Chronological Listing of Mormon Trail Events

1996

• Feb. 3 - 4
  Exodus Commemoration in Nauvoo
• May 3 - 4
  Iowa Mormon Trails History Symposium at Des Moines
• June 14
  The 150 year anniversary of the date of the first pioneer wagon train to arrive in the Missouri Valley. This date will be celebrated by a program and entertainment at the Iowa School for the Deaf in Council Bluffs at the corner of highways 92 & 275. Entertainment will begin at 4:00 p.m., with a program to start at 5:00 p.m., which will feature Mayor Tom Hanafan and ISD president William Johnson. Part of the program will be the lighting of the Eternal Flame, and the unveiling of the new markers for the Mormon Battalion and the Grand Encampment. The Eternal Flame is part of the bonfire that was lit on Feb. 4th as one of a series of bonfires lit in commemoration of the Nauvoo experience and the beginning of the Mormon Pioneer trek. That flame has been preserved in a lantern, and will be transferred to a perpetually burning flame that will be located at the Iowa School for the Deaf. In July, that flame will be used to light a second perpetual flame at the newly constructed Kanesville Tabernacle site.
• June 17 - July 17 Wagon Trains in Iowa
• June 17 - July 4
  JL2 Authentic Mormon Trail Wagon Train travels across Iowa. In 1997 it will continue on to Salt Lake City (Larry England, 505/664-3346) Schedule
• June 23 - July 17
  Iowa Mormon Trails Association Sesquicentennial Wagon Train ( call the hot line at 319/463-5302 or Melissa Farrens at 515/347-8873) Schedule
• June 26 - 29
  1833: A Frontier Story Pageant, a historical pageant telling the story of Independence, MO. Activities start nightly at 6:00 pm with a Frontier Fair, followed by the Heart of America Mormon Choir at 8:45 pm with the pageant starting at about 9:20 pm. 937 W. Walnut, Independence, MO. Call (913)780-0542 for additional information.
• July 4
  • Sesquicentennial Celebration at Dodge Park, Omaha, NE
• July 5 -7
  • Manti Weekend at Shenandoah, Iowa. Daily at 9:30 am and 1:30 pm. Call (712)246-3260 for more information
• July 12 - 14
  • Grand Encampment Celebration - Complete listing of events
  • Dedication of the re-created Kanesville Tabernacle at 21 Benton St. in Council Bluffs, IA.
  • Re-enactment of the mustering of the Mormon Battalion . All men 16 and older are invited to participate. Registration is Friday afternoon and and Saturday morning before 9:00 am. Contact Deniece Beck (712/323-1952) or Joseph Carlson (308/237-4447) to receive instructions about dress and other information .
  • "Refuge and Rest" , a Pioneer Cantata depicting the journey of the Mormon Pioneers from Nauvoo to Winter Quarters, and their life among the native American Indians at Winter Quarters. Friday, July 12 at 1:00 and 7:00 pm, and Saturday, July 13 at 1:00 and 8:00 pm at Lewis Central High School. (complete text)
• August 2-3, 5-10
  City of Joseph Pageant, a historical pageant telling the story of Nauvoo. Call 800-452-0022 for additional information.
• August 3
  Commemoration of the outfitting of the Mormon Battalion at Ft. Leavenworth.
  The Battalion, composed of six companies of 100 men, will assemble at Ft. Leavenworth on the west bank of the Missouri River at 9am. The Battalion will march to the old parade field (about a mile) where they will pass in review, and hear a welcome by military, community, and church leaders. The Leavenworth Dragoons, a group reenacting the regular Army dragoons that were stationed at Ft. Leavenworth in the 1840's, will present a short drill. John Taylor, Parley P. Pratt, Orson Hyde, and J. C. Little (
• August 22-25
  Festival of Iowa Folklife on the grounds of the State Capitol in Des Moines, IA. Sponsored by the Iowa Sesquicentennial Commission

  1997

• February 4
  Bonfires between 6:30 and 8:30 pm all along the Mormon Trail
  In Omaha at N.P. Dodge Park at 6:45 - 7:30
  
  
  
• April 17 - 20
  

• Omaha's Celebration of Winter Quarters at Historic Florence Calender of Events
• Mormon Trail Wagon Trains and Handcart Company prepare to leave for Salt Lake City. Local events are scheduled each evening as the trains move west. The public is invited to join in these local celebrations and to join the wagon trails for one or more days. For further information about the Wagon Train or find out how you can be a part of the wagon train or handcart company for one or more days call 1-800-552-6191 ( Schedule)
• April 18
  Dedication of the Mormon Trail Center at Winter Quarters (Omaha, NE)

• May 3
  Sesquicentennial Concert, Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, UT
• May 22-25
  Mormon History Association Conference and Annual Meeting at the Holiday Inn in Omaha, NE. (Complete Program)
  The annual meeting is held near a site significant in Mormon history. Tours, presentations of scholarly papers with critiques, and book displays are included in the four-day conference. The Tanner lecture, funded by O.C. and Grace Tanner, is presented by a distinguished scholar each year who discusses Mormon history from the perspective of the scholar's discipline. The annual banquet features the presidential address and awards honoring publications and scholarship of the past year.
  For addtional information contact William G. Hartley at 801/378-7520 or at hartleyw@byu.edu
• June 4
  7:00 p.m. Trail Tale Talk- "The Handcart Experience" by Lyndia Carter (Green River Campus of Western Wyoming Community College. For additional information call 1-800 FL GORGE)
• June 11
  7:00 p.m. Trail Tale Talk- "The Pioneer Camp of the Saints: Brigham Young and the Mormon Pioneers in Wyoming." by Will Bagley (Rock Springs Campus of Western Wyoming Community College. For additional information call 1-800-46DUNES)
• June 12 - August 2
  "The Trail of Dreams," a new pioneer musical by James Arrington, Marvin Payne and Steven Kapp Perry, opens June 12th and runs Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Mondays through August 2nd at the Valentine Theater in American Fork, Utah. For tickets and information, call 801-492-1847.
• June 13 - July 7
  Mormon Trail Bicycle Tour from Nauvoo, Il to Salt Lake City, UT.
  The extimated mileage is 1,750 and the cost is $1,595. Contact Tom Armstrong at 402/477-9968 for additional information.
• June 18
  7:00 p.m. Trail Tale Talk- "The Reformation of 1856-57" by Michael Landon (Green River Campus of Western Wyoming Community College. For additional information call 1-800 FL GORGE)
• Opening June 19
  Barefoot to Zion musical
• June 25
  7:00 p.m. Trail Tale Talk- "The Utah War" by Terry Del Bene (Rock Springs Campus of Western Wyoming Community College. For additional information call 1-800-46DUNES)
• July 5
  Simpson's Hollow Site (Wyoming) Dedication (For additional information call 1-307-261-7600).
• July 10
  Mormon Wall Site Dedication at Fort Bridger, Wyoming
• July 19 and 20
  The 1997 Beartrap Summer Festival on top of Casper Mountain in Beartrap Meadow Park. There will be four bluegrass bands and the Wyoming Symphony, as well as children's programs and lots of food and fun. Additional arts and crafts vendors wanted. (Kelly at jeastes@trib.com ) or 307-235-9325).
• July 22
  "End of Trek" celebration at This is the Place State Park in Emigration Canyon, UT
• July 24 - 25
  • Sesquicentennial Spectacular at Cougar Stadium, BYU, Provo, UT
  • Pioneer Rendezvous at Deseret Towers Field, BYU, Provo, UT
  
  
  
• "Come Home to Kanesville" , a historical pageant at Lewis Central H.S. in Council Bluffs, featuring Michael McLean and David Tinney. Presented by Kanesville, Inc., Francis Beck, President, 712/323-1952.