Pancake breakfast, displays, lectures on tap

"The war has reached us . . ." is the theme of this year's Brigham City Heritage Arts Festival.

The festival was launched last year with a theme that covered the pioneer period up to the building of the courthouse. So, this period was a next logical step, said Jolene Crockett, festival coordinator. "We didn't really think about this being the 60th anniversary of the end of the war," but that and all the related celebrations going on around the world add another measure of significance, she said.

The daylong festival, which takes place Saturday in historic downtown Brigham City, will include displays and lectures relating to wartime activities. A pancake breakfast provided by firefighters will kick things off at 8 a.m.; main entertainment will begin with a flag-raising ceremony at 10:45 a.m. Of special interest will be:

• A panel discussion with Box Elder County natives who served in World War II: Melvin Floyd Murphy, Willie Barnard Hunsaker, Charles L. Goodliffe, Allen C. Christensen, Arland DuVall and C. Morgan Hawkes.

• Frank O. Nishiguchi, Jim Y. Tazoi, Yoneki Aoki, Tetsu Okada and David T. Kano will present a Japanese Round Table detailing some of what Box Elder County's Japanese-American population experienced during the war, including serving in the military, spending time in internment camps and working in agriculture.

• Wilma Borgstrom Hawkes, the last surviving member of the Borgstrom family, will discuss her family's tragic sacrifice during the war.

• Barb Adams and Alma Allen, authors of "Women of Grace and Charm: A Quilting Tribute to the Women Who Served in WWII," will present a trunk show and talk about their research. The women are from Kansas, "and we're very excited to have them come. They hardly ever leave Kansas," said Crockett.

• Two survivors of the USS Indianapolis, which was sunk by the Japanese near the end of the war, will tell their story. Survivors spent more than four days in the water before being rescued, and only 316 out of 1,196 crew members were saved. "This will be one of many very emotional stores told at our festival," said Paul Larsen, planning and economic development director for Brigham City.

• Displays on the Bushnell Hospital, vintage 1940s cars (pre-war mostly, because no cars were built during the war), quilts and World War II in Box Elder County.

• Music of the period, presented by Larry Smith Big Band and the Utah State University Big Band Swing Club.