Dates Set for Vernal Temple Open House, Dedication

The Vernal Utah Temple will open its doors to the public in an open house to be held 11–25 October 1997. The temple is the Church’s first to be adapted from an existing structure, emerging from a remodeling of the old Uintah Stake Tabernacle.

After the open house, the temple will be closed and prepared for formal dedicatory services. Following the cornerstone ceremony, the Vernal temple will be dedicated on 2 November under the direction of the First Presidency. Ten other dedicatory services will follow, from 2 to 4 November, in order to accommodate the more than 36,000 members of the Church in the temple district, which includes 12 stakes of the Church: 4 in Vernal and 3 in Roosevelt, Utah; and 1 each in Duchesne and Altamont, Utah; Green River and Rock Springs, Wyoming; and Meeker, Colorado.

The Vernal Utah Temple will be the Church’s 51st operating temple and is one of 27 in the United States. The others are spread over 22 nations.

Plans for the temple were announced in February 1994 and the groundbreaking was in June 1996.