From Deseret News archives:
LDS float is tribute to cultural diversity
A majestic float is born of hard work and ecclesiastical fiat for the grand parade today during America's Freedom Festival at Provo.
A member of the presidency of the First Quorum of the Seventy of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints asked members of the church's Provo Utah Central Stake to build a float for the parade.
"Elder (Merrill J.) Bateman sent the stake a letter and said, 'You will be doing a float,"' Ed Carter, second counselor in the stake presidency, said. "You scramble to do whatever you can."
The stake had about six weeks to pull a float together. Steve and Pam Boshard were asked to head the committee. They handpicked a group with the knowledge and talent for the job.
"They couldn't have picked a better committee," Carter said. "Steve Boshard is an electrician, Russ Whatcott is a mechanic and mastermind and Rod Elwood builds theater sets professionally."
Because of the assortment of ethnicities within the boundaries of the stake, the planners settled on a unifying them for the float: "Uniting families and cultures under the wings of freedom."
Then the creativity started flowing.
Requests for donations of chicken wire, sheets and towels, cast-off paint, electrical conduit and more were filled. The float started to take shape in the Boshards' back yard.
"We've probably had 50 to 60 people here a night," Pam Boshard said.
No. 46 in your parade program, the float, built on a donated old Dodge pickup, won't carry any riders. Shaped in the form of a large mountain, it sports a huge swooping eagle on top, perfectly balanced on a ball and hitch.
Participants will walk alongside and behind the mountain, dressed in costumes of their native countries, carrying American flags.
Members of the stake will represent Scotland, England, Russia, the Philippines, Mexico, Guatemala, China, Argentina, Norway, Japan, the United States and American Indians.
At a preparade costume check on Sunday, participants received some parade-walking advice.
"When people wave at you, wave back at them," Elwood said. "Wave at people who look bored. You'll enjoy yourselves a lot more and people on the parade route will, too."
Pam Boshard choked up with emotion as she emphasized the meaning of the float to the group.
"We wanted to pull together so many nations, each carrying an American flag," she said. "And, oh, how I love America."
Parade walkers dressed in their native garb looked forward to the parade.
"It will be more fun with a crowd," said Chris Prows, 16, dressed as Commodore Norrington of the British navy from the movie "Pirates of the Caribbean."
