As you might know, Pioneer Day has only been in my holiday canon since 2015, meaning that's when I began considering it a holiday season, with its own decorations, music, food, etc. But I was still aware of it, of course, throughout my life.
When I was a kid, we would light fireworks, and I don't know which of my fireworks memories are from the Fourth of July or Pioneer Day. In primary, we would sing "Pioneer Children Sang as They Walked," "Little Pioneer Children," etc. I remember one activity where we made lanterns out of tin cans. When I was ten or eleven, we had a primary activity one hot summer morning where we pulled wagons up our steep hill to a trail and open area to eat lunch. That area is now covered with houses.
One year, I remember seeing a car wash marquee in Bountiful that said "Pioneer children sang as they washed and washed and washed."
My niece was born July 22, and I remember watching Pioneer Day fireworks two days later from Primary Children's Hospital when she was in the NICU. We have often had birthday celebrations on or near Pioneer Day ever since.
Dating back to 2003 or 2004, I considered adding Pioneer Day to my official canon. But there just aren't many pioneer/Utah-themed decorations (or other things). I would frequently see Americana symbols and decorations used for Pioneer Day. But I rejected that association, because the pioneers fled the United States for Mexico. And when there aren't many acceptable symbols, it's hard to have a holiday (or at least, that's how I saw it back then).
Then flash-forward to 2012 and 2013, when I had a job at BYU Studies, an academic journal. I began hearing about nineteenth-century celebrations. And with some hints introduced to me, I reasoned, "OK, if I hear that the pioneers themselves used American flags for Pioneer Day, then I will accept them as suitable for July 24."
So, guess what I learned late in 2014?
At the first July 24 celebration in Salt Lake City in 1849, they carried American flags, fired cannons, and read the Declaration of Independence and Constitution. It was a veritably patriotic celebration, even though they complained of their treatment by the government.
As for the pioneers going to Mexico--it was technically Mexico when they arrived in 1847. However, it was difficult for the Mexican government to govern and supervise the lands so far north, so it was really more of a no-man's-land. In early 1848, the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo passed the lands to the United States, so only those who arrived in 1847 were in Mexico.
Celebrations for the first decade followed essentially the same pattern as the first in 1849, but bigger and more widespread. Missionaries would even celebrate in their international fields of labor. The connection between July 4 and July 24 was not lost on its early celebrants; in 1852, Daniel H. Wells said, “Shall we forget our history? If we do, we shall be unlike our revolutionary fathers, who take great care not only to commemorate theirs, but impress upon their children every notable circumstance pertaining to the birth of Freedom. Shall we be less indifferent in regard to our early history, the more especially when the ground has drunk the blood of our friends and brethren in the boasted land of Freedom’s choice? Let it pass; WE WILL REMEMBER IT, and teach our children also, that they may know upon what sacrifices the foundation of the kingdom of our God was established upon the earth.”
I haven't done much research yet beyond the 1850s, and I only know what I have personally seen and experienced from the 1990s to today.
Today, I do enjoy having Pioneer Day as part of my canon. I like the extension of the Fourth of July season. I like celebrating the establishment of my own dear mountain home. I am inspired when I think of the pioneers coming to a barren wasteland and making cities and a state out of nothing. It's amazing.
(Also, the next major holiday is not until Halloween, so having another summer holiday keeps my mind off of how sad that is.)
Yet even though Pioneer Day has all the trappings of a typical holiday, and I enjoy it, I still feel like it's only a half holiday.
I think this mainly has to do with the fact that it's a state holiday. You cross the border, and it doesn't mean anything. Especially since Utah doesn't have the influence of other states.
Then there's the fact that even in Utah, a lot of people don't observe it. You have a lot of transplants from other states, who didn't grow up with it on their radar.
In many ways, it's a churchy, Mormon holiday. Many of my young memories of the holiday revolve around church. We don't have Pioneer Day observations at school, because it's summer vacation. There are some non-Mormons who celebrate it. I think there's a substantial number of people who are just apathetic about it; they don't care that it's there, and they may or may not participate in community events just because they're a summer festival. And then there are a few of the bigots who don't think it should be a holiday, who want to ignore or rewrite Utah's history just because they dislike the religion of its historical actors. Those people aren't worth our time, and I hope they live sad, lonely lives until they become more tolerant.
Therefore, I appreciate it when celebrations focus on historical facts and events rather than just "the pioneers were Mormons, so here are some Mormon things like Book of Mormon characters and missionaries and temples that have nothing to do with nineteenth-century Utah!"
In recent years, I've been trying to supplement my holiday celebrations with actual things to do, instead of just superficial decorations, food, and clothing. So this week I tried to do Pioneer Day things.
On Friday morning, my family left to take my nephews back to California. (I will miss them.) It was my day off, so I went off doing pioneery things. I met some old coworkers for lunch at the Lion House; I only go there because of the pioneer environment and for its seasonal desserts at other times of the year. Afterwards, I went to the Beehive House and had its formal tour. I think I was the only Mormon on the tour, and I was a little surprised (yet not really) about how churchy it was.
Then I attended the Oquirrh Mountain Temple, and then I went to Gardner Village, which I had never been to. I was a little surprised at how non-pioneery it was and how it was entirely geared toward women.
Then I went to Bountiful's Handcart Days Parade in the evening, since my sister's house is right along the route. But my family (except my homebody dad) was all out of town, and I couldn't take my best friend, because he would meow the entire time. So I went by myself. I don't even like parades that much. I really was there for the salt water taffy, which I consider a Pioneer Day candy (as long as it's made by one of the Utah-based brands). The parade is mostly local businesses, school groups, and a few stakes. I was surprised and pleased that the stake floats weren't churchy this year, outside of a few generic (and tasteful) references to faith and journals.
Then I headed over to Bountiful City Park to check out their other festivities. I don't know that I would recommend it; it was one of those deals where you have to buy tickets and then pay for everything with tickets, which I think is a little obnoxious, though I understand it would make things faster. They also had a concert by Carmen Rasmussen-Herbert, a local American Idol contestant from 2003. (I would call her a has-been, or a never-been, but that sounds more negative than I intend.)
Today I played "The Wintry Day, Descending to Its Close" for our elders quorum opening hymn. In a few years, I doubt it will be in the hymnal anymore. We sang "Come, Come, Ye Saints" in sacrament meeting, and there were a few passing references to pioneers, but other than that, little was said about it. Is the holiday endangered, even among its primary base?
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