MORMON PIONEER NATIONAL HERITAGE AREA (MPNHA)
MPNHA congratulates Mormon Miracle Pageant on 50 Seasons
For more information:
Linda Peterson
Mormon Pioneer National Heritage Area
801-554-7513
Email: linda@bpmedia.com
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: June 10, 2016
MANTI, Utah–As the community of Manti is busy with preparations for this year’s Mormon Miracle Pageant, the Mormon Pioneer National Heritage Area offers its congratulations on the pageant’s 50th year.
“We congratulate the thousands of people who have contributed so faithfully to telling the story of their Mormon heritage over 50 years of dedicated pageant service,” MPNHA Director Monte Bona said.
Just as the pageant is celebrating a significant anniversary, so too is the Mormon Pioneer National Heritage Area which was signed into being by President George W. Bush on Oct. 12, 2006 —10 years ago.
Both the pageant and the MPNHA grew out of the desire of local people to tell the history of the Mormon pioneers of Central Utah, of the faith that led them to cross the American continent to forge new communities in a barren landscape.
In multiple projects over the past 10 years, the MPNHA has sought to preserve the heritage of those settlements, which became the towns of today’s Central Utah, and to share it with the world.
In that spirit, the MPNHA granted $240,000 toward development of the 2.25-acre Mormon Pioneer Heritage Gardens which were opened in 2012 across the highway from the Manti temple grounds where the Mormon Miracle Pageant is staged.
“The Mormon Pioneer Heritage Gardens stand as a striking example of why we received national designation as a heritage area,” MPNHA Director Monte Bona said. “They represent what the late Sen. Robert F. Bennett said when he introduced the Mormon Pioneer National Heritage Act: ‘The story of the Mormon pioneers is one of the most compelling and captivating in our nation’s history.’ The monumental Manti Temple overlooking the gardens bears witness to the cooperation, industry, ingenuity and true grit of the Mormon pioneers. We are proud to call it the Mormon pioneer miracle on Temple Hill.”
As the pageant continues to flourish, it will do so with the support of the MPNHA which recognizes it as a unique portrayal of those early settlers and the faith that fueled their courageous colonization of central Utah.
For more information, contact MPNHA Director Monte Bona at 801-699-5065 . ###
The Mormon Pioneer National Heritage Area includes 400 miles of glorious scenic byways, a vast array of wildlife, the best of western living, cattle and sheep ranches, and colorful mountain vistas, all within a trip on Utah Heritage Highway 89.
Tens of thousands of visitors pour in to Manti mid-June to see Mormon Miracle Pageant, this year celebrating its 50th year.