper) the production features a cast of 20 performers who deliver their lines on live microphones, and a volunteer family cast of 150 playing ensemble roles. The pageant depicts the settling of Nauvoo in the mid-1800s; commemorates the building of the original Nauvoo Temple; and celebrates the themes of faith, family, and community.


The stage was magnificent and the actors superb. They did such an amazing job with reenacting what took place in Navuoo over 150 years ago. It was a very touching and wonderful experience. I encourage everyone to go see the show.


The best part was at the very end. Over the loud speaker there was a voice recording of President Gordon B. Hinckley that tied in perfectly with the pageant finale. "Today, facing west, on the high bluff overlooking the city of Nauvoo, thence across the Mississippi, and over the plains of Iowa, there stands Joseph’s temple, a magnificent house of God. Here in the Salt Lake Valley, facing east to that beautiful temple in Nauvoo, stands Brigham’s temple, the Salt Lake Temple. They look toward one another as bookends between which there are volumes that speak of the suffering, the sorrow, the sacrifice, even the deaths of thousands who made the long journey from the Mississippi River to the valley of the Great Salt Lake." Gordon B. Hinckley, “‘O That I Were an Angel, and Could Have the Wish of Mine Heart’,” Ensign, Nov 2002

Gordon B. Hinckley picture courtesty of google images: http://www.ksl.com/emedia/slc/1/143/14399.jpg
Salt Lake Temple picture courtesy of google images: http://www.sacred-destinations.com/usa/images/utah/salt-lake-temple/resized/salt-lake-city-salt-lake-temple-wc-gfdl.jpg
Navuoo Temple picture courtesy of google images: http://www.mormonwiki.com/wiki/images/d/da/Nauvoo_Temple.jpg