Tuesday, August 05, 2014

Pioneer Day

July 24th in Utah is a state holiday, Pioneer Day. It is the day we celebrate the Mormon saints entering the Salt Lake Valley on July 24, 1847. Growing up we would often go to the big parade in Salt Lake to celebrate, the Days of '47 Parade. It is a lot of fun, but I do remember having to wake up early and then wait and wait in the summer morning heat for the parade to start. 

So on our first Pioneer Day back in Utah I wasn't about to endure taking three little kids to the parade. Instead, that evening we went to a city event that West Jordan was hosting and watched the fireworks display there. They had pony rides, tram rides, and bounce houses you go could pay for, which we did. But it turns out Julia and Micah had the most fun playing on the cool big playground they had at the park there, which is always there and is free.

We did get to see the floats from the big Days of '47 Parade, but we saw them earlier in the week at the preview party at the South Towne Expo Center. The floats were all parked inside and open to the public for two days so families could come and get an up close view of the floats. I loved it because we got to see the floats without having to wake up early and sit in the hot sun and wait. We went around 5:00 pm on the first day and there was plenty of parking and it wasn't too crowded. 

Camden was a little worried or confused about the floats, especially the human figures.

What is that??


The kids had fun seeing the floats and picking up some little prizes along the way. There was even a marching band there performing by marching around the venue, so it almost felt like we were at a parade!

Go Cougars!


If you've never seen the floats before they usually have a lot of entries from different LDS stakes around the valley, different cities, businesses, and a few random others like Universities or non-LDS churches or cultural groups.

I also like that you get to vote for your favorite float, even the kids get to vote. Then you watch the parade and during the parade you find out who gets the "Children's Choice" Award and "People's Choice" Award. My vote won the kids choice award, I guess I have young taste.

 On the actual day of the parade we watched the parade at home as we were eating breakfast. Julia and I kept saying, "I saw that one!" about the floats and pretty soon Micah was chiming in as well, even on the ones we didn't see.


No comments: