Pioneer Day Presentation will take place in Rexburg
REXBURG, Idaho (KIFI/KIDK) - On Friday, a Pioneer Day musical play will take place at the Beehive Pavilion in Rexburg's Porter Park.
Rexburg Mayor Jerry Merrill says the event comes with safety guidelines.
"We're gonna have squares marked out on the grass that will be all be six feet apart so that you know families can come sit in those squares, but the squares will all be socially distance, and then we're going to ask people to wear masks too so that we can make sure to keep everybody safe."
Pioneer Day celebrates the arrival of the first group of pioneers from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints into the Salt Lake Valley in 1847. With many members of the church residing in the area, it's always been a big holiday.
Rexburg Cultural Arts Director Jed Platt tells us the event also symbolizes the pioneering time due to necessary changes because of the pandemic.
"We thought this was a great one to celebrate this pioneer day, and also our pioneering efforts. Things look different right now. We wear masks, they wore bonnets and neckerchiefs to protect them from the elements," Platt said.
The pioneer presentation will showcase a one-hour musical play called "Pioneer Song," it's about the story of the women who crossed the Oregon Trail. Performers Lori and Omar Hansen promise education and entertainment.
"They're going to come away having learned actually quite a bit about the journey of the Oregon trail, the difficulties of it, the whole process of it," Lori said.
"We wanted to make sure people don't forget. This was a massive undertaking at that time, and it was done before mass transit, it was done when a good day on the trail was 15 to 20 miles," Omar said.
President of Snake River Storytelling Rob Burns says it's a great opportunity to be social during this social distancing time.
"We're going to do this venue outside it's going to be distancing... I think if we can think outside the box, how can we continue to do events like this where we're not putting people at risk," Burns said.
You can catch a showing of the free musical play at the Beehive Pavilion in Rexburg's Porter Park on Friday. There will be two one-hour showings at 5 p.m. and 7 p.m. All who are attending are asked to please wear a mask.
