Smoke

Third and final installment for this year. You may want to skip down to the next entries to get it in order. Not that it really matters.

Let's start with a little good old fashioned nightmare fuel.


Other than sheer hideosity, I have no idea.

Bees and... aliens?


A credible moose, with an actual water feature behind him.


A very nice dragon. I'm sure they got special permission for him to smoke.



I knew there'd be ironing!

Or was it irony?

Fishes

Hard for humans to do fish costumes. It never comes out well, and usually, just altogether weird.


I didn't like Finding Nemo, either. Partly because I find anthropomorphized fish completely unconvincing. Partly because of all the whining. Actually, there wasn't anything about it I did like, and walked out of it. This costume is for an extravaganza put on down south, with a little mermaid theme.

The various Polynesian bands always rocked. And shimmied.


Salt Lake has it's share of Scots, who often form into bagpipe bands. This makes me happy.


Ok, so Draper has bluffs that are popular with hang gliders. I don't know why eggs, other than that so many hang glider riders break so easily.

I will never forget one who came in to my OR, with two feet to reattach.

Adorable little penguins. On a float espousing proselytizing to every continent, "Until the work is done."

Aw, look at the widdle penguins!

Queens

Today is the 24th of July, Days of '47, Pioneer Day, a state holiday. I work for a state institution, so I get it off. But really, most people do. This is when Utah culture, good, bad, kitschy and unique in it's raw folk artness, expresses itself as a parade. Oh, what a parade. Previous parades also tagged as kitsch. Had the old camera then, huge difference.

We watched from the Library again, in cool comfort. Although with the clouds, it would not have been so bad. Also had D's parents with us, so we had to reign in our less than positive (snide) remarks about The Church.* There was plenty else to mock.

We have a theme! I wondered how far a parade would get about ironing, but who was I to judge?



Horses this year. Sadly (although I've never been to it myself) the Horse parade, traditionally the week previous, was cancelled, due to equine herpes in the spring. The outbreak is under control now, although I'm sure they were taking precautions.


The Mormon Battalion, not quite up to fighting strength these days, no doubt for the best.


These young men in black and white, and name-tags were all over. I think they should be made to walk the route, in formation, maybe a little Drill & Ceremony.



After all, these beauty queens hoofed it. In high heels. They are my heroes today.


A float went by later, set up to showcase such young women in formal dress, but no one was on it. Quite the saddest thing.

*This is Utah. Salt Lake City. THAT church.

More above.

Inexplicable

Some have Utah themes, the seagulls and the crickets, the Mormons and their pushcarts. Some of it is simply inexplicable. The high concept floats often don't come off comprehensible. Not sure how the idea of a family tree became heads on stakes, for instance.

As always, click for full size, and details, which really don't help much, but are intriguing.









For last year, and a bit more explanation, and more photos.

Watching

The Days of '47, Pioneer Day Parade has always had a handmade quality, even when the float is markedly corporate sponsored. People still come out and cheer it on.

Quilted

(See previous two posts first.)

Be sure to click for full size, details count on these photos.


And just a few more, since even in such comfort, we got tired and walked home. The Greek Souvlaki place, surprisingly, was open, lunch to be had. We left just as the BYU float was going by. No expense was expended. Like a few others, the theme seemed to be - 'Putting in an Appearance.'

"Eh, just stick a few new flowers on it and some chicks in evening gowns, dust off the astroturf from last year, looks fine, roll 'em out." I didn't even waste camera battery on those.

But a few gave it a really good try, if somewhat missing the point. Or maybe it was just because the sun had crept up, and the west side of the street thinned out as they began to cook in the 90° heat. Quilts?

Quilts.

Quilts, carrots and a book of "Values" what else do you need?



Quilts and an attic, apparently.




Or, really, just some Fry Sauce. Ah, that's better.



Some folks here do get the joke. A lot, actually. Just not a lot who make the floats.

Mission

(See previous post first.)

Be sure to click for full size, details count on these photos.


The reason for the season.



(Wait, I'd better explain that these young men are Mormon missionaries, at a 24th of July/Pioneer Day parade. You can tell by the black suit pants, white shirts, and backpacks. Closer to, you'd see their name-tags and earnest expressions.)

Ultimately, it's all about the missionaries. Elders. A concept that always sends me into fits of laughter, that 19 year old boys are called Elder. Really. I'm not making this up. Several floats had "Sharing the Vision" themes. Which means sharing the LDS faith, oh so generously. One had an Israeli flag on it, which is wrong, because Israel won't let LDS missionaries in, nohow, noway. Especially not after all those sneaky, post mortem baptisms.



This one didn't get the Animation award, although it certainly moved the most. It looked like a movement, certainly. One guy is pulling the mule out of a hole, and the guy in back is getting butted, apparently. All looks a bit unsavory, but in a funny and, well, brown way.



Now, now, this, this, this... sigh. I'm not sure why the buildings are being crushed with ice cream mountains, even though this is an area with a fair amount of seismic activity. Nor why there is a huge orange volcano on the back. We think they may have meant it to be Delicate Arch and red rock country. But there are no palm trees in Utah, not even in the southern edges. None. Except potted ones in office buildings. Which don't count. All I know is, if this were made of cake, it would be on Cakewrecks.




No comment needed. Except that Brigham Young surely meant the State of Deseret. And putting enormous, blocky, ugly temples all over. But no US flag. You know, ideally.

Parade

Be sure to click for full size, details count on these photos.


I'm not sure where to start. It's Pioneer Day, which in this state means Mormon Pioneers, with all the subsequent proselytizing and socio-political meddling for which they are justly famous. In this area, the more arcane stories, the local mythologies, are well known. In places where only their sappily wholesome ads go, perhaps less so. I will explain as well as I can.

We went to the Library, up to the fifth floor staff areas, and watched out the windows in cool comfort, on real chairs. Best way ever to see a parade on a hot day, better than on TV, since we didn't have to listen to TV commentators or watch ads. Granted, we couldn't hear the bands, other than the drummers, but that is often just as well. But we did get to share snide comments and irreverent remarks with other library staff.

We have a Theme! It's Vision! Either that or "That was my stop!" When the new trollies were put in a few years ago, they followed some of the same old trolly routes that had been demolished in the 50s.



This one is a bit hard to explain, because it's a bit of a muddle to start with. Why a soldier is pulling a mormon handcart I'm not sure. Nor do I quite know why a Book of Mormon neo-biblical figure is gigantic, kneeling, with his head down. Could be Nephi or Moroni, maybe Waldo. Why the golden path? Got me, but it winds up with a couple presumably about to be married in the Temple. Why Vision of Liberty? Um. more like Limited Visions of Strictly Regulated Liberty, coming off the pen of, um, Joseph Smith?


LOTS of horses. Which is nice, but the photos from above aren't interesting, meaning I'll just post the one. Horses about every third group. These had shaved butts. Maybe groomed into checkerboards, not sure which. Looks pretty though.



This caused much hilarity. Why a pig? Why is the chicken on a column of water surrounded by toilet paper rolls? Why is there a float dedicated to bidet hygiene? We tried to assume it meant something about food storage, which is a practice all good Mormons... practice. But it just looked weirdass, even when it turned out the pig was a piggyBANK.




That's enough for now. More later. I'm so glad the eyes of the world are no longer upon us, and the financially strapped locals can let their freak flags unintentionally fly.