Often, in rehearsing for the performance, an accidental action or movement has been so meaningful it has become an integral part of the next year's Pageant and those of the years following. A child had picked up a flower which had been used in one of the garlands during the Triumphal Entry; later when she became caught up in the emotions of the trial and persecution of Jesus, she dropped the flower at the feet of the Christus as he passed her while carrying the cross, only to have it crushed by the foot of the Roman soldier.

Indeed children in their naturalness and simple faith, often give the Pageant many of its moments of greatest beauty. Their actions, unhampered by self-consciousness and awareness of the multitudes around them, often express the true message of Easter morning.

Because the Pageant is really an effort of total community involvement and not just a yearly theatrical representation, it has never lost its freshness and vitality. Each year the old story is a new story for our time. One example of this involvement is the man who, while sweeping the tarpaulin which covers the basketball floor at the Memorial Coliseum, said, "I never thought I would ever be allowed to sweep the streets of Jerusalem."

One young man who has been in the Pageant most of his life wrote, "I consider the Marion Easter Pageant to be the richest religious experience of my life." Another has stayed, "If we never do another thing in our community, we won’t be forgotten. Our town has become known nationwide for this representation of community spirit."

The Pageant presentation is, itself, like the message of Easter. One worker sums it up by saying, "When you enter the Coliseum on Easter morning, is dark outside. When you leave the building, a new day is beginning. It is like the beginning of a new life for another year. It is the complete meaning of Easter. Your eyes, mind and heart are full of the greatest story ever told, and the sunrise is the climax."