1988 Independence Pageant Story

Saturday, July 2, 1988
LDS Church News

PAGEANT DEPICTS SAINTS’ STRUGGLES

Suffering from the effects of a drought, residents here perhaps found the pageant at the Independence Visitors Center especially meaningful this year, as it dramatizes the hardships of frontier life in western Missouri during the 1830s
    The pageant, “A Frontier Story, 1833,” was presented in three performances June 23-25 on the hillside behind the visitors center. Despite stifling heat, an estimated 6,000 people saw the pageant, reported Elder Robert Blodgett, a public communications missionary in the Missouri Independence Mission.Each evening for three hours prior to the pageant, visitors attended a Frontier Fair, a living display of artisans in pioneer dress using authentic methods and tools of frontier Missourians in the 1830s. The fair was held in a portion of the set used for the pageant.
    About 300 cast members, mostly from the Independence, Kansas City. Liberty and Olathe stakes, acted out the fictionalized drama based on actual events experienced by 19^th Century Latter-day Saints. The story is told from the perspective of two woman, one Mormon and one non-Mormon, who become friends in the midst of turmoil between Latter-day Saints and other settlers in Missouri, according to pageant director Cheryl Blasnek.
    The production is enhanced by the use of live animals and special effects to depict such action as thunder and lightning, and the burning of Mormon homes by a mob.
    This is the second year the Frontier Fair has been held. It was expanded from last year’s event and involved about 45 participants, including some who are not Church members, according to fair coordinator Coleen McLain.
    Displays included candle making, basket weaving, chair caning, spinning, weaving and log bench and shingle making. Groups and individuals from the community performed international folk and square dances, told stories, and gave musical performances on banjo, guitar, harmonica and hammered dulcimer.

   Fair spectators were given free gingerbread cookies and apple cider. They also received a program containing interesting facts about the frontier and Mormon pioneers, along with recipes for gingerbread cookies, old-fashioned soda crackers, old time remedies, and homemade hand or laundry soap.
    Elder Blodgett said about 15 pageant-goers filled out cards and checked a box indicating they would like more information about the Church. He said many missionaries rought investigators to see the pageant.
    The event was well publicized by local news media, with two front-page stories in the Independence Examiner, and an article in the Kansas City Star, Elder Blodgett said.