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SALT LAKE CITY — Saturday began the festivities for the upcoming Pioneer Day celebration, and included the traditional re-enactment of the trek into the first pioneer encampment.
Pioneer Day is celebrated on the 24th of July as the day that Utah was officially settled. To commemorate the day, several hundred residents dressed in pioneer-era clothing and retraced the steps of the first pioneers who came into the Salt Lake valley 166 years prior.
The tradition has been ongoing for the past 16 years. Families joined together and hiked a path along Emigration Creek, and remembered their ancestors and others who made the trip before them.
"I hope to understand how hard it was for them and how much perseverance it took," said Grace Bauman, a Holladay resident who made the trip.
The path wound participants through Salt Lake Neighborhoods, ending at First Encampment Park which was where pioneers spent their first night in the valley. Individuals carrying the American flag lead the march of almost 200 hikers in full pioneer costume honoring their ancestors, and the history of Utah.
"They had a clear vision of what they wanted in their life when they got here," said event organizer Wayne Howcroft. "And that was freedom from oppression and to live their life the way they saw fit. I felt it was important to do something special for the 24th of July and try to understand what the pioneers tried to go through."
