"I knew that question was coming," responded Western Leisure tour guide Sue Burdett, obviously used to fielding queries about the touchy topic that, for many outsiders, epitomizes what little they know about Utah and its predominant Mormon culture.

The unflappable Burdett described how plural marriage began with church founder Joseph Smith, came West with Brigham Young and other pioneers, ultimately was repudiated by LDS Church leaders eager for statehood but still is practiced by a few splinter groups.

She showed the two dozen Rotarians a few houses originally built for extra wives as the tour bus worked its way from the LDS Church Conference Center, up South Temple to the University of Utah, over to This is the Place Heritage Park and then back to downtown Salt Lake City, stopping briefly at Rice-Eccles Stadium to view the Olympic caldron and Hoberman Arch.

Burdett's collection of Rotarians reflected the geographical range of the organization, whose annual convention begins in earnest today at the Salt Palace Convention Center and continues through Wednesday. More than 17,000 visitors from 140 countries are expected overall, and Burdett's entourage included international guests from Sri Lanka, the Philippines, Japan and Vancouver, Canada. The American contingent featured residents of North Carolina, Louisiana, Texas, Kansas, Oregon and California.

Senake and Ruki Amerasinghe from Colombo, Sri Lanka have been to seven other international conventions, but this was their first venture to Utah. Senake was impressed by how "orderly and clean" the city is, while his wife was struck that the South Temple mansions "looked a little European." Before leaving Utah, they hope to visit the Great Salt Lake and the Bingham copper mine.

Coming from Cotabato City in the Philippines, Ben Chua had heard of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir but knew little about it until he attended the choir's 4,059th performances of "Music and the Spoken Word."

"Very inspiring," Chua said of the 30-minute show, whose live audience filled all but the two outermost sections of the conference center's lower bowl.

Added Rick Mendoza of Palos Verdes, Calif.: "It was everything I expected and more . . . probably the most professional type of production I've ever seen."

When host Kent Norton asked how many of the visitors were Rotarians, probably 90 percent of the visitors raised their hands. In a second show of hands, nearly as many indicated this was their first trip to Salt Lake City. Norton delighted the crowd when he informed them that the late Richard L. Evans, longtime announcer and writer of "Music and the Spoken Word," had been a Rotary International president in the 1960s.

"Who could have imagined we would have you here in Salt Lake City four decades later," he said.

The three-hour tour, with its emphasis on pioneer history, left Skipper Holloway of Thibodaux, La. feeling he was "walking away with a new knowledge of the Mormon faith. I didn't know of the hardships and prejudices they faced."

mikeg@sltrib.com