A choir of LDS youth prepares for a fireside in the Ogden Tabernacle. They'll present, to a full house, the music for a new program to be performed this July, by a cast of thousands.
by Sam Payne
Some LDS parents are old enough to remember LDS dance festivals, music festivals, and even speech festivals: massive events that involved hundreds of youth in months of rehearsals and gala performances. For a whole generation, such festivals were a hallmark of an LDS youth’s experience. It’s been a long time since the church has sponsored and promoted anything like that on a large scale (with some exceptions; I remember as a youth being involved in a Stake dance festival in which I danced the polka around the high school gym with Becky Williams. I still see her folks on occasion, and no matter what station I achieve in this life, they’ll always remember me as Becky’s dance partner. Believe me, there are much worse ways to go).
But the truth is, there’s been a sort of resurgence of interest lately (perhaps beginning with the big youth celebrations in 2005 of the bicentennial of the Prophet Joseph’s birth) in involving youth in memorable (and massive) cultural events. For example, in and around Ogden, Utah, a fever is taking hold, as dozens of stakes (no kidding: dozens of stakes) prepare for a spectacular July performance in Weber State University’s Wildcat stadium. The program will feature dance, theater, and music on a massive scale, with an audience of 18,000 (and a cast of nearly that many).
Above, find a cell-phone photo of a choir assembled to present some of the program’s music to the youth who will be learning and performing it. As some of their parents (and more of their grandparents) could tell them, it’s going to be one terrific ride!