Clasping a wooden dowel with both hands, feet compressed flat against each other’s soles, participants strained muscles in a game of stick pulling to celebrate Joseph Smith Jr.’s 200th birthday, Dec. 2.

What started from a simple wish to celebrate the prophet’s birth turned out to be an all-comers pioneer games activities night. Stick pull, leg wrestling, log push, butter churning and quilt tying, were among some of the activities, which students participated in.

“I was thinking of what we could do as an organization for Joseph Smith’s birthday,” said Andrew Hyde, a senior from Memphis, Tenn., and director of the Fitness Center.

Hyde came up with the idea through a desire to celebrate the day the way Joseph Smith might have celebrated through similar pioneer games.

For some like Eric Horner, a freshman from Scarsdale, N.Y., the events came as a new experience.

“I’ve never done this thing before. I’ve never been to Nauvoo,” Horner said.

When asked about the best way to win, Horner said, “I tell my opponents that I’m going to get them ice cream afterward and I just pull them over, and it works.”

Jeff Spalding, a senior from San Jose, Calif., stated his advantage over opponents was his added 40-50 lbs. of extra weight. “Overall, pull harder than the other guy and you’ll win,” Spalding said.

Finally, students churned butter to represent Emma Smith, the prophet’s wife. Volunteer Melissa Moses, a senior from Blackfoot, Idaho, showed participants how to churn butter by putting whipping cream in glass jars, shaking, and then adding salt. Moses learned to make butter her freshman year as the Relief Society enrichment leader.