Friday, July 25, 2008

A Festivus for the Rest of Us

On July 24, 1847 the Mormon Pioneers entered the Salt Lake Valley and President Brigham Young declared "This is the place." To commemorate this historic event, every July 24th, Utahns take off work to watch parades, make scones, and eat taffy.

Yesterday we met Jeff's grandparents and his aunts at the "Days of '47 Parade" in downtown Salt Lake City. Horses and beauty queens were in great abundance. Where I come from, parades are strictly for Homecoming and consist of four floats and five convertables. It was fun to watch a parade that lasted longer than five minutes. (Much, much longer.)

After the parade we went to Jeff's Aunt Penny's house for a backyard barbeque (complete with a hot tub, waterslide, and kiddie pool). The best part was that Jeff had the day off so we could all enjoy it together.

I'm grateful for my pioneer ancestors and the sacrifices they made (and not just because it means Jeff gets the day off). So, raise your glasses of homemade root beer high. To the pioneers!

So, do any of you live in States that celebrate State holidays?




Aunt Lisa's Great Big Backyard Bubbles
7 cups cold water
1 cup Joy dish detergent (she says this works best)
plastic fly swatters

Combine water and joy. Cut a few squares out of the fly swatters. Poor bubble mixture into shallow bowls (she uses pie tins). Dip fly swatters into mixture and watch the bubbles fly.

7 Wisecracks:

KQ said...

I can only say this anonymously or I would be hanged by the fanatical people here. Living in Alabama and Tennessee the last 4 years, I've learned that SEC College Football is basically like a holiday. I mean I love football, but seriously, why would you buy an RV for the lone purpose of tailgating and park outside the stadium from Wed. to Sunday of every week during the fall? Sadly, I am NOT exagerating. These people need help. My husband has fallen into the peer pressure of all of this too. Scary!

Allison and Noah Riley said...

I wish we would have known you were downtown! We ran the 10K that morning and then doubled back to watch the parade from the corner of 2nd and 3rd. The last two miles-ish of the run were along the parade route, so I was anxiously looking for familiar faces in the crowd to distract me from the fact I haven't run much in the past two months.

Jen said...

Yay! You took a picture of Ben's parents' stake float- Ben's dad was REALLY excited about it. Go Noah's Ark!

melissa said...

I LOVED that float. It was well done and it made sense. (Missionaries on Mars? Wha?)

Tammy and Alvin said...

Growing up in Illinois, we always got a day off of school for Casimir Pulaski Day. No parades, though. I'm not sure why this holiday never caught on in the rest of the country.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casimir_Pulaski_Day

melissa said...

That's hilarious! How exactly do you celebrate that? Eat Polish sausage?

Unknown said...

I didn't even know it was the 24th of July until it ended. What a pioneer slacker I am.