Days of '47 Parade

It took having a friend who has never been to Utah coming into town to get me to finally, after living here 35 years, go see the Days of '47 parade and rodeo.  That's what I did this 24th of July.  For those of you outside of Utah, it's the celebration of when the pioneers came into and settled the valley.  It's also a state holiday, with a lot of state offices closed.  I found out from my friend that not all states have their own holidays, that some states, like New York, only celebrate the national ones. 

Looking down into the valley from Little Cottonwood Canyon.  No, it has nothing to do with the parade, but I did like the picture.

The LDS First Presidency.  Not surprising that the parade had a LDS theme to it, since the pioneers were members of the church.  I liked the "Men in Khaki", which I'm assuming are the Church's version of Obama's secret service men.

What aliens have to do with the pioneers, I have no idea.  But it did occur to me to ask "is he or she an illegal alien?"

Randy "I'll pave my grandmother for a hundred bucks" Horiuchi, our Salt Lake County coucil member that seems to believe in shopping malls on every corner.

One of the more colorful characters, and she wasn't even in the parade.  When our Senator Bennett drove by she yelled "Health Care for All" at him and she also had comments for pretty much every politician that drove by.  Very vocal lady.  And impeccably dressed, too!

This guy had enough clout (money) to get the Utah State Legislature to force Salt Lake County to pony up several million dollars so he could build his new soccer stadium.  Even though the county voted it down, the mayor and the majority of the populace was against it, and they had a perfectly good place to play up at the University of Utah.  Yeah, it's nice to know our legislators can't be bought.

And this was just a cool picture of a purple-haired clown with one of her soap bubbles behind her head.

You can see all of my photos from the parade here : Days of '47 Parade