"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."

Visitors to the park caught a glimpse of the float's creation this past month. The float has been built and decorated on-site. As for transportation to the parade, the park will wrap the float in bubble wrap, to make sure it is not damaged en route to its debut.

Although it does not do a float every year, Russ Wood, vice president of marketing, said the park might consider doing a historical float in upcoming years — depending on the crowd's response Monday.

Park employees will have to record the parade on TV to view its parade entrance. Most of the employees work at the park on Pioneer Day, one of the busiest days of year for This Is the Place Heritage Park.

Deseret Village, complete with over 40 reconstructed 19th century buildings, celebrates the holiday today from noon to 9 p.m.

The Beehive Jubilee, a three-day celebration of traditional music, features local folk artists. In addition to the jubilee, activities at the park include a flag-raising ceremony, a parade, recitations and speeches by notable pioneers, pioneer artisan demonstrations, a horse-drawn trolley and pioneer games like watermelon-seed spitting, stick pulling and an old-fashioned baseball game.

For more information, see thisistheplace.org on the Web.

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E-mail: astowell@desnews.com