Print

Wife swap

Catherine Deshayes

You will be glad to hear that I am not referring to the car crash reality TV programme, but a new tourist ‘attraction' sweeping the states of Utah and Arizona in the USA - a church group is offering ‘The Polygamy Experience,' - giving tourists the chance to tour around polygamist communities, which hasn't gone down well with those living within them...

Treating a community like it is some sort of tourist attraction is never going to be universally popular with those at the heart of the community, so it is easy to see why some residents are up in arms over this latest idea.

The church group is offering guided tours around the US's largest and most secluded polygamist community - in which men have more than one wife - offering travelers an insight into what life is like there.

The four-hour tour, entitled 'The Polygamy experience: A guided tour of Colorado City,' covers the twin towns of Colorado City, Arizona  and Hildale, Utah, both of which are controlled by the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (FLDS). Tours cost from £42.

And, far from poking fun at the residents, tour operator and creator Richard Holm is certain that the idea will help visitors to better understand the polygamist lifestyle and dispel myths about the communities.

The strict Mormon lifestyle often means that the women are dressed in old fashioned prairie dresses and use old forms of farming equipment and household items. The basis of the Mormon religion is another aspect that will be covered in the tours. Accounts from those who have lived in the towns will also be included.

As Mormons are often very private people, the thought of their homes and lifestyle being treated as some sort of spectacle has not been well received. The idea of polygamy or ‘plural marriage,' has always been the subject of much interest from people all over the world.

The company's website, www.polygamytours.com, has met with much criticism from the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, for putting residents in the glare of the tourism spotlight.

Mr Holm, who was exiled from the FLDS faith in 2003 by church leader Warren Jeffs, said, "I have had dozens say that it is a good idea and they would love to go into the community and see what is going on and haven't dared go off the highway with all the reports and rumours and things of that nature."

Picture by D'Arcy Norman