Thousands of community members gathered for a Independence day celebration in Colorado City, Arizona on Saturday. The town is situated in the Utah-Arizona border, and it is home to the polygamous sect of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (FLDS).
A federal jury determined in March that the town discriminated against non-FLDS members. Preventing a Fourth of July celebration in Colorado City is a big issue. Some community members have stated that these types of patriotic celebrations were banned under FLDS leader Warren Jeffs, who was convicted for two counts of sexual assault of a child.
George Jessop, founder of the event said, "It’s not about religion. It’s about love and friendship. And it’s about community. It’s about rebuilding our lives."
The event gathered people from all over the state, as well as many from out of state. Many people consider the town of Colorado City as synonymous with modest clothes and prairie dresses, many attendees in this weekend wore jeans or shorts, and in some cases people in very modern clothes were side by side others who were in long-sleeved, ankle-length dresses.
These kind of interactions can be seen as representative of bigger changes as the community of non-FLDS members in the area opened up and became more welcoming and inclusive.
Dan Barlow, one of the founders of Colorado City, and its first mayor said, "They have to have the freedom to be themselves . Under the program that was here, people were too confined. They couldn’t feel that." Barlow said, "the program that was here," referring to the FLDS church under the leadership of Warren Jeffs, and prior to that his father Rulon Jeffs. The Jeffs family was famous for imposing strict rules on those in the community, and for expelling members regularly. Barlow was kicked out of the FLDS church in 2004, and now lives in St. George with his son, though he expected to return to Colorado City. Barlow said, "It took something like 20 years almost for us to get in the condition we’re in. It may take 15 or 20 years before we’ve changed this thing back."
By Prakriti Neogi
