We spent yesterday walking around the centre of Salt Lake, a city about the size of Adelaide and with a definite Adelaide-feel about it. Flat, green, well laid out with conservative architecture and not crowded. In the city centre we came upon Temple Square, the world-headquarters of the Mormon church, so we decided to have a look around. Mormons put a big focus on researching one’s family history and they have a large bank of computers and genealogical materials available for use by visitors free of charge. A display poster in the family research centre made the point that if you go back far enough you may be surprised at whom you are related to, albeit distantly. For example, the Mormon prophet Joseph Smith was an eighth cousin several times removed to George Bush, and an 18th cousin to the Queen of England!
At Temple Square we also learned that the world-famous Mormon Tabernacle Choir broadcasts weekly on Sundays at 9.30am from the Tabernacle. More than 2,000 radio and TV stations worldwide take the broadcast, and visitors are welcome to attend the performance. And so it was that at 9.30am this morning we were seated in the Tabernacle to hear the same warm welcome and introduction that has been given at all previous 4,076 broadcasts, making this the world’s longest continuing network broadcast. The 360 choir members are all unpaid volunteers and there is a limit of 20 years’ choir membership to facilitate renewal of the choir over time.
This morning’s performance was impressive and certainly displayed the polish that comes from having done it 4,076 time before!! At the end, the choir and the 12 of its members who were to retire this very morning received a standing ovation from the capacity Tabernacle audience. The choir’s music has received many awards, including a Grammy for its 1959 rendition of the “Battle Hymn of the Republic”, and the Choir has performed at the inauguration of five US presidents. The Tabernacle organ has 11,600 pipes and the large golden pipes in the centre of the attached photograph are 31 feet high and made not of gold but of Utah Pine.
We left Salt Lake immediately after the performance to begin our long journey back across the Nevada desert to California. We left feeling very favourable towards Salt Lake and to the Mormons we had met at Temple Square. They were friendly, welcoming, polite people, not pushy. We made good progress in the afternoon, past the vast salt lake and on into Nevada where we've stopped for the night at the town of Winnemucca just off Interstate Highway 80.
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