Each July, the Mormon Church performs one of the largest outdoor pageants in the United States. The pageant takes place on a large hill in New York where Mormons believe in about A.D. 420 the gold plates were buried and where in 1827 Joseph Smith received the plates. From those gold plates, Joseph Smith was able to translate the Book of Mormon.
The pageant relates the story of the people of the Book of Mormon. It begins with how they were guided to the Americas in about 600 B.C. and culminates with Christ’s visit to the America’s.
The pageant began in 1917 when a group of Mormon missionaries gathered for a conference to celebrate Pioneer Day (the day the Mormon pioneers first entered the Salt Lake Valley). In 1934 the conference was moved to the Hill Cumorah and in 1937 volunteers put on the first pageant. Since its beginning, the pageant has been run entirely by volunteers.
Admission and parking are free, and are enough seats for 9,000 people. The pageant begins at 9:15 at night, but it is suggested you arrive about 45 minutes early.