Is it a church affiliated affair or is it something else entirely?

I went to the pageant around 15 years ago and of course loved everything about it, as I was supremely TBM. I ran across the scrap book I made of it the other day and have been thinking a lot about it lately, and one of the thoughts that has come to mind is who is making money off of the whole thing. Anyone know?

I went to the Manti pageant once and I can't remember if the tickets were free or not...

I was a nanny that summer and the family took me and paid for everything, so I'm not certain.

Don't know the answer to the OP's questions...but I will say the pageant workers must be some SERIOUS drinkers of the TSCC kool-aid.

When I lived in Ohio they recruited kids and some adults from our ward to be in the cummorah pageant It was considered a major privilege.

I'm sure they felt truly blessed with the spirit...just saddens me they were acting out a contrived event based on the Legend of Enoch from Masonic lore. How horrified they would feel to know the truth.

The pageant is free to attend. To help gain community support for the pageant, the church now uses local organizations to sell food and drinks. The organizations are happy because they make some money from the concessions, and in return they give some of their profit to the pageant organizers to help defray some of the production costs.

Only the local businesses from the tourists spending their money.

Oh no, the church makes money. The participants, "actors" pay like $600 per person. And then they get all the stakes and wards in the area to volunteer for security, pageant "primary" (for kids whose parents are off doing god's pageant), greeters... We knew people who would take their 2 week family vacations and spend it working on the pageant. The family is split up by age and cast and they work on it from about 6am to 11pm. More "family"time. F&T meeting after pageant is unbelievable.

It's a crazy crazy situation in upstate NY stakes.

Only in the morg, would the actors have to PAY to participate. How twisted is that?

Nice to have a family vacation working on the silly thing, that is not about having a vacation or about being a family.

I live in Manti. The church doesn't profit off of it but the surrounding community sure does. If you have ever been to the pageant you probably bought gas at the "Top Stop" the only convenience store in town. Everyone stops in there and drops a bundle of cash. TBMs, Evangelical "protestors". Everyone. The line is out the door.

At one time, the local wards BBQ d turkey and fixed roast beef dinners. They made a fortune off of it. They donated all of the money to the "General Fund" of the Missionary department. This pissed off allot of locals because thousands of dollars were flying out of town. About five years ago they got the Norbest Turkeys and the Utah Beef Growers to donate meat and kept the money in town. We made enough over two summers to build a new swimming pool. Ironically, some people thought it was wrong to keep the cash in town.

It has been rumored that the church is not a fan of the Manti Pageant and favors the Cummorah Pageant. It is said that the only reason they still do it is because it has become such a major source of income for so many businesses in Sanpete County and it has become a major "Faith Promoting" event that they are continuing to do it for the community....

I think the key is that it's a "faith promoting" event. The church does make money, but it's because watching the pageant serves to further brainwash people into staying in the church and keep their tithes coming.

Not good taste.

What the Hell do they do at the Hill Cumorah pageant? Did for gold plates?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/07/2012 03:14AM by enoughenoch19.

I don't think the church profits from the pageant. Sure they charge a fee to participate, but putting the pageant on isn't free. The sound equipment or at least the lights are trucked from pageant to pageant, that sure isn't free, there is a visitors center near the hill to maintain, that isn't free, there are all of the other facilities at the hill to maintain including buildings, costumes, & props, that isn't free, and all of the other historic sites in the immediate area aren't free to keep open either. Yet they are all free to the public. As already mentioned some local mostly charitable/service groups make some money on the grounds. But others not on the grounds, but in Palmyra itself make money too. Tens of thousands of people go there and most spend some money at the local merchants, in the resturants, and surrounding hotels. Not to mention, many of the participants rent RV's to stay in while they are there from local vendors, some bring their own gear, and others rent rooms from a local college dormitory. I am pretty sure the local community does ok.

And BTW the fee isn't per person, it's per family.

And while the hours are long, the 2 times we were participants, I never saw 6am to 11pm. Probably not far from it on a few of the 18 or 20 days, but not everyday.

I don't know if the subject matter of the pageant coincides with Masonic or any other lore, but I do know it's right out of the Bible and Book of Mormon.

Local opinion may raise a matter of concern to the church's decision makers, but I've never known them to make a decision based solely on that. In the end, they do what they think is the correct thing to do which may or may not coincide with local opinion. Others may disagree, in fact someone always does, but that's ok, it's a free country, they're entitled to disagree.

And the F/T meeting after pageant and the daily meetings participants are involved in, are worth every cent.

Looking forward to my 3rd opportunity.

Good for you sweeetie. I hope you feel the same spirit when you visit the 5 Billion dollar City Creek mall the brethern, or church's decisions makers, built in Salt Lake City.

And just to correct you, the church does make changes based on public opinion, such as lifting the priesthood ban, the end of polygamy and new mainstreaming the church little changes you may see in your ward. I suppose you do attend Sacrament Meeting, please note it is not called Sacrament Meeting anymore, it is now Worship Services.

Have a great day!

Here's something I'll never understand about the way the church operates. This is a MAJOR marketing and faith-sharing, faith-promoting venture. This raises the identity of the church in the community and to tourists, etc. When you say that the costs have to be convered in some way, what is tithing for? The church takes in millions (billions?) each year, and it's used to.... run and operate church ventures, yes? Then why is it the membership's responsibility to fork over EVEN MORE cash, after fast offerings and tithing, in order to put on an event for the church? Tithing should go to something practical and visible, shouldn't it? Something like the pageant is a drop in the bucket compared to other LDS ventures, I don't get why the church isn't supporting this marketing effort. I guess it's because they don't have to, since the membership willingly pays? I don't get it.

+1

As a convert member far away from SLC, I never questioned the church's finances. I always got the impressions that the funds were too sacred for this or for that. I never suspected the inmense wealth of the church. I always gave more, even without being asked.

It has really bothered me to discover the church is a greedy corporation taking everything they can from faithful families and being ever so stingy to give back.

You're absolutely right, the pageant is a great missionary opportunity, why can't the church pay for it, at least offer free accommodation to all the volunteers, who have paid way more than $600 in tithing in the previous year.

D

You hit the nail on the head: members are so cowed into submission that they never think to question. THey think they owe even more to the poor, struggling church, just trying to do some good in the world.

I don't know what church all of these people are mocking. It isn't mine. Yes we give willing to The Church and are happy to do it.
My husband, and I, are going through a serious financial time. We are very grateful that the church provides us with food and is paying many of our bills. We give money to the church,because we know that it is true, and we are very blessed to have testimonies of it.

Yes it is your church, but we're not mocking it. We're exposing it for what it really is. Keep on reading this board and maybe one day you'll understand and accept the truth.

Are you sure the church is helping you out - or are you telling us another faith promoting story ?????

Dallin Oaks gave a talk last year, plainly telling members not to look to the church for help.

The days are long gone when the morg was willing to help out struggling members.

I don't know who profits from it, but it sure is funny to see quasi-mesoamerican-ancient-jewish costumes on a hillside in New York where the events took place*.

Yeah, that proves the BoM is true.


*"Joseph Smith, Oliver Cowdery and many of the early brethren, who were familiar with all the circumstances attending the coming forth of the Book of Mormon in this dispensation, have left us a pointed testimony as to the identity and location of Cumorah or Ramah."(Apostle Bruce R. McConkie, Mormon Doctrine, page 174-175, Bookcraft 1966)

We participated in the Hill Cumorah pageant quite awhile back.It was the year OJ Simpson was chased down the LA highway.

Our family of five were members in a small branch in Canada and our gospel knowledge was based on the LDS basics since we were all converts.We had temple recommends(Toronto) which was a requirement.

We spent three weeks in Palmyra for the pageant. Canned ham seemed to be quite popular..could never figure out if it was a New York or Utah thing.

It was the most expensive vacation we ever went on but at the time we were TBM so never regreted going. I know after three weeks in Palmyra it felt like we had been dragged through a knot hole.

We had reserved/rented a camp space in the church owned campground that bordered the Hill. It seemed very pricey for a grass spot to pitch a tent with limited sub standard toilets, showers,and sinks but on the plus side it was only a 10 minute walk to the hill.Only once in three weeks were we allowed to leave the hill so the leadership warned us to make sure we were well stocked with everyday items like food etc. It was our first exposure to LDS culture outside our district and was an interesting experience to see how the other half lived the gospel. We were amazed at the talented people within the ranks of the pageant.

Everyday there were devotionals at this lecture theatre in the woods.More than a couple of times GA's and their security people would show up to give a talk I remember the day Ering showed up in his powder blue golf attire... looked like he was either going to play a round or had just come off the links.

That day that the story spread that the Smith bus was coming to the Hill or the day this basketball player named Shawn Bradley was making an appearance boy did people get wound up almost falling over each other...but to this day I don't know if they showed up or not...I was too busy asking my son in 85 degree humidity to keep his white shirt tucked in and his tie on. His leaders were at me every other day telling me "everyone has to be dressed as if they are in church and after all we are standing on hallowed ground"

Being from a small branch my wife and I honestly had never heard of the term Anti Mormons but before every performance they would picket the public road way between the parking lot and Hill.This was a real eye opener and we starting seeing why these GA's had security detail when in Palmyra area.I would assume with the anti activity we saw that the GA's would be in and out before anyone knew they had even been there.

At the devotionals the security would flank both sides of the small stage and when the GA was finish talking to the cast we were instucted before hand to remain seated and not approach the GA as he exited.There was no meet and greet.

Cast members were required to go out into the crowd before the performance and do missionary work in full costume,the only cast member not allowed to do this was the actor who played Christ.

There were rumours that some Disney people were members and they were the ones who set up the special effects like the volcano scene.It was really interesting experience to see how a production was put together.

My character was one of the apostles and the cast members I worked closely with were all Bishops. I had never heard the term Church Art until one evening while waiting for our cue under the staging there was a discussion about budgets and how they had to dump excess budget money purchase church art ...one Bishop said he didn't have any walls left to hang any more art.They turned to me thinking I was a Bishop(I was EQ teacher) looking at me to make a response and all I could say was I had to buy chalk out of my own pocket for the lessons on Sunday since we are never given any money in budget.I guess it was at that point they all clammed up for the rest of the pageant and I wasn't privy to anymore budgetary discussions.

Prophets begat Profits

If you are going to attack the church, you should at least know how to write. You should have written "Who profits from the Hill Cumorah pageant". You profit from things not off of things.

As can be seen from the article "How the Mormons Make Money" you should read it as it explains where your tithing dollars go.

You resurrect a vey old thread just to correct my writing? Hahahaha! Honey there are bigger fish to fry then to get upset about a small technicality, and obviously this board is not for you.

Posted under wrong comment- this is for ldsmom...



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/11/2012 09:48AM by heather.

If you're so damned smart, ldsmom, then how come you still belong to a cult and heather doesn't?

How can telling the truth about one's church experiences be termed "attacking" ?

Mormons can't handle the truth.

Interesting.

I would say that "we profit from things" when each participant in the transaction is an equal partner in the results.

But when one of the participants is essentially a slave offering free labour and then paying for the privilege, then I would say "the Church profits off the pageant."

The Tickets are FREE Always FREE! They are issued to coordinate large crowds of visitors!

It sounds fun for them, but why do they always do the same script? Maybe one year they should reenact Narnia or Lord of the Rings instead.

If the Church can change doctrines, why not a pageant script?

My daughter traveled back to Palmyra this year. This year's pageant didn't have a volcano; but the Lamanites' costumes were more modest (less naked), making them indistinguishable from Nephites.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/23/2012 10:14AM by idleswell.

I lived in the Palmyra Stake for 5 years so we endured 5 pageants. Unfortunately, my faith was lacking so I couldn't endure until the end.

We never participated in the spectacle of pageant even once. I couldn't see myself dedicating my entire vacation, plus spending money, to participate in an all encompassing month of rehearsals and performances.

Our ward would be desolate because of the number of families consumed in the pageant vortex. You could always tell which families were preparing to be in the pageant because the men would be growing their "pageant beards" so they could be a part of the cast.

Because I was the reluctant less-active, guilt was applied from both my TBM wife and the bishop. If I would taking any role (even non-performing), then my children could be immersed in the experience.

No, thanks. I didn't want my family's entire existence to be within the Church when there can be a diversity of interests.

It was during those pageant years that I determined that I was less-active. Oh, I attended Church. But I mustn't be active because I never did pageant. Therefore, I must be less-active.