American Fork Heritage and History Pageant
Do you have plans this weekend? Drop them! It's time once again for the annual Heritage and History Pageant at the cemetery, truly one of American Fork's best things.
My out-of-town readers, both of them, will not understand why the event of the year takes place at the cemetery. That's because their cemeteries are not as nice as ours.
Our cemetery itself is a work of art, with its depression-era stone wall, its many fitting memorials, its shady trees and panoramic vistas. This makes it the loveliest of places to pass a summertime evening. The evening is much less a pageant than a social, with many small vignettes staged here and there throughout the cemetery, often staged near the graves of those whom they portray. Guests spend the evening wandering from story to story, pausing now and then to watch craftsmen at work, sample some local ice cream or watermelon, even take a ride in a horse-drawn carriage.
Written and produced by our own friends and neighbors, who often portray their own ancestors, the vignettes will educate, entertain, and astonish you with their ability to bring history to life.
Truly, this is one of American Fork's best things. You only get three chances to see it this year, so mark your calendars now for July 31, August 2 or 3. The evening starts at 6 pm and continues until sundown. Bring the whole family!
American Fork Cemetery
26 West 600 North
Web page here: American Fork Cemetery
Sneak preview here: Don't Forget to Check Out My Hat!
My out-of-town readers, both of them, will not understand why the event of the year takes place at the cemetery. That's because their cemeteries are not as nice as ours.
Our cemetery itself is a work of art, with its depression-era stone wall, its many fitting memorials, its shady trees and panoramic vistas. This makes it the loveliest of places to pass a summertime evening. The evening is much less a pageant than a social, with many small vignettes staged here and there throughout the cemetery, often staged near the graves of those whom they portray. Guests spend the evening wandering from story to story, pausing now and then to watch craftsmen at work, sample some local ice cream or watermelon, even take a ride in a horse-drawn carriage.
Written and produced by our own friends and neighbors, who often portray their own ancestors, the vignettes will educate, entertain, and astonish you with their ability to bring history to life.
Truly, this is one of American Fork's best things. You only get three chances to see it this year, so mark your calendars now for July 31, August 2 or 3. The evening starts at 6 pm and continues until sundown. Bring the whole family!
American Fork Cemetery
26 West 600 North
Web page here: American Fork Cemetery
Sneak preview here: Don't Forget to Check Out My Hat!
posted by Heidi Rodeback at
9:18 PM
2 Comments:
There are many who do not wish to have a social atmosphere upon their hallowed ground. Did you ever consider those who do not approve?
I appreciate your reverence for what you so rightly call hallowed ground. I also appreciate your sense that carriage rides, ice cream, and the like detract from the spirit of reverence that should prevail.
But "reverence is more than just quietly sitting," as the song goes, and when I took your comment to some of the organizers and participants last night, they told me that reverence is the whole point of this activity. To put it in the words of Myrtle Robinson Seastrand,a devoted Daughter of the Utah Pioneers who passed away in 1973 and who was portrayed last night, "We don't build these monuments just for something to do, but so that our children and grandchildren will know and remember their heritage." In fact, Mrs. Seastrand's own descendants were in attendance and expressed their warmth and gratitude for the portrayal that preserved the honor and memory of their beloved mother and grandmother.
The organizers also told me they take great care not to disrupt the headstones, and to keep the more social activities on other ground.
Nevertheless, your concern for hallowed ground is a valid and well-stated point and certainly one for us all to bear in mind.
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home