SALT LAKE CITY — Monday, 24 July 2006, marks the 159th anniversary of the Mormon pioneers' arrival in the Salt Lake Valley.
The Mormon Tabernacle Choir will perform at the annual Pioneer Day Commemorative Concert on Friday, 21 July 2006, at the Conference Center in Salt Lake City. This year they will be joined by the Brett Family Singers, a singing group based out of Branson, Missouri.
Brigham Young, second president of the Church, led the Mormon pioneers from Nauvoo, Illinois — a place Mormons were driven from by mobs — to the Salt Lake Valley. When Brigham first entered the valley on 24 July 1847, he said, "This is the right place."
Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints celebrate Pioneer Day to remember not only the arrival of the pioneers in Salt Lake, but the sacrifice the early members of the Church made for their religion.
Gordon B. Hinckley, president of the Church, said in 2001: “We must never allow recognition of their trials, of their sacrifices, of their tenacity, of their faith and their prayers in establishing this great community to lapse or be forgotten. …
"In all of our celebrations
of the 24th of July, let us never forget it. Let us remember with
gratitude and reverent respect those who have gone before us, who
paid so dear a price in laying the foundation for that which we
enjoy this day."