FORMER SEN. JAKE GARN is shown performing duties in space, the only U.S. senator to have ever flown in space.
He is grand marshal of what is billed as Utah’s second largest Pioneer Day parade. It starts at 6 p.m. on July 23, will run along Bountiful’s Main Street starting at the roundabout at 1500 South Main and heading north to 400 North and Bountiful City Park.
Garn served in the U.S. Senate for 18 years, but is best known for orbiting the earth 109 times as a payload specialist on the crew of the space shuttle Discovery for a week in 1985. He traveled more than 2.5 million miles, logging more than 167 hours in space.
The former senator served in the U.S. Navy as a pilot and also in the Utah Air National Guard as a pilot, and retired as a full colonel 30 years ago. He has flown more than 10,000 hours in military and private civilian aircraft, information from NASA indicates.
Garn’s mission to space and leadership in politics epitomizes the theme for this year’s Bountiful Handcart Days celebration: “Pioneers for Freedom, Courage and Sacrifice.”
More than 100 parade entries are expected to roll along Main Street this year. Some 200 volunteers will also be working behind the scenes to make the event appear effortless to the audience. Volunteerism is a hallmark of the Handcart Days celebration.
Bountiful’s annual celebration also involves support and representation from adjacent South Davis communities.
Other highlights of the parade celebrating the arrival of the Mormon Pioneers in 1847 include bands, clowns, antique cars, horses and a helicopter fly-over.
Handcart Days also involves many other activities, including Bountiful/Davis Art Center, which is accepting nominations for the People’s Choice Award for its Handcart Days display; entertainment and food vendors at Bountiful Park; fireworks; bus tours of historic Bountiful buildings and arts and crafts.
Hundreds of volunteers make the event possible. Key leaders are “called” to three-year assignments: The first year as an understudy, then as hands-on chair or chairs, and the last year as a mentor to those following in that position.
For more information, visit the website at www.handcartdays.org.
More articles about the celebration will follow in future issues of the Clipper.
tbusselberg@davisclipper.com
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