Yesterday I had the great opportunity to be a part of the re-dedication of the Utah State Capital Building.
(And yes, I am actually in that picture. I’m the first tiny black dot just to the right of the men’s section of choir. On the balcony. Behind that pillar. Yes, that’s it! You found me!)
The 92 year old building has undergone a 4 year remodel, and was dedicated yesterday, on Utah’s Statehood day. The Mormon Tabernacle Choir, Orchestra at Temple Square, and Bells on Temple Square were there to help celebrate, along with the International Children’s Choir, the 23rd Army Band, the Cathedral of the Madeleine Choir School. It was quite an event! You can read about it here, or if you want to watch the whole program, you can view it here.
I must admit that I had a little bit less than a good attitude about the whole thing when we first rehearsed on Sunday. The bell part for the one song that we were asked to play was not extensive, and I rang less than 10 times. “And we are going to spend how many hours this week to do this one little song?” I grumbled. But after rehearsing with the choir in the beautiful capitol building on Thursday night, I was more excited about it. The whole effect was going to be amazing. They also added a few bell parts to other songs, and we got caught up in the realization that this is really a once in a lifetime opportunity to be there at this historic occasion.
“My friends and fellow Utahns, today we celebrate Utah’s 112th birthday. How appropriate, therefore, that we have gathered to rededicate this great symbol of statehood: our Capitol,” Gov. Jon Huntsman said.
So, even though it was a long day away from my family, and I felt like a bad daycare mommy in the morning when I dropped John off at his friend’s house and he cried, “I don’t want to play with Hunter! Mommy, don’t go!”, it still turned out to be a marvelous experience. Each person in attendance got to ring a little bell, and it was indeed a grand affair.
I really felt bad for the Choir. As you can see in the picture above, they were just crammed onto the stairs like sardines, with hardly room to read their music, and definitely no room to sit down. And they had to stand there for the entire program! I talked to one choir member who did sit down, as she would rather sit down than pass out. She was light hearted about it, though, and she said, “If someone had to go down, it might as well have been me, since I was in the back and could actually sit.” She made it back up for the Battle Hymn of the Republic, and was fine. We at least got to leave after our part was over, then come back for the very end.
It was quite a spectacular experience. I feel very lucky to have attended. Now that it’s done, I want to take my kids up there to see the capitol building. I’ve only actually been there a few times myself, and my kids have never been there, so I think it would be a good field trip for us.
I was shocked and saddened, however, when I watched the news last night to hear that the body of a construction worker was found just as the dedication ceremony was getting under way.
A fellow graduate of Cottonwood High was the spokesperson for the capitol for the renovation, and this was her big night! Congrats to you both!
I was going to ask how that rededication party went. I’m glad you got to play more bell parts than the 10 notes you were originally anticipated, and that you enjoyed the historic occasion. How neat!
I forgot to mention the bathrooms! In the capitol building, they have these beautiful remodeled bathrooms, but there are as of Friday, no doors on the stalls! Since I was the only one in the bathroom at the time, I just kind of pulled my long black dress around me, and went as fast as I could. When I mentioned to a friend that there were no doors on the bathroom stalls, she said, “Well, I won’t be drinking this bottle of water!” Let’s hope they get the doors installed soon.
We watched the whole program at 8 pm that night and it was very inspirational and patriotic. The music was superb, and the bells made it even more magnificent. That certainly was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. At 9:00 they had a show about how the remodeling was done. That was incredible! It made us want to go see the building in person. So I think we’ll be going tomorrow (Monday). Good work! Marie Judd saw your picture in the Tribune yesterday and she said she’d give it to me. (You were only a tiny blip, though).
i was in the performance. i am in the International Children’s Choir and i would like more pictures of us, but i watched it and it was amazing and it was an amazing expierence.:smile: