America's Freedom Festival at Provo

Last updated

America's Freedom Festival at Provo (also America's Freedom Festival or Freedom Festival) is a private, non-profit, non-political foundation known for organizing more than 25 annual patriotic events in and around Provo, Utah. It is one of the largest and longest (usually May - July) patriotic celebrations in the nation. The organization's stated mission is to "celebrate, teach, honor, and strengthen the traditional American values of family, freedom, God, and country." America's Freedom Festival sponsors one of the nation's largest Fourth of July celebrations, Stadium of Fire, held each year at LaVell Edwards Stadium on the campus of Brigham Young University. [1] Recent performers at Stadium of Fire include Journey (band), Cirque du Soleil, Carrie Underwood, Brad Paisley, and the Blue Man Group. The United States Department of Defense has chosen to broadcast parts of the festival to millions of servicemen and women serving abroad in the Armed Forces for the past several years. [2]

Contents

The festivities usually include a patriotic service, hot air balloon launches, a carnival, and a parade. Among the most popular events included is a Colonial Heritage fair, in which colonial skills, craftsmanship, and history are taught and celebrated. [3]

Controversies

In 2008, disbarred attorney Jack Thompson was awarded the Freedom Award by the Freedom Festival, despite trying to remove first amendment protections for video games and social media posts. [4] [5] [6] [7]

In May, 2015, America's Freedom Festival disallowed the group Mormons Building Bridges from marching in the America's Freedom Festival Parade, after an unsuccessful bid to join the parade the prior year. Mormons Building Bridges was planning a march of gay and transgender military veterans. [8] No explanation was given for the rejection. [9]

On July 3, 2017, Encircle, a Provo-based LGBT+ resource center reported that they were no longer allowed to participate in the America's Freedom Festival Parade, despite prior approval. They were told that they could not participate because they were being classified as an “advocacy group." [10] [11] State Senator Jim Dabakis called on the state legislature to discontinue the $100,000 per year funding the state provided the festival, stating, "to force state taxpayers to participate and support this board, which is clearly over the line, is morally reprehensible." [12]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brigham Young University</span> Private university in Provo, Utah, US

Brigham Young University (BYU) is a private research university in Provo, Utah, United States. It was founded in 1875 by religious leader Brigham Young and is sponsored by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Provo, Utah</span> City in Utah, United States

Provo is a city in and the county seat of Utah County, Utah, United States. It is 43 miles (69 km) south of Salt Lake City along the Wasatch Front, and lies between the cities of Orem to the north and Springville to the south. With a population at the 2020 census of 115,162, Provo is the fourth-largest city in Utah and the principal city in the Provo-Orem metropolitan area, which had a population of 526,810 at the 2010 census. It is Utah's second-largest metropolitan area after Salt Lake City.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fort Bridger</span> United States historic place

Fort Bridger was originally a 19th-century fur trading outpost established in 1842, on Blacks Fork of the Green River, in what is now Uinta County, Wyoming, United States. It became a vital resupply point for wagon trains on the Oregon Trail, California Trail, and Mormon Trail. The Army established a military post here in 1858 during the Utah War, until it was finally closed in 1890. A small town, Fort Bridger, Wyoming, remains near the fort and takes its name from it.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maeser Elementary</span> United States historic place

Maeser Elementary was an elementary school in Provo, Utah. It was named after Karl G. Maeser. Built in 1898, it is the oldest school building in Provo, Utah. The school was designed by architect Richard C. Watkins, who also designed the Provo Third Ward Chapel and Amusement Hall, The Knight Block Building, and the Thomas N. Taylor Mansion.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Utah Pride Festival</span> LGBT event in Salt Lake City, Utah

The Utah Pride Festival is a festival held in downtown Salt Lake City in June celebrating Utah's diversity and gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community. The event is a program of the Utah Pride Center, and includes the state's second-largest parade, after the Days of '47 Parade.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Affirmation: LGBTQ Mormons, Families, & Friends</span>

Affirmation: LGBTQ Mormons, Families, & Friends is an international organization for individuals who identify as gay, lesbian, transgender, bisexual, queer, intersex, or same-sex attracted, and their family members, friends, and church leaders who are members or former members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

The Stadium of Fire is a nearly annual event held in the Brigham Young University's LaVell Edwards Stadium on or very near the United States' Independence Day. It is one of the main events for the America's Freedom Festival. This patriotic extravaganza with a cast of thousands features the largest stadium fireworks show in the USA. It is also televised worldwide to US troops and their families on American Forces TV, as a gift from America's Freedom Festival.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Days of '47 Parade</span>

The Days of '47 Parade is an annual parade presented by The Days of '47, Inc. The three-hour event is held in Salt Lake City starting at 9:00 a.m. MDT on or around July 24, the same day as Pioneer Day, a Utah state holiday.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Homosexuality and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints</span> Non-heterosexual sexuality and the Church of Jesus Christ and Latter-Day Saints

All homosexual sexual activity is condemned as sinful by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in its law of chastity, and the church teaches that God does not approve of same-sex marriage. Adherents who participate in same-sex sexual behavior may face church discipline. Members of the church who experience homosexual attractions, including those who self-identify as gay, lesbian, or bisexual remain in good standing in the church if they abstain from same-sex marriage and any homosexual sexual activity or sexual relationships outside an opposite-sex marriage. However, all people, including those in same-sex relationships and marriages, are permitted to attend the weekly Sunday meetings.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fort Utah</span> Settlement in Utah, United States

Fort Utah was the original white settlement at Provo, Utah, United States, and was established March 12, 1849. The original settlers were President John S. Higbee and about 30 families or 150 persons that were sent from Salt Lake City to Provo by President Brigham Young. Several log houses were erected, surrounded by a 14-foot (4.3 m) palisade 20 by 40 rods in size, with gates in the east and west ends, and a middle deck, for a cannon. The fort was first located west of town, but was moved to Sowiette Park in April 1850.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dan Reynolds</span> American singer, member of Imagine Dragons

Daniel Coulter Reynolds is an American singer and songwriter. He is the lead vocalist of the pop rock band Imagine Dragons. Reynolds also released an EP in 2011, titled Egyptian – EP, as a duo with his then wife Aja Volkman under the moniker Egyptian. He is a recipient of the Songwriters Hall of Fame Hal David Starlight Award.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Outline of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints</span> Overview of and topical guide to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

The following outline is provided as an overview of and a topical guide to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Understanding Sexuality, Gender, and Allyship</span>

USGA is an organization for LGBT Brigham Young University students and their allies. It began meeting on BYU campus in 2010 to discuss issues relating to homosexuality and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. However, by December 2012, USGA began meeting off campus at the Provo City Library and is still banned from meeting on campus as of 2018. BYU campus currently offers no official LGBT-specific resources as of 2016. The group maintains political neutrality and upholds BYU's Honor Code. It also asks all participants to be respectful of BYU and the LDS Church. The group received national attention when it released its 2012 "It Gets Better" video. The group also released a suicide prevention message in 2013. A sister organization USGA Rexburg serves the LGBT Brigham Young University–Idaho student community in Rexburg, Idaho.

Students identifying as LGBTQIA+ have a long, documented history at Brigham Young University (BYU), and have experienced a range of treatment by other students and school administrators over the decades. Large surveys of over 7,000 BYU students in 2020 and 2017 found that over 13% had marked their sexual orientation as something other than "strictly heterosexual", while the other survey showed that .2% had reported their gender identity as transgender or something other than cisgender male or female. BYU is the largest religious university in North America and is the flagship institution of the educational system of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints —Mormonism's largest denomination.

In society at large, LGBT individuals, especially youth, are at a higher risk of depression, anxiety, and suicide. Though causes of mental health risk are complex, one oft cited reason for these higher risks is minority stress stemming from societal anti-LGBT biases and stigma, rejection, and internalized homophobia.

<i>Believer</i> (2018 American film) 2018 American film

Believer is a 2018 American documentary that examines the intersection between LGBT people and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints through the eyes of Dan Reynolds, lead singer of pop rock band Imagine Dragons. It focuses on his efforts to organize the LOVELOUD Festival in Orem, Utah in support of Utah LGBTQ youth.

This is a timeline of LGBT Mormon history in the 2020s, part of a series of timelines consisting of events, publications, and speeches about LGBTQ+ individuals, topics around sexual orientation and gender minorities, and the community of members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">LGBT rights and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints</span>

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has been involved with many pieces of legislation relating to LGBT people and their rights. These include playing an important role in defeating same-sex marriage legalization in Hawaii, Alaska, Nebraska, Nevada, California, and Utah. The topic of same-sex marriage has been one of the church's foremost public concerns since 1993. Leaders have stated that it will become involved in political matters if it perceives that there is a moral issue at stake and wields considerable influence on a national level. Over a dozen members of the US congress had membership in the church in the early 2000s. About 80% of Utah state lawmakers identied as Mormon at that time as well. The church's political involvement around LGBT rights has long been a source of controversy both within and outside the church. It's also been a significant cause of disagreement and disaffection by members.

This is a timeline of LGBT Mormon history in the 2010s, part of a series of timelines consisting of events, publications, and speeches about LGBTQ+ individuals, topics around sexual orientation and gender minorities, and the community of members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Below is a timeline of major events, media, and people at the intersection of LGBT topics and Brigham Young University (BYU). BYU is the largest university of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Before 1959 there was little explicit mention of homosexuality by BYU administration.

References

  1. ↑ Utah Valley Adventure Passport. Utah Valley Convention and Visitor's Bureau. 2007.
  2. ↑ "America's Freedom Festival at Provo - Press Room". freedomfestival.org. Retrieved July 3, 2018.
  3. ↑ "Stadium of Fire is blast with Idol star and stripes". deseretnews.com. 2 July 2006.
  4. ↑ "Reference at www.heraldextra.com".
  5. ↑ "Jack Thompson Given Freedom Award". escapistmagazine.com. 3 July 2008.
  6. ↑ "GP editorial: 'Jack Thompson a curious choice for freedom award'". destructoid.com. 5 July 2008.
  7. ↑ Alexander, Leigh. "Jack Thompson Walks Out On Hearing, Bar Recommends Enhanced Disbarment". kotaku.com.
  8. ↑ "Mormons Building Bridges again shut out of Days of '47, Freedom Festival parades". sltrib.com.
  9. ↑ "Mormons Building Bridges denied by Days of '47 and Freedom Festival parades". mormonsbuildingbridges.org.
  10. ↑ Harrison, Mette Ivie (4 July 2017). "Provo Freedom Festival Excludes LGBT Center". huffingtonpost.com.
  11. ↑ "LGBTQ entry yanked at last minute from Provo 4th of July parade". sltrib.com.
  12. ↑ Ritchey, Julia (6 July 2017). "Provo Freedom Festival's Public Funding Questioned After Barring LGBTQ Group". kuer.org.

40°15′27″N111°39′16″W / 40.25750°N 111.65444°W / 40.25750; -111.65444


Flag of the United States.svg

This article related to an American festival is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.