First float in parade replicates 1897 float

After hand-dyeing watered silk, cutting sego lily patterns out of muslin and drawing the flower with charcoal, Debi Brady then helped to nail the materials onto a carriage, built by a local carpenter and blacksmith.

It may sound like a scene from the 19th century, but Brady will see her hours of work debut in today's Days of '47 parade — on her television.

"I'm going to have to set my old, pioneer VCR to record," Brady quipped.

Brady and roughly 3 dozen employees and volunteers from This Is the Place Heritage Park have spent the past month duplicating a replica float from 1897. The float was built with materials and tools authentic to the time period.

"People will see that in 1897, people were doing this kind of work," said Brady, one of the program coordinators who headed up the replica float project. "The parade was important to them back then, too."

Using the Utah State Historical Society's archives, the park found pictures of some of the old floats in the annual Pioneer Day parade, which started in 1849. The park chose to re-create a float from 1897, the semicentennial year of the trek into Salt Lake Valley.

"We caught the essence," said Ranleigh Johnson, a park employee. "I'm excited because it's a symbol for what we're all about here at the park: a living pioneer tradition. The 24th is our Christmas in July."

"Our Pioneer Heritage — A Living Legacy" is the theme for this year's Days of '47 parade. When The Days of '47 parade committee heard about the authentic float the park was creating, it was placed near the front of the parade as entry No. 7, the first float in the line-up.

The replica is decorated with Utah's state flower, the sego lily. About 1848, pioneers ate the sego lily bulb to help fight off starvation. In 1911, the Utah Legislature designated it the official state flower.

"We tried to do it as much in the pioneer way, where they handed out assignments to the ward," Johnson said.

The park's on-site carpenter and blacksmith built the wood frame on which the float sits. Three giant sego lilies have been built on the float for three young female volunteers to sit in, and a rider will control the Percheron horse-drawn carriage.

And about 10 people will walk behind the float, including actors playing Martin Harris and Porter Rockwell , LDS leaders during the time period.

"I'm excited we can do one that's a replica," said Viki Strong, a park program coordinator. Strong said her fear is spectators will compare the traditional float with the modern creations.

"We definitely have it a lot easier now," park employee Larissa Strong said about building floats today. "They (pioneers) had to be a lot more creative with their supplies."