On Tuesday I went with family to the Days of ‘47 Float Preview Party at the South Towne Expo Center. You could meet the creators and technicians behind the 2010 Days of ‘47 Parade floats and see how it all comes together. There was voting for your favorite float to win the “People’s Choice” or the “Children’s Choice” award. Also enjoy bands, clowns, and entertainment.

Admission was free, and I saw 33 of the 34 floats that will be featured in the parade. I managed to take a few photographs of the stake floats. Click the images to enlarge.

Riverton Copperview Stake

Nauvoo Temple

West Bountiful Utah Stake

Murray Utah Parkway Stake

Winder West Stake

Cannon Stake

South Jordan River Ridge Stake

Midvale Utah Union Fort Stake

West Jordan Westland Stake

Salt Lake Wasatch Stake

Alta View Stake

West Jordan Oquirrh Stake

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Command Chief Ogden Air Logistic Center Chief Master Sgt. David Nordel

Bryson and Sarah watch the parade

Rachel and Jake

Steve Hiatt, Kaysville City Mayor, throws candy

Fruit Heights City Mayor, Todd Stevenson

Bryson watches the parade

There was a helicopter candy drop immediately following the parade

Near the end of the parade the water fight began

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Displaying the U.S. and Utah flags at the West Bountiful City Independence Parade

Last year I went with family to watch the West Bountiful City Independence Parade. The theme was Our Heritage Past and Present. There were 60 entries but it didn’t take very long for the parade to pass by. It was cold enough in the shade that my wife and brother-in-law moved out of the shade and into the sun. Last year I posted photographs but this year I will show you a sampling of the parade in video. The nine videos run an average of 12 seconds each.

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Three of my children, Sarah, Paul, and Jake, were in the Davis High marching band when they attended high school. Also my niece Shauna and son-in-law Derek.

If you didn’t see the parade here are a few photographs of what we experienced.

Davis County Sheriff Officer.

A Picture of the Past wagon. This is my favorite of the parade.

Front: Adelaide, Steven, Paul, Shauna. Middle: Cheryl, Ashton, Susan, Kent. Rear: Melissa, Aurora, Jill, Connie, Mark.

Jill and Aurora.

Help Rescue America Declaration of Liberty.

LDS Business College float.

Davis County Sheriff’s Posse Queen and First Princess.

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After the parade we went to the vendor area on 2nd West and bought lunch. We sat under the shade on some chairs provided by Mark’s dad and ate our food. We walked around all the booths but didn’t buy anything. There sure were a lot of people, in places it was hard to get around. Some mothers had strollers as big as eighteen wheelers which in places slowed foot traffic to a crawl. These stroller owners will have to be wary of the UTA that will want a stroller congestion tax. I came across a tank that you could go inside. The Army was out in force and a tank or howitzer or whatever it was is a good draw to help with recruitment.

I was requested in the comments a few days ago to give out more of my opinion so I will comply. What did I think of Peach Days? The main attraction for me is the parade. Recently several parades I have attended have not had very many floats which to me is the heart of a parade. Peach Days was the same, not very many floats. It takes a lot of time and effort to put one together so that is not surprising. I know when my sons helped to build a mammoth they spent a great deal of time in the construction. I believe I contributed some spare wood for the frame — it takes a mammoth amount of wood to build a hairy elephant. The parade was too long — two hours — and people were leaving before the end. I like the marching bands and any floats. Also any military hardware and anything with horses.

The rest of Peach Days I don’t care for. There is nothing in the booths I am interested in except the food. It is just glorified shopping. It was enjoyable to see others having fun so it is worth the trip for that. The young people were especially enjoying the carnival. It was great to be out in the sunshine with my family.

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There were a lot of marching bands in the parade and of course the biggest and best is the Davis High School Band led by instructor Mr. Hendricks. There were the usual cars and even though some were old there were none that were rickety. The governor and his wife were in the parade as well as Rob Bishop in a car that could barely hold him. Byron, my nephew, was playing his trumpet on the Jazz Band float, watch out below for the handsome chap with red hair. There were the beauty queens and horse drawn carriages which looked like they got around fifteen miles per hay bale. Emergency vehicles were bountiful in the parade which had me thinking who was going to respond to an actually emergency? No worries about that as most of Bountiful was at the parade anyway.

Bountiful Handcart Days start at 6pm on the 23rd July. It is quite lengthy at over a hundred entries. The parade route was packed and we had to take the sunny side of the road. I wanted to stay with my family so I was taking pictures into the sun. That seemed to interfere a little with the focusing of the camera. However, I was able to get some shade with the beach umbrella the wards had erected. That is me in the photograph.

I am going to let the photographs speak for themselves. First up are the family that save us a place, bring water, and always manage to find some high quality shade. And don’t forget to save me a place at the next parade!

There were many floats, led by the sheriff and the National Guard, and followed with the martial arts. Click on the photographs below for a larger image.

Related Websites

Handcart Days Channel — See the video of the 2008 and 2009 parades.
2010 Handcart Days Website — Events, media, volunteers, sponsors, and blog.
2010 Handcart Days on Facebook — Become a fan.

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A blanket and chairs were left overnight on the parade route to save our place. Jill and I put up the canopy in the morning before the parade. Left to right, back to front are Mark, Connie, Sarah, Susan, Rick, Jill, Shauna, Byron, Daniel, and Paul.

The day was hot but cooled down as the sky became overcast. We could have fared well without the canopy. Here are some photographs from the parade. One of the floats won a prize which wasn’t too difficult as there were only two in the whole parade.

There are additional parade photographs in the gallery.

There seems to be at least one rickety old car in every parade. Some of these cars look in very fine shape for their age.

The water fight takes place at the end of the parade. The water trucks follow at the same route and give a lot of people a good soaking. Of course many residents come with their own water weapons ready for a fight.

After the parade we all went back to my house for a well-deserved bar-b-q. Tonight are the fireworks and we already have our favorite spot staked out. See you there!

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Kent and Susan had saved seats for us. From left to right in the photograph below are Rick (me), Kent, Jill, Sarah, Shauna, Mark, Connie, and Susan. Shauna had brought candy just in case we didn’t like the parade offerings. There was also water but it wasn’t needed as I think we had the coolest spot on the parade route.

The National Guard carried the flag followed by Mayor James Behunin on a horse. Val Verda Stake, where Jill and I used to live, had a pioneer themed float. There were the usually bands, fire engines, and rickety old cars. There were even Star Wars characters entertaining the crowd. With fifty entries the parade was over in less than an hour which is about the right amount of time for me.

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West Bountiful City Independence Day Parade See video of the 2009 parade.

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