Celebrate America, Utah Style

We got a kick out of a news item in the Roanoke Times. In an article headlined “76 ways to celebrate America's birthday,” Cindy Porter writes:

4. Honor the meeting of the Central Pacific and Union Pacific railways in Promontory Summit, Utah, by visiting the Virginia Museum of Transportation. (She really wrote that, you can read it here.)

Its all good, but we think it may be even better to honor the meeting of the rails by visiting Golden Spike National Historic Site, the place where the deed was done. There is a fascinating visitor center, along with working replicas of the 1869 steam locomotives 'Jupiter' and '119,' which brought railroad dignitaries to Promontory to drive the famous golden spike, connecting east to west via the first transcontinental railroad.

Parades, patriotic programs, fireworks, pancake breakfasts and other festivities will be held all around Utah during the next several days. Here are links for two of our bigger celebrations:

Provo’s Freedom Festival

Ogden’s Hot Rock’n Fourth

This article lists many other community 4th of July events around Utah.

This article suggests opportunities for outdoor recreation during the holiday period.

Professional fireworks will be visible in virtually every community in the state the evening of the Fourth.

Brush fires are a major problem this year all around the West. Many fires are started by people setting off fireworks, and so the use of fireworks has been restricted in many communities and on public lands.

In general, don’t light fireworks in Wasatch Front foothill areas or in the adjacent canyons. Fireworks are prohibited in National Parks, National Forests, State Parks and on many BLM lands.