Happy 24th of July!

"You! Boy! What day is this?"

"Me sir? Why it's Pioneer Day!"

For those of you who aren't from Utah, let me tell you about Pioneer Day. It's big. There's a big parade, and there's fireworks, and everyone has the day off, and all the businesses are closed, and everyone barbeques. It's like the 4th of July, except bigger.

Once, the summer after I graduated from high school, my friends and I camped out on Main Street to await the parade. (This was a long time tradition in Salt Lake--the party all night was a much bigger deal than even the parade the next morning.) So, we sat around and talked and ate and played cards and watched the dummies who were dragging up and down Main. And then, at about three in the morning, someone ran from the crowd into the street and taunted someone in one of the cars. The car stopped, the doors opened, and out came three guys with pistols and one with a shotgun. The taunter also pulled out his pistol, and then immediately a dozen plain-clothes police appeared out of the crowd, with their guns drawn. To clear the crowds, tear gas was tossed into a mob on the other side of the street, and all of us ducked behind stone planterboxes. It's little things like this that help us remember the sacrifices that the pioneers made, or something.

Anyway, I'm here in Minnesota, and I completely forgot about Pioneer Day until I called my parents a moment ago and they mentioned it. Lousy Minnesotans, neglecting the heritage of the West.