The biggest little parades in the state will march down Main Street in Lehi on Friday night and Saturday morning.
The miniature parades, featuring floats one-fifth to one-third the size of regular floats, has been a tradition in Lehi since 1926."I don't think there is a full-grown Lehi kid who hasn't ridden on a float," said Dona Anderson, publicity chairwoman.
This year, the base of the floats must be no larger than 8 by 10 feet, and the float can not exceed 8 feet in height. Float builders are supposed to limit the cost of a float to $400; a lot of the material for the floats is donated, and everyone - including moms, dads, grandmas and grandpas - helps build them.
"So far as we're aware, we're the only community that goes to work to make these little floats," Anderson said.
In years past, the floats were smaller and their expense was considerably less. According to a 1926 announcement published in the Lehi Sun, the first miniature parade featured handcarts, tricycles and doll buggies. In 1933, the paper included a comment from Leo Hansen, parade chairman, suggesting that the expense of decorating the floats should be no more than 50 to 75 cents.
Years ago the floats were decorated with crepe paper that was painstakingly cut into strips and turned into a curl by stretching it across one's knee and drawing the back of a knife along the strip. That process resulted in hundreds of raw knees by the time a float was finished, Anderson said.
Today, floats are decorated with taffeta material, plastic pompons, commercially bought petal paper and papier-mache forms, and there are no more aching knees.
One thing that hasn't changed over the years is the way the floats move: each is pulled along the route by children. In fact, children will be everywhere in the parades: riding the floats, pulling them and walking beside them. The parades are the next best thing to Halloween or Christmas.
"All year long they (the children) talk about it," Anderson said. "At show and tell they will wear their costumes or bring pictures of themselves on the float. A lot of moms measure a child's growth by photos of each year's floats."
The theme of this year's miniature parades is "Back to the Future" and will feature 17 floats, including an old-fashioned bathtub, a spaceship, a steamboat and a tropical iceberg/island. Friday's parade will begin at 6 p.m., Saturday's at 10 a.m. Both parades will be on Main Street.
Other Lehi Roundup activities include:
- Fine arts display, Veterans Memorial Building, 51 N. Center, noon to 6 p.m. through Saturday.
- Western Stock Parade, from Wines Park along Main Street to the rodeo grounds, 6 p.m. Thursday.
- Lehi Roundup Rodeo, Lehi rodeo grounds, 8 p.m. Thursday through Saturday.
- Chuckwagon breakfast, Wines Park, 6 to 9 a.m. Saturday.
- Five-kilometer run, Wines Park, 8 a.m.