COLUMBIA, Mo.-Last Saturday, some 600 members of the Columbia, Mo. community gathered to celebrate U.S. First Amendment freedoms with the Parley P. Pratt Freedom Run.

This event, in its 27th year, commemorates when Pratt, an Apostle in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, ran for his freedom at Columbia after escaping from imprisonment in the city.

Pratt was the rare Church leader who was not freed in 1838. Other leaders, including Church President Joseph Smith, were.

On July 4, 1839, Pratt and two of his companions stormed the jail door while the guards were serving dinner.

Pratt’s escape has come to be emblematic of the need to protect religious freedoms and other liberties contained in the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

This year’s event consisted of an opening ceremony, a message of freedom and a 1-mile run/walk.

The message of freedom was given by Missouri Deputy Attorney General Jeremiah Morgan.

Morgan is an Area Seventy representing the Salt Lake City-based faith in the area.

The course passes 28 symbols of freedom in downtown Columbia. Among them are Thomas Jefferson’s grave marker, the Missouri Press Association and 17 houses of faith.