From Deseret News archives:
Mormon Miracle Pageant in Manti one of many miracles
When school's still in session, the family doesn't even take a break between school, rehearsal, bed and school again for two weeks.
But it's absolutely worth it, says Yardley.
\"You can't buy an experience like this. The kids feel the spirit every night for a month and they're giving service. Then, they learn so much and they make friends. They love it,\" she said.
Yardley has been part of the pageant since she was 5 years old. Her parents have been involved for 30 years, either in the cast with their four children, working with the scenery, as chaperones or, as it happens today, helping with language translation.
Jesse Birch, her father, says everyone who moves into town just naturally becomes part of the show.
Yardley officially became a cast member when she was 10 and asked to square dance in the pioneer scene.
Today she plays multiple roles, starting as a Lamanite woman, progressing to a pioneer mother hauling a handcart and finishing as an angel. on top of the temple wall. When he can, her husband joins the family in multiple group scenes in the annual event that tells the story of the Book of Mormon.
__IMAGE1__Her three teenage sons start out marking the ground for the chair layout and setting up the 12,500 folding chairs before they don warrior costumes and headdresses. After that they become pioneers and, every other night, they square dance on the prairie.
Before and after the shows, they mingle in costume with the audience, signing autographs, posing for pictures and doing a little missionary work.
\"I hate this long hair. How do girls stand it?\" said 12-year-old Colten Yardley, pulling at his long black yarn locks that are part of his headdress as a Lamanite warrior.
They shiver in the cold night air in elaborate costumes that leave their chests and feet bare. They become free lunch for the local mosquitoes and burn in the hot afternnoon sun. They are asked to run up and down Temple Hill again and again. But they don't complain.
\"You can't swat when you're out there,\" said 15-year-old brother Brandon. \"Everybody will see you.\"
\"Our feet are quite used to it,\" said Colten. \"We run up and down (the path to the costume and makeup shed behind the temple) all the time.\"
\"I'm here because I want to be,\" said Colten. \"It's just like fun being a warrior. We all have tomahawks and knives and we get to fight without getting in trouble and we all die but six!\"
