Matt and Ethel Christensen of North Salt Lake smiled as they watched their 6-year-old daughter, Seraphina, and 3-year-old son, Austin, play the Settlers game.
When Church-service missionary Elder Robert Dangerfield tapped the board, the doll’s feet appeared to bounce and dance, and children were especially intrigued, taking turns holding the sticks attached to the wooden dolls.
Parents were happy to watch their children learn that Pioneer Day means more than fireworks.
“We live in this beautiful place because of the pioneers,” Ethel Christensen said, “and it’s important to keep their memory alive as we remember and celebrate where their roots are.”
The match was just one of many activities at the Pioneer Fair, hosted by the Church History Museum of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on July 20. The fair celebrated the arrival of the early Saints in the Salt Lake Valley on July 24, 1847.
Sister Hazel Kabutad (left) and Sister Isabella Montenegro (right), from the Philippines, push a wheelbarrow during the Pioneer Fair hosted by the Church History Museum of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Salt Lake City, Saturday, July 20, 2024. | Bryce Tucker, Deseret News
“The biggest one yet.”
The Church History Museum has hosted a Pioneer Fair every summer for the past few years, except for the pandemic-hit years of 2020 and 2021, said Tiffany Bowles, an educator at the museum. Despite the heat, the crowd arrived early and continued participating throughout the afternoon.
“This is our biggest event yet, and it gets bigger every year,” Bowles said. “We love watching families enjoy the activities and have fun learning about the pioneers and how hardworking and industrious they were.”
Five-year-old Farren Ashby, from Bountiful, scrubs laundry on a washboard at the Pioneer Fair hosted by the Church History Museum of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Salt Lake City on Saturday, July 20, 2024. | Bryce Tucker, Deseret News
Natalie Bodine, assistant curator and events coordinator at the museum, helped organize the event, which this year featured pioneering activities such as:
Learn about the Deseret Alphabet through a variety of activities and museum classrooms; play a treasure hunt to visit a new trading post where children can win candy; learn about the historic photographic techniques of cyanotype and collodion photography; and learn how to make dolls out of hollyhock flowers.
A little girl makes a doll out of hollyhock flowers during a pioneer fair hosted by the Church History Museum of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Salt Lake City, Saturday, July 20, 2024. | Bryce Tucker, Deseret News Pottery. Woodgrain. Watercolor painting. Pioneer laundry techniques. Quilting and lace fraying. Blacksmithing. Tinsmithing. Mountain men. Wheelbarrows.
Harrison Stromberg, 10, of Mill Creek, hammers a piece of tin to make a ring during the Pioneer Fair hosted by the Church History Museum of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Salt Lake City, Saturday, July 20, 2024. | Bryce Tucker, Deseret News Pioneer food. The Mormon Battalion. Music from Blue Mountain, a string band playing pioneer folk music. Pioneer children’s toys and games. See an authentic covered wagon — “It’s a welcome wagon, so to speak,” Bodine said.
While there were no pioneering water slides or splash pads, the museum did provide some misting tents and water bottles so people could cool off and rehydrate.
“The Pioneer Fair gives you a certain sense of appreciation,” Bodine said. “I love watching kids hear these stories and see their craft and understand that this was a way of life back then. It makes it real for them.”
Darrell Adams, 9, of Pleasant Grove, does his best to hang out wet laundry at the Pioneer Fair hosted by the Church History Museum of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Salt Lake City on Saturday, July 20, 2024. | Bryce Tucker, Deseret News
“They had to make everything.”
Under the comfortable shade of a small canopy on a 95-degree Saturday afternoon, 7-year-old twins Ollie and Jane Bendall watched Mark Ware use a potter’s wheel to shape clay from a ball into a small jug in just a few minutes.
“It’s a lot of fun to watch,” Ollie said afterwards.
Watching nearby, grandmother Karen Johnsen realized it was an opportunity to teach her grandchildren about pioneer life.
Mark Ware demonstrates how to make pottery at the Pioneer Faire hosted by the Church History Museum of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Salt Lake City on Saturday, July 20, 2024. | Bryce Tucker, Deseret News
“You can buy things in the store, but they couldn’t do that,” she said. “They had to make everything themselves.”
Johnsen was grateful that her grandchildren were able to join her and learn about early Latter-day Saint life after they arrived in the Salt Lake Valley in 1847.
“It’s amazing,” she said of the opportunity to travel back in time to pioneer days, “I think it’s something that’s missing for a lot of people. They take for granted all the little conveniences that modern people enjoy. … It’s a really great learning experience to appreciate that people back then had to figure things out for themselves that we enjoy today.”
Joshua and Kayla Young of Lehi, Utah, had similar thoughts when they brought their four young children with them.
“I want them to know what the pioneers were willing to sacrifice for their faith,” Joshua Young said.
Elora Stromberg helps her daughter, Sophie Stromberg, 12, of Mill Creek, learn to use an inkle loom during the Pioneer Fair hosted by the Church History Museum of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Salt Lake City on Saturday, July 20, 2024. | Bryce Tucker, Deseret News
Post-march music
Mark Asay of Orem, Utah, was excited to be invited back after attending last year, bringing with him Mormon Battalion uniforms, tents and other historical items.
This year, Asay added something new: music. While reading historical accounts, she learned that soldiers often sat around the campfire at night and took turns playing the violin.
Listen to Mark Asay of Orem, Utah, dressed as a member of the Mormon Battalion and performing “Ashokan Farewell” at the Church History Museum’s Pioneer Fair on Saturday afternoon. Article and photos from the event can be found at translation: pic.twitter.com/lDhnidqJ0J
— Trent Toone (@tbtoone) July 20, 2024
To demonstrate, he held the violin to his chin and played Jay Unger’s American folk song “Ashokan Farewell” and other tunes for individuals and families passing by.
“There were enough of us all playing, and each violinist had their own style,” he said, adding that other instruments such as harmonica were also played. “There was an element there that I didn’t really care for, because in my opinion, after marching 15 to 25 miles in the heat and camping, there wasn’t much energy left for something like that, but apparently the guys thought it would boost morale.”
Asay hopes that people who visit his booth will appreciate the work and sacrifices of the Mormon Battalion soldiers.
“Many of them didn’t want to join, but they did what they were asked to do,” he said. “These were people who faced hardships. They overcame things that I might not have been able to do. They also had fun. It wasn’t all drudgery.”
Mark Asay plays the violin while dressed as a member of the Mormon Battalion during the Pioneer Fair hosted by the Church History Museum of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Salt Lake City, Saturday, July 20, 2024. | Bryce Tucker, Deseret News 
Jacob Shinn, 15, of Kaysville, tries to catch a ring while playing an old pioneer game called a race at the Pioneer Fair hosted by the Church History Museum of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Salt Lake City, Saturday, July 20, 2024. | Bryce Tucker, Deseret News 
Church History Museum docent Desiree Crump shows 8-year-old Ammon Lloyd, of Provo, how to play with old pioneer toys during the Pioneer Fair hosted by the Church History Museum of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Salt Lake City, Saturday, July 20, 2024. | Bryce Tucker, Deseret News 
Examples of foods pioneers would have eaten are on display at the Pioneer Fair hosted by the Church History Museum of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Salt Lake City, Saturday, July 20, 2024. | Bryce Tucker, Deseret News
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