Children walk for fallen pioneers at youth parade

Children walk for fallen pioneers at youth parade

(Spenser Heaps, Deseret News)


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SALT LAKE CITY — Dubbed "the happiest parade on the planet," the Days of '47 Youth Parade is one of the largest youth parades in the nation.

Several thousand kids turned out Saturday for the parade and participated by riding on floats, in wagons, on bikes or walking on foot. The parade followed the traditional route westbound along 500 South to 500 East to Washington Square at the Salt Lake City and County building.

But there was also greater purpose in this year's parade:

"Someone said that they thought it was about remembering the children who came into the valley," Greg James, former president of the Days of '47, said. "I then asked, 'what about all the children who did not make it to the valley?'

I suggested we should find the names of those children lost and let the children in the parade finish their journey into the valley," he said.

It helped promote the theme, "Pioneers, Inspiring Today's Generation."

Parade organizers and the board's historian, Lois Harmon, collected more than 800 names of children who lost their lives somewhere on the original Mormon Pioneer trail in the mid-1800s.

Board member Pat Price also found research and an electronic file from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints with a list of children who had died on the 900 mile journey. Some children perished at Winter Quarters in Nebraska, others on the high plains of Wyoming or somewhere else along the way.

Each name was assigned to children participating in the youth parade so each child walked in memory of someone who never made it to the Salt Lake Valley.

At the end of the parade, each child posted the name they walked for on a banner that was hung by the royalty booth at Washington Square.

"We are convinced that by having these names, the children in the parade will have a moving and exciting experience this year and in future years," James said.

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