Every July 24 in Utah, it’s common to see businesses close so that workers can have Pioneer Day off. Ogden’s week-long celebration is unique. In 1934, Ogden Mayor Harman Peery wanted to bring in revenue and make Ogden a tourist hotspot. With beard-growing contests, rodeos, parades, dances and more, the celebrations were historically successful.
The holiday celebrates when settlers from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints arrived in the Salt Lake Valley from Nauvoo, Illinois. While the highly attended Days of ‘47 celebrations in Salt Lake City, Ogden Pioneer Days’ website states that its events specifically celebrate Ogden’s own unique past.
“In the beginning, there was a five-episode pageant, ‘Like a Fire is Burning,’ held at the Ogden Stadium, which was the first event of the Pioneer Days celebration. The Weber County Daughters of Utah Pioneers sponsored the pageant. The next day, whistles and sirens at factories and in railroad yards sounded while more than a dozen airplanes flew in mass formation to make the formal opening of Ogden’s Pioneer Days,” according to Weber State’s “50 Stories for 50 Years” website.
Now, Ogden has parades, concerts, rodeos, horsemanship competitions and more. For the past several years, the Miss Rodeo competition has helped pack the stadium with sold-out crowds. One of the athletes drawing the crowds this year is WSU’s own Olivia Favero.
“It is so fun, even in the 100-degree weather on a hot summer night. It’s fun to be there and talk to everybody who’s watching and who’s excited for the rodeo action,” Favero said.
Stakes can be high for participants in these rodeo events, adding to the excitement.
“There’s over $200 million available to win in the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association in just five days. So if cowboys can go to one of those rodeos each night and try and compete to earn money, they can win millions of dollars just that week,” Favero said. “Rodeo started out as a competition between cowboys to see who could ride the craziest horse. But now it really has evolved to become an impressive sport, and not only just a sport, but it can also be a career for these participants to make for themselves.”
The full lineup of events is listed on the Ogden Pioneer Days website.
