This week marked the 150th anniversary of St. George becoming a city. The city planned a bunch of fun activities to celebrate this event. We didn't want to miss any part of the festivities.
A really amazing chalk artist colored the city sesquicentennial emblem on the sidewalk near the Opera House. She did an awesome job. Another amazing artist made this awesome cake to depict the history of St. George over the past 150 years. The cake was so cool; I wish I could decorate like that. Emily saw the cake and wanted a piece of it.
The celebration actually started back in October when the city put on the Wagon Train from Parawon to St. George. My mom went on the trek all week and then we joined her for the final day. The trek was really fun.
On Saturday (14th), we went to the free Root Beer Float party at the Social Hall:
Root Beer floats are my favorite and as you can see Emily loves them too. After enjoying our Floats in the warm sun, we when on a few tours of the Historical houses in St. George. We started at the St. George Opera House:
The two pictures at the top are of the Opera House. I had never been inside the Opera House before. I learned that the settlers used this house for entertainment and they rigged the floor up with these huge screws so that they could lower the floor near the stage 3 feet. By lowering the floor in front, they created the first stadium seating theater in St. George. The Opera House was also used as a sugar beet factory until it was completely renovated to its original form and function. The floor no longer lowers in the front, however, due to fire codes.
The bottom two pictures are of our next historical site, the Brigham Young home. Brigham Young himself was there and told us all about his life and journey to Salt Lake and St. George. (Okay Brigham Young was actually one of the missionaries dressed up!) Brigham Young used this house as a winter home and conducted quite a bit of church business in this house. I had to take a picture of this huge piano. For as many times as we have moved, I am glad my piano is not this big. (I am sure Russell and my brothers are glad too!) I also snapped a picture of the old cook stove and was glad that I live now with the modern conveniences! I wish we could have gone to more of the historical sites but Russell had an appointment he had to get to.
Tuesday (17th) was the big celebration day. They had a Heritage festival at the Dixie Center so I took the kids to see all of the booths.
It wasn't really what I thought it would be but it was still fun to go. There were some awesome old cars and this old fire truck at the car show. Then we when through all of the booths and Emily gathered candy from everyone she saw. We learned about the history of Snow Canyon, got a lesson from the Visitor Center missionaries, learned about Girl Scouts, saw pictures of the old Dixie College Alumni, and even played with a few toys kids played with 150 years ago.
That night the city had a big celebration at the Burns Arena. First they showed a video of the Wagon Train. I kept watching to see if I could see us or my mom but I couldn't. After the video, Emily and Colby got to attend their first concert:
Brooke White, a finalist from American Idol a few years ago, came and did a free concert for the birthday celebration. I thought the concert was really good. It was funny though because after a few songs, all of the old people started to leave probably because it was too loud. Then Emily said her ears hurt so we left too... Hee hee I guess that means we are old. We waited in the hall of the Burns Arena until the concert was over and then everyone went outside for free birthday cake.
Getting the cake was like a cattle stampede! It was so ridiculous. We were one of the first ones in line because we were already near the doors, so we were just waiting with a few other people. All of a sudden the line doesn't move and we start getting crowded and smashed by all of the other million people wanting cake too. Poor Colby started crying because he was in the stroller and got so completely surrounded by people that he couldn't even see any light. I was trapped because I couldn't move the stroller and I just told Russell not to let go of Emily's hand. Finally after pushing our way through and running over a few people with our stroller, we got our cake and got out of there alive.
We walked to an open spot on the steps and ate our cake. Emily was so tired and busy watching all of the people that she wasn't paying attention and dropped her cake on the ground. We were not attempting the line for the cake again so I just gave her my cake. Then Russell gave me his and ate the cake that fell on the ground. I guess the 10 second rule doesn't apply to cake because now Russell is sick with a cold or something! Serves him right I guess for not at least brushing the dirt off it. HA ha!
After the stampede for cake died down, the city shot off an awesome firework show. What a fun way to celebrate 150 years. Happy Birthday St. George! We love living here.
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