Pioneer Day
Pioneer Day celebrates the day church leader Brigham Young and other Latter-day Saints settled in what would become Salt Lake City.
Pioneer Day celebrates the day church leader Brigham Young and other Latter-day Saints settled in what would become Salt Lake City.
Kashinda Carter
Reviewer URLNames: Pioneer Day, Covered Wagon Days, Days of ‘47, July 24th
Pioneer Day celebrates the day church leader Brigham Young and other Latter-day Saints settled in what would become Salt Lake City.
Origin
On this day in 1847, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints prophet Brigham Young led followers—fellow Latter-day Saint pioneers—into the Great Salt Lake Valley to escape religious persecution.
When is it celebrated
Pioneer Day is celebrated every year on July 24 and is also a Utah state holiday. If July 24 lands on a Sunday, the holiday will be observed the next day.
Who observes this holiday
Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints religion worldwide celebrate Pioneer Day.
Traditions
The day is celebrated with parades, concerts and reenactments of the trek to the Great Salt Lake Valley, among other events.
About Brigham Young
Brigham Young joined Joseph Smith’s new church, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS), in 1832. Following Smith’s death he became the second leader of what is also known as the LDS church. Fleeing religious persecution, he led a group of Mormons from Ohio to Missouri and to the Great Salt Lake Valley, which was then a Mexican territory. He founded Salt Lake City and went on to become a governor of Utah. Though he originally opposed the idea of polygamy, which was a part of the LDS faith at that time, Young eventually went on to have 55 wives and around 56 children.