Pioneer Day- Sanford Saints Style

Our long road trip led us to where else but Sanford, CO.  What?  Never heard of it?  Well, Sanford is a small Mormon town in southern Colorado, where my Uncle Jack lives and where my father's family is from and where he lived for a while as a child.  When I say small town, I mean small.  Sanford has just under 800 residents, most of them Mormon.  Sanford has a proud Pioneer heritage, and most of the residents are descendants from the pioneers that settled the area generations back.  How proud they are of their pioneer heritage is obvious.  In the center of town there is a huge church, a k-12 school, a post office, a small country store, and a museum of Stanford that pays tribute to the pioneers of Sanford.  That's pretty much it for downtown.

But even more telling about how these good folks feel about their pioneer heritage is the way that they celebrate Pioneer Day.  When my uncle suggested we all come help celebrate Pioneer Day and promised us a good time, I could have had no idea what he meant by "celebrate" pioneer day.  What we found was absolutely INCREDIBLE!  

Let me tell you about Pioneer Day Sanford style.  Please remember this is all done in a town of 800 people - just two wards!  In just over a 24 hour period the good saints of Sanford put on:

* a pioneer pageant, 

*a huge community breakfast (feeding over 800 people), 

*a great parade,

* a pioneer program, 

*an event of races and games, 

*a quilt show, 

*a community barbecue (feeding another 800 people), 

*and a family dance 

- and that's just the stuff I know about.  Can you imagine?   I can't imagine a whole stake or multi-stake trying to put such a series of events on, let alone just two wards.   I was tired from just attending the events.  Can you imagine all the work and coordinated effort by all the members to put on such a celebration?  

While I was there I heard it referred to as the "Mormon Christmas" and seemed to be a homecoming of sorts when all of the native Sanfordians return home for the holidays.  This year we were lucky enough to be among them, and the pioneer spirit that we felt there was incredible!

Here is a rundown of our day:

Breakfast was very good!  Pancakes, sausage, and, my favorite, scrambled eggs loaded with green chilies!  It was a beautiful sunny day.  Having arrived late the night before, and having just really met my cousins for the first time, we had a great time talking and getting to know them all better.

While we ate breakfast, Luke played on the playground.  His once-white socks, were soaked and muddy.  I liked this picture of his footprints on the blacktop.

This glimpse of small town life was really eye-opening to us.  The kids could just walk home from the breakfast with their cousins.

Next, we got to participate in a modern small-town barn raising of sorts as the whole family got to work together to put up the big Signs family tent to watch the parade under from the front yard.  The instructions say that it takes two people to assemble.  HA! It took the best minds and efforts of at least 8 adults, but we got the job done.  Nothing brings a family together like a huge tent.

Once our bellies were full, and the tent was up, there was nothing else to do but hang out together and wait for the big parade.  The kids were having fun getting acquainted with their new-found cousins and second-cousins, grandparents, aunts and uncles.  The excitement was building.

Then, suddenly, with a flag and some horses, the parade was in full swing!  Hooray!

I was really unprepared for how wonderful the parade was!  Floats were absolutely charming.  There was Queen Esther by the Relief Society, giant scriptures, builders building by the primary, a treasure chest of rubies by the virtuous YW, the six "bee"s and a beehive by the other primary.  Even the missionaries had their own float, and they handed out pass-along cards instead of candy.  They had put a lot of hard work into those floats, and the messages of the gospel that they shared were really wonderful! 

This float was very special to us, because it was my first look at the handcart on the float was the actual handcart brought by my own ancestors from Nauvoo to Utah, and then to Colorado.  

Besides horses and floats, there was also a kid on a pogo stick (he pogoed the entire parade route and back again.  Incredible!),

lots and lots of candy and popsicles being thrown to frenzied kids,

fire trucks (my cousin Mark was driving the truck, and as he passed, his wife and baby ran up and jumped in for the rest of the ride - such it is with a small town parade),

and even pioneers in the Pioneer Day parade.

Then, just when we thought the parade was over, they turned around and marched right back down the street again, giving us all a second look.  An encore!

I was very touched by the parade, and by the pioneer spirit.  I have experienced some pretty fantastic parades in my day, including the Rose Parade, but I have never enjoyed any parade in my life as much as I enjoyed this one.

After the parade, we went to the church to hear a pioneer program with musical numbers and a fantastic talk about pioneers.  Then the crowds started gathering for the Barbecue - southern Colorado style.
Look at the meat - 425 lbs. of it!   YUM!  It was a fine meal! Because he was almost a native,  Dad got to participate too - well, not with barbecuing exactly, but after Uncle Jack handed each person a dinner roll, Dad gave them each a pat of butter.  Good work guys.

The entire Signs clan gathered under the shade of the big tree in front of the Church to eat and play together.

I played with my camera too.  

My niece Brynn.  I couldn't stop myself from taking a ton of pictures of her.  She is so cute, and red headed, and well... a girl.  It was so fun taking girl pictures for once.  If only I had brought a tutu!

Playing and wrestling in the shade.

She either doesn't like her lunch, or she doesn't like the camera in her face again.

Derek swinging Luke around.  Watch out!

Brynn found this pine branch, and carried it around, and called it her "coconut flower." 

Lukie and Brynnie are just a few months apart, and had way too much fun together.

Ring around the rosie...

We all fall down!

Of course, the kids didn't finish their lunch before they had all ascended into to heights of the tree branches.  What a sight, with all those arms and legs sticking out of that big tree!

Dylan ventured all the way up near the top.  Not to be outdone by a little kid, my cousin Dave, a grown man and one of the most competitive souls I've ever met, decided to show Dylan and all the kiddos up by hopping into that tree and working his way clear up where Dylan had been.  We were pretty nervous watching him disappear up into the thick branches of that poor tree.  I made my kids move out from underneath, afraid they'd be crushed if he fell.  But he made it down victorious, gaining the admiration of the young, and a roll of the eyes from his wife, Diana.

My monkey man, Dylan.

and my tree-climbing niece Lorin.

Here is my crazy cousin Dave and Dylan, proudly showing off their sticky sappy tree climbing hands.

The only other business in downtown was a little snow cone stand run by some enterprising kids.  They were running a land-office business on that hot July day as people were lining up in front of their small shack to get some.  Cousin Dave treated us all.  They sure know how to make snowcones here in Sanford!  What a treat.  Thanks, Dave!

Then while dad and his brother Jack took time to catch up,

and Dennis took a nap in the shade of the willow tree...

the ladies went to the Sanford Community Quilt Show.  It was really impressive.  They had 100 quilts on display - all owned or created by folks in Sanford.  Some were very, very old, and others were intricate and spectacularly made.  Many of them had dates and stories with them.  It was fascinating.  We were blown away by the creativity and skill of the quilters.  It was fun to see so many patterns and fabrics together.  I just love quilts!

Then it was time to eat again, this time with the family.  We were certainly well fed on this trip.  Aunt Sherry worked non-stop to feed all of us, and she did a great job!

After dinner, all the kids gathered onto the lawn for some fun and games - organized chaos.

They did wheelbarrow races, crab races, several forms of tag, red rover, and any other game they could come up with.  I love the picture on the top right with Luke's little face poking through in the untangle game.

Nate had a great time with his new-found second cousins, Todd and Ryan.

Brynnie was a natural at being a country girl on the tractor.

My cousin Melanie's darling little boy Conner.

After the kids had their fun, they all went inside for a movie.  Now it was time for the real competition to begin - the adults played the rough and tumble sport of bean bags.  Don't laugh.  The Signs family is pretty serious about their bean bags.  Uncle Jack even set up a bracket chart for the championship.  I, surprisingly, didn't win.  None of us were expecting that this game would be as fun, as addictive, and as competitive, as it was, nor that the heated competition would go on for hours.  The next night we had to play again, and plans have been made to build our own bean bag boards soon.

What a wonderful Pioneer Day we had with our extended family and the good saints in Sanford!!!  No wonder everyone comes home to Sanford to celebrate.  I can't imagine there is another town anywhere that celebrates it quite like they do.  I have a new appreciation for the importance of this day, and I will make sure that our family always does more to remember our pioneer ancestors, and celebrate their accomplishments and great faith, every Pioneer Day from now on.