Latter-day Saint Life

Here’s what you need to know before visiting Nauvoo and other Church historic sites this summer

Young performing missionaries singing in Nauvoo

When people find out President Alan Gudmundson and Sister Elizabeth Gudmundson are the leaders of the Church’s pageants in Nauvoo, Illinois, they nearly always get the same reaction, whether from people in their neighborhood in Cedar City, Utah, or from people they interact with in other assignments: “I thought those were canceled.”

They are happy to clarify. “Not all pageants have been canceled,” President Gudmundson said. “Come and see. … Come and feel. Come and experience.”

With pandemic-related restrictions at the Church’s historical sites lifted this summer and the planned performances of the two pageants set in motion, the leaders at the sites are preparing for what they expect will be a busy summer.

They expect large crowds at all of the Church’s historic sites, said Gary Boatright, manager of historic site operations. The COVID-19 pandemic paused vacations, including bus tours, family vacations and Church activities to the sites for the past two years. “Everybody is anxious to get out,” Boatright said.

Read the full story on Church Newsroom.

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