CODY — There was a beacon shining from Cody on Tuesday night as The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints switched on the exterior lights of its new temple for the first time.
The temple's exterior architectural lighting was tested for the first time this week, fully illuminating the structure, which appears nearly finished after more than a year of construction.
“The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints tested the lighting on the Cody Wyoming Temple on the evening of March 31,” said President Jimmie Edwards, second counselor for the Cody Wyoming Stake, in a message to Cowboy State Daily. “We look forward to the completion of the temple to welcome the community to the public open house.”
The 24-hour exterior lights on the temple was one of the main reasons opponents of the project cited in failed efforts to keep the temple from being built. Now that they’ve been turned on for the first time, some neighbors living close to the temple say they aren’t happy.
“The lighting system has been carefully designed and will be fine-tuned to create a balanced, reverent illumination that minimizes glare and light spill,” according to a statement on churchofjesuschristtemples.org, a site that is not affiliated with the LDS church but posts regular updates on the progress of the Cody temple.
“Particular attention is given to uniformity and shadow control to avoid harsh contrasts. The programmable system utilizes photocells and timers to regulate its operating hours,” the statement adds.
Cowboy State Daily reached Todd Christiansen, an LDS bishop in Cody, who said he was out of town and unavailable to comment on the temple's lighting test.
The LDS church’s media relations team was also unavailable to comment by the time of publication because of the church's biannual General Conference, held during the first weekend of April each year in Salt Lake City, Utah.
A Noticeable Change
Cody resident Colin Pitet, who lives immediately adjacent to the temple, wasn’t surprised to see the temple light up on Tuesday night.
He and other property owners in the area had been notified about the test beforehand.
“They came to my door with a notification on a little strip of paper,” he said. “It’s one of the only times we’ve had any real communication from them since they started."
Edwards confirmed that notices were delivered to residents "at the request of the city."
Pitet’s impression was that Tuesday night’s test was the temple at full illumination. All of the exterior lights and at least one interior light, in the foyer of the temple’s tower, were pretty bright.
“I was told it was a test of the lighting system,” he said. “In theory, it doesn’t get brighter than that."
The temple won’t be visible to anyone entering Cody from the west, even when it’s fully lit. Multiple ridges and buildings block the view of the 101-foot-tall steeple from the road going through town.
Anyone entering Cody from the north will definitely see the temple. It occupies a prominent spot on the south side of town, making it an elevated beacon of light on the horizon.
Pitet was still collecting his thoughts on the temple now that he had seen it fully illuminated at night. The word that kept coming to his mind was “obtrusive.”
“It’s very noticeable,” he said. “It is, at least, as obtrusive as I anticipated.”
Still In The Dark
Now that Cody residents have seen the temple fully alight, many feel they’re still in the dark about how bright it will be.
Pitet’s confusion stemmed from what he says are possible inconsistencies arising from a lengthy legal battle over the temple’s construction, which ended with a victory for the LDS church in the Wyoming Supreme Court in June 2025.
“There were five or six Planning and Zoning meetings about the temple,” he said. “At the final meeting, (the church) had made some mitigation in terms of the lighting and some other things."
According to Pitet, the church agreed to reduce the light’s intensity by 50% after the last person leaves the temple around 11 p.m. every night. The brightness would be controlled by timers.
However, the lighting concession was presented at the final meeting in Cody, when the site plan was approved by the Planning and Zoning commission. Ground was broken in September 2024, before the lawsuit against the temple's construction concluded.
During the Supreme Court hearing, the church defended the temple’s site plan as it had been presented at the first meeting. Pitet said that the plan included no provisions about the intensity of the lighting, nor about dimming it overnight.
“What they said, many times, was that the lights would be dimmed to some percentage, less than 100%, overnight,” he said. “It's unclear whether they're going to honor the mitigations they came up with in August, or whether they're going to claim that the initial site plan is the controlling document.”
To that end, Pitet couldn't be sure what he saw on Tuesday night. Was that the temple at 100%, or a lesser brightness?
“I was only told that (Tuesday night) was a test,” he said. “I’m basically assuming they were doing a test at full brightness.”
Most LDS temples are lit 24 hours a day as a form of religious symbolism. The brightness is usually determined by city ordinances, which vary from community to community.
Edwards said that “the church is working with (the city of Cody) to meet all lighting requirements" for the temple.
Trial Of The Spirit
The LDS church hasn’t released an official date for the dedication of the Cody temple.
The church usually hosts open houses so local residents can preview the temple, as only members of the LDS church will be permitted inside once it’s open.
Edwards confirmed there will be an open house for the Cody temple, but “the date has not been announced yet.”
Based on what Petit can see from his home, the temple is very nearly finished. The church confirmed that the furniture has been delivered and outdoor landscaping work is underway.
“The building appears to be substantially done,” he said. “Most of the very-high wrought iron fence is up, some trees planted, and many, if not all, of the light posts in the parking lot are installed.”
The temple has been built in a residential neighborhood, one of the many contentions raised by the group Preserve Our Cody Neighborhoods against the project.
That was the group that filed the lawsuit against the LDS church hoping to block construction of the temple, but lost on appeal in the Wyoming Supreme Court.
All the people living near the temple got a new perspective of it during the Tuesday night lighting test. Petit said the light shone through nearly every window in his home.
“All of the windows in this house, except for two, face that direction,” he said. “I'm not sure whether this is something you can get used to or not, especially during the winter. When it gets dark at 4:30 p.m., that light could be fairly disrupting.”
Sarah Frances McClure, another neighbor of the temple, took several photographs showing how the light beams into her home, including her bedroom.
“I sent those photos and a quote for blackout curtains to the Cody City Council,” she told Cowboy State Daily. “My house is surrounded by sunrooms, and they were all lit up by the temple.”
Petit, who was a member of Preserve Our Cody Neighborhoods, is trying to find as much grace as he can with the temple next door. However, he firmly believes what he was told about the temple’s lighting and its local impact was “incredibly misleading and disingenuous.”
The main question now is whether it’ll be too intrusive to tolerate. He’s answered that question yet, but he feels that he “may not have a choice.”
“It's hard to say,” he said. “My experience is that humans can get used to things they didn’t think they could stand until they had to. The trauma of moving and picking up your entire life is almost enough to outweigh this decision, but it remains to be seen.”
Andrew Rossi can be reached at arossi@cowboystatedaily.com.
