BOUNTIFUL — There are a couple things anyone should know aboutthe Bountiful City Handcart Days Parade. First, there are no handcarts. Second, it's all about family.
The parade — and the city's annual pioneer celebration — are in their 61st year. The moniker "Handcart Days" was chosen to distinguish the event that of Bountiful's larger neighbor to the south.
"In order to make ours a little unique, we said, 'Let's zero in on the handcart pioneers.'" said Bob Rose, who organized this year's parade with his wife, Connie.
But lack of handcarts wasn't for lack of trying on organizers' part. A West Bountiful group offered their handcarts to parade participants, but there were no takers, Rose said.
For those not versed in Utah pioneer history, handcarts were two-wheeled vehicles pulled by some immigrants who could not afford wagons pulled by oxen.
One entry passed by representing a local grocery store. They were pushing shopping carts. That was close enough.
But for Bountiful residents the 61-year-old moniker is irrelevant. For many of the estimated 20,000 parade-goers who crowded the route, the parade is a longstanding family tradition.
Cameron Lee, age 4, sat quietly with his mother and younger sister near the announcer's stand. He clutched a plastic bag containing about five candies — but the parade was still young. He hoped it would be the beginning of a much larger collection.
Sitting on the curb with his sister, Meg who is 2, Cameron is already in his second year of Handcart Days parade-going. His favorite part? "Everything," he said.
With a little prompting from his mother, Kate Lee of Bountiful, Cameron elaborated. "I like the floats and the candies," he said. Kate Lee and her family have a long-standing connection to Handcart Days since the time her family moved there 36 years ago, she said.
One of organizers Bob and Connie Rose's 10 children, Kate Lee said every year they follow up the parade with gathering in the park, holding a family barbecue and watching the fireworks. That's quite a crowd, with nine of 10 siblings still living in the area. And the family has been a part of the parade every year one way or another ... drill team, cheerleaders, volunteers....
Emphasizing the family theme, parade grand marshal is Rulon Sessions. He is a direct descendant of the original Sessions family who first settled Bountiful and called it "Sessions Settlement."
Not a handcart, but taking its place of honor near the front of the procession was a pioneer-era, open-air carriage that featured two bench seats and a roof for shade. The antique vehicle is now so fragile that it could not itself run the Main Street route, but was carried on a flatbed trailer.
Better yet than handcarts, perhaps. It is the actual carriage that Brigham Young rode into Salt Lake Valley in 1847, when he said, "It is enough. This is the right place. Drive on." He was big on families, too.
E-mail: lbrubaker@desnews.com