The Days of ’47 Youth Parade is history. Saturday marked the final march for the 80-year-old tradition.
Organizers said they are doing away with the procession because it was putting too much pressure on Mormon congregations that may be asked to provide floats for the youth parade and for the main event — the Days of ’47 Parade, which is Tuesday, Pioneer Day — in back-to-back years.
“We are very sad,” said parade co-chairwoman Jodene Smith. “It’s been going since 1938. That’s a long time."
Days of ’47 events mark the July 24, 1847, arrival of Mormon pioneers in the Salt Lake Valley.
View images from this year’s youth parade in the gallery below.
(Rick Egan | The Salt Lake Tribune) Future missionaries walk from the Riverton Harvest Park Stake, follow thier float with the theme "Building Faith Through Pioneer Stories". Saturday, July 21, 2018.