The Manhattan Temple Dedication
Part 3:  This is New York City

A Photographic Essay

By Scot and Maurine Proctor

As I went through the 677 images I took on June 13^th, the morning of the dedication, I noticed that a few of them really had the feel of New York City.  You can’t go to New York and remove the cabbies, the buses, the subway, the horse-drawn carriages, the traffic—that IS New York.  These few pictures are full of the Saints and the setting but a reminder that this temple is in the heart of the Big Apple.

click photos to enlarge

Members cross the street to come to the dedication in front of the yellow cabs.

This is better than MapQuest.  Here’s a visual image of where the temple is located.

NYPD was out in small numbers to help with the day of dedication.

Saints were directed to the north, south and west side of the temple depending on the color of their tickets.

I could not get that big, glowing ‘DO NOT ENTER’ sign out of any of my pictures of the front of the temple.  It drove me nuts.  Maurine said it was kind of a symbol.

Many members of the Church arrived by cab, others on the subway.  We were worried about parking but very few came by car.

Despite what we thought about New Yorkers’ reputation of crossing the street when they shouldn’t, members waited for the light to turn and came across in mass.

We loved the ethnicity and diversity of the Saints in New York.

Although I didn’t capture anyone arriving at the dedication by horse and carriage, we wondered if future brides and grooms from the temple would likely take a carriage to Central Park for photographs.

This ‘green-ticketed-brother’ has a tie on that was pure New York.  No one in New York was not greatly affected by the events of 9/11.

Click here to go to Part 4:  The Gathering of the Saints