FORT WALTON BEACH — On July 23, the Fort Walton Beach Stake of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints celebrated Pioneer Day, which commemorates the arrival of their pioneer ancestors in the Salt Lake Valley on July 24, 1847.
Throughout the church, members celebrate in their own way. In Utah there is a huge Pioneer Day parade with elaborate floats. Here in Northwest Florida, the Activities Committee decided to forego a picnic, and have an indoors pioneer road show.
Brigham Young, who knew the value of music, began road shows with song and dance to cheer LDS pioneers along the long and tedious trail west. These were called trail shows, which then became more elaborate mini-musicals only 8 to 10 minutes long, written and produced by each congregation in the stake (or group of congregations).
In the past the stake area covered Mobile and Pensacola as well as our present area of Okaloosa County. This meant that the cast and crew had to travel all these distances to perform, but everyone would get to enjoy all the shows.
Road shows are very tightly timed, and since it is a contest, points are deducted if time limits are not met. Judges rule on strong beginning, script originality, cleverness, music, drama, set design, choreography, scenery, props, special effects, overall polish and professionalism.
The Fort Walton Beach road show, with Master of Ceremonies Craig Miller announcing, began with Niceville Ward’s "Finding Zion," which featured children in three families who did not want to work or do chores. Then some old- fashioned pioneers came to them in a dream and showed them how rough it was in the early days…. washing clothes on the rocks, eating gruel. When they awakened the kids took this lesson to heart and started working and doing their chores which shocked their parents rendering them speechless. Over 40 musically talented cast members took part in this production, from ages 2 to 50. They placed third.
The next mini-musical was based on the show "Grease," with many a cute twist. In this version, Danny could not decide whether he wanted to stay in Nauvoo, Illinois or go West with Sandy and the pioneers until the angel sang to him in a dream. Many missionaries stationed here took part singing they would “pull their own cart” if they could go west with Brigham Young. Danny decided he would go west and they all followed the handcart pulled by Janie and Wendel Brock off the stage.
Amber Grubbs created and directed "The Most Magical Mission" by Crestview Ward 2, which used a Harry Potter theme. Their mission was at Hogwarts School of Magic. Their set design was colorful and, well, magical. At the school the students had nothing to do with these lady missionaries until they needed members for a Quidditch game. Until then pupils just stood around with their wands and ignored the missionaries until these newcomers volunteered to play and were accepted by the students. Finally our prospective sister missionary awakened to get her REAL mission call to IDAHO!
Fort Walton First won the whole contest with their rendition of “It’s Just a Dream,” written by Kate Mason and Lydia Golden and directed by Kate Mason. After a long day, a young father sits in his chair to rock his twin babies. After falling asleep he dreams that he watches his children grow. He sees the twins entering the church nursery at 18 months, being baptized at 8 years old and their first dates at age 16 to a stake dance where he was the DJ, spinning for 60 years! His dream culminated a with a mission call for one of his children for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and then a sendoff for a child to Brigham Young University. Throughout his dream he wonders if he has made the right choices while raising his children.
The father, now an old man, is awakened by his wife as they are surrounded by their family. What a dream he has had! Mark Harris was a big hit dressed as the Bishop in a Darth Vader costume! Also this production was marked by many slick changes of scenery.
Written by Heather Larsen and directed by Angie Warner, Crestview 1st Ward’s “Dream Your Dreams” starred a lovely redhead named Emma. When a child she longed and dreamed of becoming an actress. The scenes progress from kindergarten all the way to graduation. During these periods of transition she meets a wonderful young man at a church dance. They have a long talk and a meeting of the minds. Later this encounter blossomed and grew until they were married. At their wedding reception she discovered she had been chosen for a part in a play. Her dream had come true. She had become an actress, and a wife.
A whole host of members were thanked for the many supporting and behind-the-scenes roles for which they rendered service.
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints celebrates Pioneer Day