Utahns celebrate both Pioneer Day and Olympics announcement

SALT LAKE CITY — The Days of ‘47 Parade is the perfect place to show Utah pride, relive tender memories and create new ones, or dance after getting no sleep from camping out for the best spot.

"Oh geez, there's so many different things that's fun about living in Utah,” said Shylah Bowers.

"My son-in-law is here for the first time. He grew up in Guam and Hawaii and we wanted to show him what the Utah Pioneer Parade looks like because it's big and it's awesome,” said Kristin Flack.

This Pioneer Day, there was even more excitement. Utahns weren’t just celebrating our great state — they were also celebrating the return of the Olympics to Salt Lake City in 2034.

"I’ll put it on my calendar,” Flack joked.

"We were just saying this morning, talking in the car, what events would be fun to go and maybe we could get an opportunity to try things out this go around,” Bowers said.

Some people remember 2002 vividly, while others were too young to remember being on the world stage.

"We woke up at like 2 in the morning to go to the bobsled event and stand outside for it, and I remember I was only 6 years old,” said Byron Rollins.

"There was a lot of pride, I think, that they were here and up in our mountains,” Flack said.

Parade attendees were also intrigued to think about how all of us and our state will change between now and the Olympics' return.

"I was thinking about, 'How old will I be in another 10 years?'” Bowers said.

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