After a 1,300-mile exodus from Nauvoo, Ill., to the Great Basin, members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints finally found here the peace that had eluded them elsewhere. They also found something else: American Indians who had made the region their home for generations.
During the annual Pioneer Day holiday every July 24, Utahns flock by the thousands to watch the Days of '47 Parade and commemorate the pioneers' arrival. But the meanings the Utes, Shoshone, Navajo and other American Indians in Utah ascribe to Pioneer Day are varied and deeply personal.
For Navajo Cal Nez, the holiday means it's time for the Native American Celebration in the Park, the independent festival he founded and oversees each year in Liberty Park that coincides with the Days of '47 celebration.
Nez says nearly half the participants in the Days of '47 Parade, which winds up at Liberty Park, also pop in for the American Indian festival.
"We've been doing [the festival] for 12 years," Nez says. "When we first started out, we were a tiny festival. We are just massive [now]. We draw people from all over the United States. For a one-day festival, we draw from 65,000 to 85,000 people. Most people are happy that we are able to hold the festival to honor our people and to have our drums heard."
For her part, Mary Lee Longhair, a Ute who is a public relations aide for the Ute tribe in Fort Duchesne, does feel excluded from the traditional Pioneer Day celebrations.
"We've just never been included," she says. "We do feel left out. We were kind of pushed aside [when the Mormons came]. We never really celebrated [or accepted] the 24th of July. We never recognized the Mormon traditions, and that's what it is."
Dena Ned, of the Chickasaw and Choctaw nations in Oklahoma, has lived in Utah for much of her life and agrees with Longhair's perspective.
"On the surface, what you see in the parade, the fireworks, is a celebration of culture, but it is not all-inclusive," she says. "It's always from one point of view of the history. It happens to be from the point of view that benefits from it. I don't think the organizers will ever change it to represent the true history. It is what it is."
But Ned, who is the executive director of the Indian Walk-In Center in Salt Lake City, recognizes that she and other Indians living in Utah cannot ignore the holiday.
"Everyone has a right to celebrate what they want," she says. "That's what a celebration is. But will I support it and be right there behind it? No. It is a three-day weekend, [but] there's no emotional connection to it for me personally."
In reviewing the motivations that brought the early LDS settlers to Utah, Cal Nez does find a bit of irony.
"One of the things I find interesting is that back when the pioneers first came to Utah, they were oppressed, running for their lives. We [American Indians] understand that," he says.
Nez says it is wonderful to be able to reach out and share cultures with others.
"We're about building bridges, reaching out to create unity," he adds. At the Native American Celebration in the Park, we have "no political agenda."
"There's nothing we can do about the past, but we feel strongly that we can do something about the future [and reach out] to our brothers and sisters."
If you go
The Native American Celebration in the Park is scheduled for Monday at Liberty Park, 900 South and 500 East, Salt Lake City. Food booths open at 7 a.m. and entertainment, an intertribal powwow and arts and crafts start at noon. Fireworks will cap off the festivities. Admission is free. For information, go to http://www.nacip.com.
