Human cricket, smoking dragon: Days of '47 parade floats interpret Mormon pioneer legacy
1 of 15Al Hartmann | The Salt Lake Tribune
The Salt Lake Big Cottonwood Stake float, "Challenges and Miracles of the Frontier,&quo
Al Hartmann | The Salt Lake Tribune
The Salt Lake Big Cottonwood Stake float, "Challenges and Miracles of the Frontier," features a friendly looking cricket in the beak of a friendly seagull. Thousands attended the Pioneer Day Float Preview Party at the South Towne Exposition Center in Sandy on Tuesday. This year's Days of '47 theme is "Pioneers: Forging a New Frontier."
Al Hartmann | The Salt Lake Tribune
The Salt Lake Big Cottonwood Stake float, "Challenges and Miracles of the Frontier,&quoAl Hartmann | The Salt Lake Tribune
Thousands attended the Pioneer Day Float Preview Party at the South Towne Exposition Center Al Hartmann | The Salt Lake Tribune
Thousands attended the Pioneer Day Float Preview Party at the South Towne Exposition Center Al Hartmann | The Salt Lake Tribune
Thousands attended the Pioneer Day Float Preview Party at the South Towne Exposition Center Al Hartmann | The Salt Lake Tribune
Thousands attended the Pioneer Day Float Preview Party at the South Towne Exposition Center Al Hartmann | The Salt Lake Tribune
West Jordan Oquirrh Stake's parade entry, "A Frontier of Service." Thousands attenAl Hartmann | The Salt Lake Tribune
West Jordan Oquirrh Stake's parade entry, "A Frontier of Service." Thousands attenAl Hartmann | The Salt Lake Tribune
The Holladay North Stake float, "Families Forge Together to Face New Frontiers," fAl Hartmann | The Salt Lake Tribune
The Holladay North Stake float, "Families Forge Together to Face New Frontiers," fAl Hartmann | The Salt Lake Tribune
The Johnson family of South Jordan has a group picture taken in front of Riverton Central StAl Hartmann | The Salt Lake Tribune
The Bountiful Utah Heights Stake float, "Miracle of the Quail." Thousands attendedAl Hartmann | The Salt Lake Tribune
Thousands attended the Pioneer Day Float Preview Party at the South Towne Exposition Center Al Hartmann | The Salt Lake Tribune
Boy Scouts raise their swords to the Holladay North Stake float, "Families Forge TogethAl Hartmann | The Salt Lake Tribune
Thousands attended the Pioneer Day Float Preview Party at the South Towne Exposition Center Al Hartmann | The Salt Lake Tribune
Salt Lake Big Cottonwood Stake's float, "Challenges and Miracles of the Frontier,"
Al Hartmann | The Salt Lake Tribune
The Salt Lake Big Cottonwood Stake float, "Challenges and Miracles of the Frontier," features a friendly looking cricket in the beak of a friendly seagull. Thousands attended the Pioneer Day Float Preview Party at the South Towne Exposition Center in Sandy on Tuesday. This year's Days of '47 theme is "Pioneers: Forging a New Frontier."Al Hartmann | The Salt Lake Tribune
Thousands attended the Pioneer Day Float Preview Party at the South Towne Exposition Center in Sandy on Tuesday. This year's Days of '47 theme is "Pioneers: Forging a New Frontier."Al Hartmann | The Salt Lake Tribune
Thousands attended the Pioneer Day Float Preview Party at the South Towne Exposition Center in Sandy on Tuesday. This year's Days of '47 theme is "Pioneers: Forging a New Frontier."Al Hartmann | The Salt Lake Tribune
Thousands attended the Pioneer Day Float Preview Party at the South Towne Exposition Center in Sandy on Tuesday. This year's Days of '47 theme is "Pioneers: Forging a New Frontier."Al Hartmann | The Salt Lake Tribune
Thousands attended the Pioneer Day Float Preview Party at the South Towne Exposition Center in Sandy on Tuesday. This year's Days of '47 theme is "Pioneers: Forging a New Frontier."Al Hartmann | The Salt Lake Tribune
West Jordan Oquirrh Stake's parade entry, "A Frontier of Service." Thousands attended the Pioneer Day Float Preview Party at the South Towne Exposition Center in Sandy on Tuesday. This year's Days of '47 theme is "Pioneers: Forging a New Frontier."Al Hartmann | The Salt Lake Tribune
West Jordan Oquirrh Stake's parade entry, "A Frontier of Service." Thousands attended the Pioneer Day Float Preview Party at the South Towne Exposition Center in Sandy on Tuesday. This year's Days of '47 theme is "Pioneers: Forging a New Frontier."Al Hartmann | The Salt Lake Tribune
The Holladay North Stake float, "Families Forge Together to Face New Frontiers," features a moving, smoking dragon. Thousands attended the Pioneer Day Float Preview Party at the South Towne Exposition Center in Sandy on Tuesday. This year's Days of '47 theme is "Pioneers: Forging a New Frontier."Al Hartmann | The Salt Lake Tribune
The Holladay North Stake float, "Families Forge Together to Face New Frontiers," features a moving, smoking dragon. Thousands attended the Pioneer Day Float Preview Party at the South Towne Exposition Center in Sandy on Tuesday. This year's Days of '47 theme is "Pioneers: Forging a New Frontier."Al Hartmann | The Salt Lake Tribune
The Johnson family of South Jordan has a group picture taken in front of Riverton Central Stake float, "Forging Friendships Across the Seas." Thousands attended the Pioneer Day Float Preview Party at the South Towne Exposition Center in Sandy on Tuesday. This year's Days of '47 theme is "Pioneers: Forging a New Frontier."Al Hartmann | The Salt Lake Tribune
The Bountiful Utah Heights Stake float, "Miracle of the Quail." Thousands attended the Pioneer Day Float Preview Party at the South Towne Exposition Center in Sandy on Tuesday. This year's Days of '47 theme is "Pioneers: Forging a New Frontier."Al Hartmann | The Salt Lake Tribune
Thousands attended the Pioneer Day Float Preview Party at the South Towne Exposition Center in Sandy on Tuesday. This year's Days of '47 theme is "Pioneers: Forging a New Frontier."Al Hartmann | The Salt Lake Tribune
Boy Scouts raise their swords to the Holladay North Stake float, "Families Forge Together to Face New Frontiers," which features a moving, smoking dragon. Thousands attended the Pioneer Day Float Preview Party at the South Towne Exposition Center in Sandy on Tuesday. This year's Days of '47 theme is "Pioneers: Forging a New Frontier."Al Hartmann | The Salt Lake Tribune
Thousands attended the Pioneer Day Float Preview Party at the South Towne Exposition Center in Sandy on Tuesday. This year's Days of '47 theme is "Pioneers: Forging a New Frontier."Al Hartmann | The Salt Lake Tribune
Salt Lake Big Cottonwood Stake's float, "Challenges and Miracles of the Frontier," features a friendly looking cricket in the beak of a friendly seagull. Thousands attended the Pioneer Day Float Preview Party at the South Towne Exposition Center in Sandy on Tuesday. This year's Days of '47 theme is "Pioneers: Forging a New Frontier."
This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2015, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Using the theme "Pioneers: Forging a New Frontier" — some less literally than others — artists, technicians and local LDS Church wards created elaborate floats for this year's Days of '47 parade.
The floats were previewed Monday and Tuesday so that the public could view their details up close, even as the creations received finishing touches — such as "educaton" being corrected to "education" on BYU's entry.
Some floats put a twist on LDS history — on one float, a giant seagull chomps on a humanized cricket, referencing early-settler lore of seagulls saving crops on Utah's new frontier from being devoured by crickets.
Others took a metaphorical view, with a huge smoke-spewing dragon hinting that new frontiers should be entered cautiously.
Thousands of attendees voted for their favorite floats at Monday and Tuesday's preview. The winners will be noted in Friday morning's parade through Salt Lake City — the state's biggest parade in size and attention, with many camping out the night before to ensure good vantage points.
