Prophet's birthday nears

SHARON, Vt. — "Wet Paint" signs dangle almost everywhere; television producers huddle with audiovisual technicians in front of a mantel red with poinsettias; a worker in the next room polishes a bronze statue. Outside 150,000 Christmas lights fill the trees; music fills the air.

Preparing a birthday party for a prophet is no easy feat.

Joseph Smith Jr.'s 200th birthday is Friday, and the church he founded — The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints — is celebrating by the millions.

Joseph Smith's birthplace is teeming with activity in anticipation of a television tribute that will originate here Friday night. Church President Gordon B. Hinckley will host the event, which will be beamed to church sites around the world and carried on satellite television networks. The Mormon Tabernacle Choir will provide music from the church's conference center in Salt Lake City.

"We revere and love the prophet," said Ken Johnson, a church elder who is six months into an 18-month church assignment in Sharon, giving tours and helping to manage the birthplace memorial. "This whole year has been a time of celebration."

Joseph Smith was born in Sharon on Dec. 23, 1805, the fifth of 11 children. He wasn't here long, though, moving in 1816 to Palmyra, N.Y., where LDS Church members believe he had the visions that led to the founding of the church. Joseph Smith, who was persecuted for his beliefs, was killed by an angry mob in Illinois in 1844.

Today the LDS Church has a worldwide membership of 12 million and is considered one of the fastest-growing Christian religions in this country.

The bicentennial of Joseph Smith's birth has prompted a series of conferences and scholarly articles on Joseph Smith's life and beliefs. The anniversary has also brought renewed interest in his birthplace.

"We have had a lot of members of the church come," said Johnson. July brought 8,000 visitors, which is 3,000 more than the same month last year, he said. "We have had 88 bus tours here this year."

The memorial is far from the beaten path. The town of Sharon is roughly 15 miles north of White River Junction, along the border with New Hampshire. Joseph Smith's birthplace is a few miles up Dairy Hill Road right on the town line with South Royalton.

Visitors may feel they are lost as they climb the hill out of Sharon, but that sensation vanishes at the gate that says "Welcome to the Birthplace of the Prophet." And there is no mistaking the sound of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir that fills the woods at the site itself, pumped through hidden speakers scattered about the hillside.