Nebraskan Saints Join Community in Remembering Handcart Pioneers Beginning in 1856, almost 3,000 Mormon pioneers in 10 handcart companies pulled their handcarts some 1,300 miles on their trek to Salt Lake City. Now, 150 years later, a celebration in Kearney, Nebraska, gets underway this weekend (June 2 and 3) in which an estimated 3,000 people will gather to pay tribute to the handcart pioneers who passed through the area. “This is a once-in-a-lifetime event to remember and to honor the sacrifices of the handcart pioneers,” said Joseph Carlson, an event volunteer, high councilor in the Kearney Nebraska Stake, and member of the board of directors of the Nebraska Mormon Trails Association. The community event is Church supported, but not Church sponsored. Kearney is significant as the site through which the Mormon, Pony Express, California, and Oregon Trails all passed, and the site of nearby Fort Kearny, a military post that protected travelers on the trails west. The community celebration is Church-supported but not Church-sponsored. At the event, which will be held at the Great Platte River Road Archway Monument, people can participate in a handcart trek led by Paul Willie, a direct descendant of Captain James Willie, the original leader of the Willie Handcart Company. The participants, dressed in pioneer clothing, will be able to walk the trek specifically in honor of a pioneer ancestor. Acquiring and transporting about 40 handcarts to the area to simulate a handcart company proved to be a challenge, Brother Carlson said. Handcarts from stakes in the area and as far away as Council Bluffs, Iowa, were collected, and new ones were built. Fort Kearny, Grand Island City's Stuhr Museum, and the local Trails and Rails Museum also provided handcarts. “This is the largest number of handcarts ever assembled in Nebraska at one time and in one place since the 1800s,” Brother Carlson said. “Now that is significant.” Other events planned include smaller handcart treks, handcart demonstrations, living history displays, genealogy presentations, speakers, dances, food, wagon rides, candlelight vignettes of handcart stories, and a dedication of a National Park Service sign marking the first sighting of buffalo during the original 1847 trek. Latter-day Saint youth from the area will also dance, sing, and participate in a handcart pull for the public as a service project in conjunction with their youth conference. Entertainers expected at the event include classical guitarist Mike Ericksen and songwriter Emily Christensen, the Smith Family Band, the Grand Island City Singers, a Lincoln Nebraska Stake choir, and singer Jenny Phillips and her choir. More information on the celebration can be found at handcarttrek.org.