Estimated read time: 3-4 minutes
SANDY — Walking into the Days of '47 float preview party is like entering a school science fair, if all of the most competitive parents in the district took full control of the projects and got a little carried away.
Between the polished cement and the high-hanging warehouse lights of the Mountain America Expo Center in Sandy, rows and rows of floats are parked proudly, showing off monumental papier-mâché structures, piston-actuated figurines, and motorized objects powered by car batteries.
"We're celebrating our pioneer heritage," said preview party coordinator Tom Colligan; it's a little ironic given the sheer volume of hobby electronics, lights, whirring objects and portable speakers.
But it's all part of the lighthearted celebrations to go along with this year's parade that draws thousands to Salt Lake City, some camping out overnight, to watch bands, horses, and these spectacular floats.
"It was an amazing amount of work, I've been basically working full time since February," Bob Henderson said Saturday. He is a retired electrical engineer who has put an estimated 500 hours of labor into a float that features possums hanging from a large tree, their motorized heads on a swivel looking continuously paranoid.
The artist decorating the float, Stacy Moody, probably put in double the hours Henderson did, he estimates.
He went dumpster-diving for aluminum that helped provide structure and strength to a large tree, wrapping the metal in thick wire, chicken wire, and covering it in paper. The not-so-secret ingredient — "tons and tons of glitter," Henderson said.
Hundreds of people volunteered to make that single float to pay tribute to pioneer heritage — though the float, controlled by a small computer Henderson programmed himself, surpasses the technology available to the pioneers themselves.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints owns 20 float bases, according to preview party coordinator Tom Colligan, and assigns different groups of congregations, called "stakes," to build floats for the parade. The slogan for this year: "Stout pioneer hearts — lift others!"
Each stake in the rotation gets assigned around once a decade, and goes all-out on its construction. The floats for next year have already been assigned. Governments and businesses also build floats for the parade, for a total of 40 entered this year, according to Colligan.
Leslee Atkin began working with others on their float in September, right after she moved to the area. "We moved into this area, not knowing anybody," she said, "And now we have grown to love and know new people."
The construction project, though intense, allowed many participants to develop relationships. "Every once in a while we get wrapped up in the float and the deadlines and everything," Henderson recalled, "and it's good to take a step back and realize the most important thing here is the people and the relationships we're forming, experiences we're having. The float is very secondary to that."
"I've met so many good people, it's unbelievable," he said. "I'm a little bit sad that it's over."
Henderson spoke a little too soon, with another day of float preview partying happening Monday, July 22, free to the public, and what all the fuss has been about — the Days of '47 Parade on Pioneer Day, July 24, in Salt Lake City.
