'Celebration at Harmony'
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SCRANTON, Pa. — Approximately 800 people gathered near the banks of the Susquehanna River on June 28 to participate in the third annual "Celebration at Harmony."
The Scranton Pennsylvania Stake organizes the event each year to commemorate the significant events in Church history that took place in the area once known as Harmony, Pa. Here, most of the Book of Mormon was translated by Joseph Smith when he and his wife, Emma, lived here in the late 1820s.
Other historical events here include the restoration of the Aaronic Priesthood by John the Baptist to Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery, as well as the Isaac Hale homestead and the privately owned McCune cemetery where Emma's parents and their first child, Alvin, were buried.
This year's commemoration included youth service projects, a communitywide barbecue sponsored by the Susquehanna Volunteer Fire Co., and guided tours of various points of interest at the sites in the vicinity. Period games for children were organized, as well as demonstrations of life in the 1800s that included blacksmith work, quilting, candle and soap making.
Sixty missionaries from the Pennsylvania Harrisburg Mission and more than 80 young men and young women and their leaders from the stake participated in projects that rendered service to the town of Susquehanna, the local hospital and McCune cemetery.
The celebration culminated with a stirring musical stage production depicting the major events that occurred while Joseph and Emma resided in Harmony. It was directed by Barbara Calchera of the Scranton stake.
