Pioneer Days Children's Parade

Princess Taylor

I think it is fair to say that Dad has 'a thing' for July. Maybe it's that he is a 40+ year federal employee and a veteran, or maybe it's just the excitement of the celebrations themselves, but we always had fun in July.

As a little girl we use to do ALL the 4th of July celebrations. Morning Breakfast's with whomever is sponsoring the event, then carnivals, the sawdust scramble for coins, winning fish and then the fireworks. The absolute craziest year was the Soccer exhibition I played in while it was 106 degrees outside. Yeah, that was insane. INSANELY FUN!

So it was no wonder that they came to California for the 4th. And, it was lame. Not much to do. Did the parade. And the fireworks. I am used to fireworks in an open park, maybe a field, sometimes a Stadium but in Valencia, CA they shot them off the top of the Mall parking structure. We sat in the Target Parking Lot watching them. It was still fun, but no fish. Damn.

The Maughan Family and The Parade

We vowed that the 24th would be better. In Utah, they celebrate the settling of the Salt Lake Valley on July 24th, 1847. They have the Day's of '47 rodeo and parade and prior to that, Ogden celebrates Pioneer Days. It's a week full of events: Rodeo's, luncheons, sales, and parades. Kicking off with the Children's parade.

Now, we did the Children's Parade several years when we were little girls. Decorating our bikes in red, white and blue and riding like little maniacs. It was a sight to behold in 1976 for the Bicentennial. Scary. But Cool. And this year, we didn't sign up, we were too late. I told Tay that the kids dress up and decorate their bikes and she could wave at them, She said: And see the princesses and blow them kisses! A light bulb went off and the next morning (the parade morning) I picked up Megan, who was visiting before heading out to Amber's, and we bought Tay a brand new Princess Costume.

We were a little late for the parade and ended up at the starting line. It only made sense for us to walk on. So we did.

Daddy and his little Princess

 She looked so cute and Bug wanted to walk by Mom too. So, midway through we swapped. Daddy with Tay and Mommy with Bug. She was the belle of the parade and started to get shy. She would wave, but not blow kisses. We walked 5 blocks and it was a blast. The Ogden Police Department covered the parade and they were fantastic! Encouraging the kids and laughing with them! Can't wait to do it with her next year! Oh yeah, we will be back!