More than dances
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"Brother Brigham's Family Ball," was held the day after Pioneer Day at This Is the Place Heritage Park at the mouth of Emigration Canyon in Salt Lake City, the first time for what is expected to be an annual event.
Scores of attendees, reflecting a wide spectrum of ages, joined in round, square and circle dancing to the fiddle and banjo music. Some apparently were not accustomed to dancing, and others seemingly hadn't been on a dance floor in many years. No matter. They caught on quickly.
Park spokesman Rod Clifford said the grand ball was a popular feature of pioneer life in Utah, one that had the full endorsement and participation of "Brother Brigham" himself.
"Though he was raised in a strict family where music was considered sinful, Brigham Young loved music and dancing," Brother Clifford said. Accordingly, the Church president and territorial governor hosted numerous dances and grand balls in the city and at his Sugarhouse area farm home, now located at the park as one of the attractions.
"The balls were more than just dances," Brother Clifford said. "They included a Grande March, poetry readings, vocalists and a 'repast' of some variety between dance segments."
That repast at this year's modern-day recreation included donuts from an old Brigham Young family recipe that has been researched by the staff at the Lion House in Salt Lake City, President Young's main Salt Lake City residence that is now a visitor attraction and restaurant.
The other elements of the traditional ball were replicated as well this year, including the "Grande March," repeated each hour of the three-hour event.
Mary Ellen Elggren, president of the Brigham Young Family Association, said in her research she ran across printed invitations for balls indicating Grande Marches would be held in honor of Gov. Young. President Willard Richards and President Heber C. Kimball.
She said revival of the ball tradition was a joint effort between her organization, the park, the Sons of Utah Pioneers and the Daughters of Utah Pioneers.
"One of our goals is to raise Brigham's specter again in a positive way, particularly in the area of cultural imprint on Utah and the territory, really all of the Intermountain West," she said. "And that's something that everyone who lives here can identify with, outside of religion, because his cultural imprint is so vast."
