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- Camp Floyd State Park hosts its "Spirit of the Season" reenactment on Saturday, Dec. 13.
- Visitors will experience 1850s soldier life through actors, displays and activities.
- The event will highlight soldiers' holiday celebrations and hardships at historic Camp Floyd.
FAIRFIELD, Utah County — A holiday celebration is planned at Camp Floyd State Park to show what life was like for soldiers stationed at the former Army base back in the late 1850s.
The park is preparing for its "Spirit of the Season" event on Saturday, where reenactors, living history displays, and hands-on activities will help families experience how troops stationed at what was once the largest military base in the United States celebrated the holidays between 1858 and 1861.
"We will have soldiers wandering the park talking about how they celebrated Christmas historically here at Camp Floyd," said Clay Shelley, who is the park manager. "Luckily, we have several soldiers that kept good journals. So, through those journals, we were able to find out how they celebrated."
Isolated at the edge of the desert, Camp Floyd could be unforgiving during the winter.
"It was very cold out here," said Shelley. "There wasn't a lot to do. So, they spent time together. Of course, you didn't have your families with you, which was the sad part, but the brotherhood between the soldiers was incredible."
Some of the soldiers tried to make the holidays more bearable, even building makeshift fireplaces inside their tents to keep warm.
"Some of them lost their tents during the holiday season from fires and that. Life here was tough," said Shelley. "There's one of the soldiers that said spending a day out here at Camp Floyd was like spending an entire year. That's how desolate and boring it was at times."
Camp Floyd today
Today, Fairfield is a quiet rural community.
But in the 1850s, it was booming.
Shelley said research shows that Fairfield was once the third-largest community in the Utah Territory, with dozens of businesses such as hotels, saloons, gambling halls and more.
"People drive through Fairfield today, and they don't stop by because they don't know what the history was out here," he said. "This was one of the most important places in Utah's history, and we forget that a lot of times."
Ranger Nathan Camp said events like this help people appreciate how different life was for the soldiers who lived here.
"Appreciating what our ancestors, what those before us struggled through, all the things they did, helps us appreciate what we have now," said Camp.
Camp has spent hours studying journals, letters and historical accounts to portray soldiers as accurately as possible.
On Saturday, he will be wearing the Army uniform that was used back then to be part of a large group of reenactors to make it as real as possible for visitors.
"I did do a lot of research," he said. "We have a lot of journal entries from soldiers, from captains talking about what they would have done."
Despite the harsh conditions, Camp said many soldiers still found ways to celebrate, share simple meals, and hold onto traditions that reminded them of home.
Shelley said events like this help keep the park's history alive.
"I thinkas we learn from the past, it helps us in the present and it'll help us in the future," he said.
The event takes place Saturday, Dec. 13, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Camp Floyd State Park. Families can expect:
- Living history demonstrations.
- Interpreters dressed as 1850s soldiers.
- Hands-on activities for children.
- Holiday treats and gifts.
- A visit from Santa.
- A look inside historic structures used by troops during the Utah War era.
