Fireworks, Races and Shave Ice Pioneer Day 2017!

One of the best celebrations in Utah is July 24th! It commemorates when the LDS pioneers arrived in Utah in 1847. There are week long activities all over the state. One of the largest is in Beaver, UT and I try to make it back for that every year. This year Lady Hiva experienced it for the first time too.

We did not do that whole week, but we did do the day of the 24th. It all started with a morning 5K. I tried to get Lady Hiva to join me, but she was having none of that. She told me that she would watch me run by (the window overlooks the running trail) but she fell asleep waiting! HAHA. It was fun to get out and see all of the other people ready to start their celebrations off with a run. I took 8th overall and 2nd in my age group...I blame it on the altitude! BREATHE... BREATHE...BREATHE! You would not think there was such a difference between Salt Lake City and Beaver, but the elevation change makes a huge difference!

We then all went to the parade. That was fun, as always. For being a small town they have a REALLY long parade--complete with candy, Popsicle, cheese and even plants. Lady Hiva was so excited to get a plant. When she got back to her seat she realized they gave her a Habenero Pepper plant! HAHA. She gave it away.

Lucky Dragon loved all the candy and toys that he could collect. Then when Beau-D's float went by for his business Lucky Dragon jumped in to throw candy for the last few blocks of the parade. You would have thought he was in heaven! He had a bag of candy he had collected, then he was throwing candy with both hands using all his might!

 

We stopped to get a shave ice and missed Lucky Dragon's age group for foot races--a tradition for children on the 24th. He was excited to get his shave ice, but he wanted to make sure that he ran, so he jumped in to run with the 8 year old boys. It was so fun to see him, this little guy laughing hysterically as he ran with the larger, faster boys.

We spent time playing all of the fun games, Lucky Dragon threw footballs, baseballs, 'fished' and went down the slip and slides.

Lady Hiva and I went into the old Territory Courthouse Museum, the building is now run by the Daughters of Utah Pioneers and has so much history. Beaver was the Territory Courthouse south of Salt Lake City until it was moved north the Fillmore. There was a section about Fort Cameron, a military base that later became a school. That school was moved south to Cedar City and is now Southern Utah University. We were surprised that part of the museum was a project that I did as a senior in high school with a good friend to interview and document first hand accounts of people that went to and remember both of these places in Beaver before they died. That was fun to see--although it says that if anyone wants a copy of the research to ask me...ah...I don't have that anymore! Luckily nobody has asked.

Horse races were fun to watch, although between the races is a bit long so it was hard to stay the whole time. And of course we had to go to a rodeo, because what celebrates the USA and pioneers more than that? We also went to the car show and there was a monster truck and he was so excited to see it!

Our day ended with a spectacular firework show. We were so close that ash was falling on us and I think I was a bit deaf and blind for a few hours after, but we can say that we felt the celebration--literally!