Thousands of people lined the streets of downtown Salt Lake City Friday to watch the annual Days of ’47 Parade.
If there’s one thing that hasn’t changed about the parade over the years, it’s the size of the crowds it draws. People lined the streets along the whole two-mile parade route.
Many families camp out along the route overnight in order to snag spots in the shade with good views. Natalie Dowse and three of her siblings brought their spouses and grandkids to watch the parade. Their family has a long-standing tradition of coming early in the morning to set up camp chairs and blankets on a stretch of 900 south.
Nine-year-old Sarah Maxfield says she tries to make it to the parade with her family every year. “Usually my favorite are the marching bands and the girls standing on two horses,” she says.
In addition to those, the parade included much of its usual lineup: floats designed by cities, businesses and congregations of LDS and other faiths and cars and carriages carrying government officials. There are rodeo queens, clowns riding bicycles, and an impressive array of vintage cars, and this year, a Santa Claus in a motorized recliner, enjoying his summer off.
The two-mile parade began on South Temple at State Street and ended at Liberty Park.