The following is excerpted from the Deseret News. To read the full article, CLICK HERE.
All of the annual Days of ’47 Pioneer Day celebrations that pack downtown Salt Lake City every July have been canceled in light of the circumstances imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The board acknowledges conditions may change between now and July, but because considerable work needs to be done in the meantime — much of which involves large groups building floats, etc. — a deadline had to be imposed, and the decision had to be made now,” organizers said in a news release late Tuesday afternoon.
The Days of ’47 board of trustees met in the morning to make the final decision, choosing to cancel 2020’s parade, rodeo, Pioneers of Progress dinner, sunrise service and pops concert “only after thorough consideration of input from all applicable sources.”
The Days of ’47 celebration is the latest of a string of summer cancellations caused by the novel coronavirus, joining two other fixtures of the Pioneer Day holiday, the Bountiful Handcart Days and the Deseret News Marathon, as well as Salt Lake’s annual arts festival in June. Organizers of two other major July events — America’s Freedom Festival in Provo and Ogden Pioneer Days — have yet to reach a decision on if they will be held.
Lane Summerhays, Days of ’47 board of trustees president, said canceling the celebration was “not taken lightly.” First priority in determining whether to postpone the events until next year was given to state and local officials’ public health guidelines.
“The board expresses appreciation for all the work that has been done thus far, and wants to assure the public that plans will go forward in earnest for presentation of all events next year — hopefully in ways that will amply compensate for this year’s loss,” Summerhays said in the news release.
To read the full article, CLICK HERE.
