Celebrating roots

They got their water from "the crick," which ran down out of Horseshoe and Haystack mountains. They built their homes out of adobe and native rock they quarried themselves at Pigeon Hollow. And because so many people had the same name, practically everyone in town had a nickname: Long Pete, Short Pete, Round Pete.

The story is told of an LDS conference meeting where the presiding elder announced Brother Peterson would say the closing prayer and 50 men stood up. That would be Pete Peterson, said the man, and all but six men sat down.

They were thousands of miles from their homelands, brought to this unwelcoming desert by faith alone. But they scratched out farms and built a town and learned to live, to thrive, to prosper.

This is the heritage that Ephraim celebrates every year at its annual Scandinavian Festival. This year the festival runs from noon on Friday, May 28, through Saturday, May 29. The event offers food and both Old World and contemporary craft booths, musical entertainment, the Little Denmark Supper with authentic Scandinavian dishes, a 5K run, a parade, art and quilt exhibits, a Scandinavian breakfast, a bread-baking contest, games, storytelling, a historical bus tour and more.

In addition, a Scandinavian Heritage Conference will be held prior to the festival at Snow College, May 27-28, and will include presentations by Lynn Poulson, professor of family studies at Snow College, on "Early Scandinavian Families and Families Today"; Brad Taggart, MFA and associate professor of art at Snow College, on the work of Danish artist CCA Christensen; and a multimedia "extravaganza" commemorating SeaTrek, a re-enactment of the Scandinavians' migration to America.

Mormon pioneers from Scandinavia settled throughout central Utah from the early 1850s on. Estimates are that as many as 650,000 current Utahns can claim some kind of Scandinavian heritage. But large numbers of Swedes, Norwegians and especially Danish pioneers came to Ephraim. And they left an indelible mark on the area, said Gary Anderson, former mayor of Ephraim and chairman of this year's festival.

"They were poor people that came here," said Anderson. "Their farms were small. They worked on the farm and off the farm to make a living."

They were builders, said Arlea Howell, another longtime resident. They not only built their homes and buildings in Ephraim. "Many of them would walk to Manti to work on the temple." But they also built a future. They left a legacy that is still important today.