Life's answers
E-mail story
It's easy. Send a link to the story you were just reading to a friend. Just fill out the form on this page and we'll send it along.
Your name and e-mail address are transmitted to the recipient. Otherwise, it is considered private information; see Privacy policy.
LOGAN, Utah — Ty, the lead character, played by Box Elder High School graduate Nick Saunders, in the Logan Area Day of Celebration, was a lone youth contemplating some of life's problems. His answers came in spectacular, multi-media pageantry featuring thousands of youth in vignettes, dances, music, and, literally, fireworks.
Utah State University's Romney Stadium was in turn electrified with excitement and quietly reverent as the 4,500 young men and women participating in the show helped Ty's friends assist him through his struggles, weaving in lessons from the life of Joseph Smith in keeping with the purpose of the event.
The 25,000 people in the stadium Friday, July 15, were reminded over and over again that the youth of the Church are "Warriors of Light," the theme of the celebration. At dusk, as the show began, they heard words of support from Elder M. Russell Ballard of the Quorum of the Twelve who attended with his wife, Barbara. He bore a fervent testimony of Joseph Smith Jr., reminding the young men to prepare themselves for missionary service to share the gospel restored by the Prophet, and encouraged young women who also may desire to serve missions.
He also attended the youth celebrations in Ogden and Salt Lake City, later calling them "a great celebration of youth honoring the life and ministry of the Prophet Joseph Smith. Their singing and dancing and activity was focused on his life and had to have a positive impact on the youth."
"The great emphasis on preparing for missionary service and a lifetime of service in the Church was a wonderful thing that the committees accomplished," he said.
Vignettes from Joseph Smith's life were presented by youth representing 38 stakes in northern Utah, southern Idaho and western Wyoming.
At various times, Joseph was believably portrayed by Chris Frogley, prominent for his role in Nauvoo's "City of Joseph Pageant" for many years.
Production numbers included fully-uniformed football players dancing to a rap song promoting training and teamwork, and square dancers among covered wagons. Ty's friends even persuaded him to attend a "stake dance" complete with refreshments and a field full of "you don't have fun, you make fun" dancers.
At the climax of the show, hundreds of youth dressed as missionaries paraded onto the field with flags from the countries of the earth while fireworks exploded overhead.
Kyle Cropper, who will be a senior at Logan High School this year, played the role of one of Ty's friends. After the show, he talked about the grueling rehearsal schedule, including several hours the final day when the midday temperature on the stadium's artificial turf rose to 125 degrees. He said that, from the beginning, "I thought it would be wonderful experience. And it was. But I had no idea it was going to be this big!" He said the testimony of Joseph Smith was "much greater" after the experience.
E-mail to: ghill@desnews.com
