My Favorite Holiday

Pioneer Day, the 24th of July, is my favorite holiday. Seriously, i love it! I am somewhat mourning the loss of it as i now live in Oklahoma and it is almost non-existent here. I love the parade and i love the fireworks and i love all the handcart pulling, hoop-tossing pioneer activities around the valley. Best of all i love the party at my Aunt Karen's house the night before.
We are missing all of it but i thought i'd try to help the rest of you enjoy it. The last two years i found a way to enjoy the parade without the sweltering heat or bored kids. Here's the secret. Go to the parade float preview party. It is July 21st and 22nd from 11am to 9pm at the SouthTowne Expo center. It is really fun. You get to see the floats up close in an air-conditioned building. Sometimes you can meet the float creators, and find out the stories behind the floats. (Last year we found out that one of the floats was completely covered in quilts that were later donated to Humanitarian Aid.) You also get to vote for your favorite and sometimes there are little freebies given away. They also have some of the marching bands playing if you want to hear them. It is a great way to see the "parade" without all the heat and you can take as much or as little time seeing them all. I hope you all go see it and have a great time. Take pictures and send them to us so we can feel like we got to be there too. We'll do our best to enjoy it here even though they don't give anyone the day off or turn the whole state into a celebration.