The Twenty-Fourth of July

This year was the tenth anniversary / eleventh year I have formally observed Pioneer Day, and I really love having an extra holiday in July.

The night before, I made a cherry pie using the cherries my mom bottled from the fruit I picked from my sister's tree. I'm opposed to the idea of Pie and Beer Day, for several reasons. But I have found references to pie for the 24th of July at least as far back as 1857, so it seems like an appropriate time to have it. (And I have found references to beer as far back as 1852, but that doesn't mean we should have it.)

July 24 was not just Pioneer Day, it was also the seventy-fifth anniversary of the Daughters of Utah Pioneers Museum, and they had a special open house for it. I went with my parents and my niece. They had a scavenger hunt where you could take selfies with various items in the museum, and then you'd get a prize at the end. But I had no use for the prizes of kid sunglasses or fidget toys. (The selfies I took with my mom and my niece didn't come out great.)

I matched the old Utah flag!

The infamous two-headed lamb

I think it's amazing they (purportedly) have Brigham Young's 1847 wagon!

There was a guy there wearing a tank top with a rainbow-colored beehive that said "Industry." Though I generally don't compliment strangers, I said, "I like your shirt," and he said, "I like your shirt!" His great shirt offset the guy wearing the MAGA hat.

Then we went to California Burgers so we could have the staple Utah foods of pastrami burgers and fry sauce. I've been eating lots of pastrami burgers for the last three weeks, and now I can revert to veggie burgers. 

In the afternoon/evening, I decided I wanted to watch the 1940 Brigham Young movie, which I have heard about for years and years but never seen. It's on YouTube. Now I know why I had never seen it. They took so many liberties, which might have been forgivable if it had been an interesting movie. But it was very dull and disjointed. It couldn't decide whether it was about Brigham Young or about the love story between some randos. It felt like what you'd get if you asked AI to tell the pioneer story. It's an interesting cultural artifact (Vincent Price playing Joseph Smith!), not a good movie.

Then I went to see the drone show at Liberty Park, the third year for the show. Last year I got a perfect spot, so I sat there. But they moved the location, and this time it was partly covered by trees. And I feel like it would be covered by trees anywhere in the park this time? Anyway, I loved this drone show. But I was disappointed they just played generic pop music. I mean, that is my preferred genre of music, but it has nothing to do with Utah. They could have at least played "Salt Lake City" by the Beach Boys, like they did two years ago. This year's theme was "Uniquely Utah." Here are the images in reverse order, because Blogger makes it far too difficult to put them up in order.

Happy Pioneer Day

This year, Utah passed a law that only allows official government or municipal flags at government-owned buildings. Salt Lake City responded by making official versions of its flag by stamping the sego lily on different flags, thereby making it legal to display them. I love this kind of malicious compliance. This is the Juneteenth flag.

Salt Lake's trans flag

How wonderful to see a Progress Pride flag at a Pioneer Day event!

And Salt Lake's default flag

Utah flag

Beehive and bee

Julia Reagan billboard

I had to look this one up. Apparently there was a mysterious daycare that captivated people's attention because they never saw kids there.

"All Hail the Whale"

The whale was installed years ago, yet I still haven't made my way out to see it

"SLC, Utah" soda cups

Cookies. I assume it's supposed to be lime, chocolate chip, and pink sugar?

Snowboarding

Skiing

2034 Olympics

2002 Olympics

"Tusks Up"—Utah's new hockey team, Utah Mammoth

Jazz Bear. It took me a minute.

I assume this is a Utahraptor?

Seagull

I think this is Indigenous...

..and so is this...

...and so is this.

I don't know what this is.

Delicate Arch

Transcontinental Railroad

I didn't get a picture of the golden spike when it was big

Utah!

Utah!

Covered wagon

Do they still make this license plate? I like that they made it say P10N33R.

Uniquely Utah!

As I walked back to my car while people were lighting fireworks, and as I drove home listening to my Pioneer Day playlist, I couldn't help but think how much I enjoy this uniquely Utah holiday.

As a general rule, I try not to read comments on the internet. They just rile me up. But since I'm deeply interested in Pioneer Day, sometimes I can't help myself. As I read comments on the internet, I sometimes get the impression that anyone who is not LDS or who leans left hates the holiday. But I think that's actually a vocal minority. Most people who fall in those categories are probably indifferent or mildly inconvenienced, and some even like it. 

I actually don't care whether other people celebrate Pioneer Day. But I detest comments that imply "I don't celebrate it and no one else should either" or "I don't celebrate because I have this special knowledge that celebrants don't have." 

One that I frequently see is "Why do we have American flags and other patriotic imagery? The pioneers left the United States for Mexico!" And I used to have that same question, which is part of why I didn't formally observe it for many years. But in my research I have discovered that the very first July 24 celebration was identical to July 4 celebrations. They have always been closely linked.

This week a prominent historian (who I met last month) made a video saying he chuckles when people celebrate it like a second Fourth of July, because the pioneers didn't celebrate America. Um, no, they did think the United States had let them down, but they still venerated the Declaration of Independence and the heroes of 1776. And this kind of celebration—honoring the ideals of America while complaining about some of the specifics—has been a part of Fourth of July celebrations from the country's early days up to the present.

Anyway, I politely pushed back on one of his posts, citing my own scholarship. (I haven't seen any response yet.) I'm certain he knows more history in general than I do. But when it comes to Pioneer Day specifically, I probably know more than anyone else in the world. And I'm not exaggerating.

Pin Quest

Recently, my marketing colleagues at the Utah Historical Society announced they would be hosting a Pin Quest with ten different pins people could collect. These pins would be distributed to thirty-three different museums and sites throughout the state. As UHS employees, we could participate, but we still needed to get the pins ourselves like everyone else. We just got to learn about it ahead of time. 

July is Museum Month, and UHS is opening the Museum of Utah next June, which will be free to the public. This Pin Quest was part of the marketing strategy to get the word out.

Well, I managed to go out and get all ten pins! So I'm going to tell you my adventures in finding them, as well as my experiences with the symbols themselves. 

Many of the pins are official Utah symbols, and sometimes I think we have too many. We have a state vegetable and a state historic vegetable. We have a state bird and a state bird of prey. We have a state fossil and a state dinosaur. And we have a state rock, a state stone, a state gem, and a state mineral.

Fry Sauce

On Tuesday morning, I decided to stop at the Murray Museum before work so I could pick up the fry sauce pin.

They had a little free exhibit, which I wandered through. It was all right. As I have looked through twentieth-century Utah publications, I have often come across the Brick Man mascot, so I was happy to see they had the Brick Man made out of Legos, as well as the Murray smokestacks made of Legos. (I remember seeing them before they demolished them.)

I don't always get fries, but when I do, I really do love fry sauce. There was a time when I preferred ketchup, but now I once again prefer fry sauce. I especially eat a lot of it at this time of year (Pioneer Day season). 

I also love pastrami burgers, another Utah classic.

Utahraptor

After work, I stopped at the Natural History Museum of Utah. I love that place, even though I haven't been there in a while (I think 2016). But I didn't go in; I just got the pin at the admissions desk. But they have a walkway outside with different geologic periods where one step is a million years. I was able to test my knowledge of geologic time. (I forgot the Permian, darn it.)

The Utahraptor is Utah's state dinosaur (the allosaurus is the state fossil). The velociraptors in Jurassic Park are more like Utahraptors, which were still a fairly newly discovered dino at the time.

Sego lily

Then I headed to the Bountiful Davis Art Center. I've been there before, and I'm not that big into art, so I didn't look around. The worker didn't know what I was talking about until she remembered there was a bag of these pins on the front desk. So it was a surprise that they were one of the first places to run out!

I love sego lilies, and I think I first saw them in person in 2015. Now I see them in abundance every June if I go to the right places. Sego lilies are the state flower, and I'm not sure at what point they became a beloved symbol, but it was at least by the beginning of the twentieth century. I'm disappointed the pin doesn't really look like a sego lily. I do have a sego lily pin from the Daughters of Utah Pioneers Museum, which I think is more realistic (though the green parts are supposed to be white).

Porcini mushroom

On Wednesday, I decided I wanted to take some time out of my workday to go to Ogden and Brigham City to get four more pins, so I headed to Union Station in Ogden to get the mushroom pin. I didn't go through the museum, which charges a fee, but UHS had a staff lunch there in October 2023. 

Porcini mushrooms became the state mushroom in 2023. They grow in the wild, and they are edible, if you like eating mushrooms (I don't). Is this the kind of mushroom I saw on an awkward hiking date in 2018?

Golden eagle

I drove over to the Eccles Dinosaur Park in Ogden. They were more agressively advertising the pins, so I was happy to get one. I think I went to that park on a field trip when I was in first grade.

The golden eagle is our state bird of prey, and I have not knowingly seen a golden eagle in the wild, but I do remember one at an elementary school assembly. I might not recognize a golden eagle if I saw it, so it's entirely possible I have seen them.

Green Jell-O

I drove up to the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge Center in Brigham City. I have been to the center before, and of course I love driving (and biking) through the refuge itself. As I got there, there was a mom with a few kids, and they also were asking about the pins. It was at this moment I realized that the pins were going to go fast, so if I wanted to get them all, I would have to act fast—and if I had already gone up to Brigham City, I might as well go farther to collect the rest. The ranger was chatty, and she said they had given out thirty pins the day before. She was annoyed that they didn't get one of the bird pins, and I agree. She also asked me if I had any Olympics pins; I do have some from school. 

I have always been a little skeptical of the Utah Jell-O stereotype. I have never had green Jell-O with carrots. But my mom tells me that when her family moved to Utah in the 1970s, they were struck by the various Jell-O concoctions.

I also feel weird that we really only use a trademark name for the dish, just like Band-Aid and Speedo.

Sugar beet

Next I went over to the Brigham City Museum of Art & History. They had a pioneer-era cabin that had been transported inside, and they also had an art display that represented birds that have died from human-adjacent causes.

Bonneville cutthroat trout

Then I reached the moment of decision: Do I head back in the direction of home, or do I commit to getting the rest of the pins?

I decided to get the rest of them, so I drove up Sardine Canyon to go to Hyrum, before Logan. I stopped at the Hyrum City Museum. But the building was confusing—the sign on the door said "Library and Museum," but it didn't say you had to go downstairs to go to the museum. So I was embarrassed when I had to ask a librarian if they were giving out pins and he redirected me to the museum. Oh well, it's always good for me to practice my poor social skills.

I actually have a UHS colleague who works at the Hyrum Museum, so she immediately knew why I was there. I looked through the museum; they had vintage Latter-day Saint sacrament cups on display, as well as cattle bezoars.

Bonneville cutthroat trout is the state fish. But when I was in first grade and we celebrated Utah's centennial, I learned the state fish was the rainbow trout. I think they changed the fish because the rainbow trout is not native to Utah.

In 2014, they also changed the state tree from blue spruce to quaking aspen

As I drove back down the canyon, I was surprised at how guilty I felt, and I tried to talk myself out of the guilt. "Ugh, I need to get back to work. But my jobs are part-time, so I can rearrange my schedule. But it's dumb to do all this driving just for little pins. It's not just about the pins; it's an adventure and getting to see more of the state. But if I'm just going from place to place, I'm not savoring each location. I can always go back. But all that driving is bad for the planet. Fair, but I am more environmentally conscious than the average person, and it's also not my job to singlehandedly save the planet. What about gas money? I have few expenses, so I can totally afford to drive around the state."

California gull

Next I headed out for the longest part of the day: I drove out to Golden Spike National Historic Site. I have been there before, but I had forgotten how long a drive it is, and it didn't help that I had already been driving so much. There's just not much to see on the way. I did love seeing sunflowers in bloom. I got to the site, which my family visited on Valentine's Day in 2015. I went into the visitors' center and picked up the pin, but I didn't linger. I was on my ninth pin, and I had to make sure I had time to get the last one!

Anyone with a Mormon background knows why seagulls are the state bird, and some contrarian types like to cast doubt on the cricket-and-gull story. But it really happened. Sure, the gulls naturally eat crickets and cough up the inedible parts, and they have down that for centuries and will continue to do so. That doesn't negate that the story happened, whether it was a "miracle" or not. And of course gulls are ubiquitous throughout the Wasatch Front.

Then I began my long drive back to inhabited places, listening to my Pioneer Day playlist. For some reason, I just felt kind of sad. Summer sun often makes me feel sad, and I hadn't had lunch, so I suppose those factors affected my mood. I wanted to stop at the Golden Spike restaurant in Corinne, which looks charmingly quirky, but I realized I didn't have time. And I'm glad I didn't! I would love to go back another time.

Brine shrimp

For some reason, Google Maps took me through a long drive through Ogden, Hooper, and Roy on my way to the final stop: Antelope Island. I was stressed out about making it on time, especially since I didn't know where in the park the pin would be. As I pulled up to the tollgate, I asked the ranger if she knew where I could get the pin. She told me it was at the Fielding Garr Ranch, which was eighteen miles away and closed at 5:00. It was 4:35. I asked if she thought I could make it; she said if I didn't, she would refund the admission fee on my way out.

Ever the rule follower, I followed the speed limit. After a long day of driving, I really didn't want my journey on the island to be for nought. I love Antelope Island, and I passed a herd of bison, so it was hard to feel entirely unhappy, but I was worried.

Well, I think I got to the ranch at exactly 5:00 or 5:01. There was also a car that had followed me for the entire drive that pulled in behind me. I ran down to the museum, but it was too late.

Not quite!

There were some workers/rangers (well, I think one was a volunteer) who called out to me, "Are you looking for something?" I said, "I was hoping to get here before 5:00 so I could get one of the pins." The woman said, "Well, you're in luck." She had a feeling that people were going to come by at the end of the day looking for pins, so she had some in her bag. I barely made it! My quest was complete.

The woman who followed me was also in pursuit of the pin. It turns out she is an employee of Utah State Archives, which is in a different department but is still a state entity. The brine shrimp was her last one too, though her mom had collected the rest. I had actually met her at a Juneteenth event last month. She explained to the workers that her colleague had made some buttons "for the Twenty-Fourth," and her colleague encouraged her to share them with the Antelope Island employees. Then she said to me, "Do you want one too?" I said something like, "I'm the world's expert on the Twenty-Fourth of July, so I would love one." So then the volunteer started talking to me about the Mormon Battalion. 

The button includes a wagon wheel, pie, and presumably beer, along with an archival box designed like the Utah flag. (I'm opposed to Pie and Beer Day, but I could get behind Pie-oneer Day.) The woman told me that her colleague also designed a button with rainbow-colored file folders for June and a winter button, but these are internal buttons, not public facing.

It really was a happy coincidence I was able to get this button!

I love the idea of a brine shrimp pin, but I don't love the execution. The brine shrimp is the state crustacean, and I enjoyed holding them in my hands when I swam in the Great Salt Lake in 2018.

I decided to put all these pins on my work lanyard. 

(I am sad to remove my Nancy and Sluggo pins.) 

I really am a Utah patriot. I love our heritage, our geography, our geology, our quirky food choices, our icons. I don't love everything (especially politics), but I'm a proud Utahn. I still haven't decided whether this quest was a good use of my time, but I'm glad to have it done.