On July 24, 1847, Brigham Young and a company of Mormon pioneers arrived in the Salt Lake Valley, where the Latter-day Saints settled after emigrating from Nauvoo, Illinois and other locations in the eastern United States.

Pulling handcarts or driving wagons with oxen or horses, thousands of pioneers made the trek across the plains to a vast desert landscape that became known as the Utah Territory.

By remembering those remarkable 1847 pioneers and all those who followed, The Days of '47 seeks to make their accomplishments and hardships live today through a variety of activities and celebrations each year.

LDS Church wards and stakes, businesses, and community groups have always sponsored floats in the parade.

[4] Council member Erin Mendenhall chose to decline her invitation to participate in the parade when after submitting the bio of her guest, a gay stay-at-home father married to a man, the organizers of the parade returned that only immediate relatives were eligible as guests of the council.