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MANTI — Thousands of people are flocking this June to a small central Utah town only fit for a third of its visitors.
The Mormon Miracle Pageant in Manti draws tens of thousands of visitors annually during its eight-night performance every June. The show continues this week, except Sunday and Monday, with the finale on June 28.
For a small town, that takes a lot of cooperation.
A cast of 800 tells the story that takes place in the early history of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and it has done so every year since 1967.
“This is our first time participating in the pageant, and it’s awesome,” said Juliet Tuineau, who plays a role alongside her husband, Ray, in the production.
“It’s one of my favorite stories in the Book of Mormon.” Ray Tuineau said.
The actors are on a tight schedule every night. Before the first spectator sits in the audience, each actor has to go through costumes, makeup and wigs — everyone from the smallest role to the most sought-after, the Angel Moroni on top of the spire of the Manti LDS Temple.
This year’s Moroni, in fact, was double-cast. Kenneth Christensen will fill the role until he leaves for an LDS mission to Italy on Wednesday.
“I have been able to do my nights the first week of the pageant and won’t have to worry after I am gone,” Christensen said.
One of the most monumental tasks for the pageant each year is behind the scenes: setting up 12,715 chairs for each performance. Hundreds of volunteers set up those chairs in just one hour.
Omel Contreras is a math professor at nearby Snow College; he is responsible for estimating crowd size each night — with the help of a statistical formula.
“I think it is as close as we can get, without counting,” Contreras said.
As the population of Manti temporarily goes from 3,000 to 20,000 on the big nights of the pageant, it’s rewarding for all who participate.
“I love being part of a community where everyone is involved in something like this and where we all come together to express our faith, to express our beliefs and to be unified as a community,” Christensen said.