Another Founder's Day has come & is almost gone. The day started in it's usual way, with a BIG BOOM at 6:00 a.m. Thanks Ivin. The boy scouts were up early putting flags up & down the streets. Then the flag raising at the church & opening prayer. Pancakes served up hot at 7:00. If you were feeling energetic you could have joined the 5k or the 10k. My daughter Annelie ran the 5k & I cheered her on. There was the turkey shoot & the tractor show, which was followed by a program at the B.G. Bennet auditorium. The program honored our beloved pioneers. Ralph Bushman gave tribute to his father, Virgil Bushman, who served as scout master here in Joseph City for 45 years. Julie Clifford gave a tribute to her grandparents, Delbert & Alice Hansen, along with a history of the progress of Joseph City since, as we like to say, the days at the fort. Karen Bushman & Ross Hansen were added to the Joseph City Hall of Fame for their many contributions to our community. The rest of the days activities included the BBQ & auction at the firehouse, the horseless rodeo & new this year was the paint ball war! Gale & Anna Hansen hosted a History Hay Ride for the kids. Gale drove the tractor pulling the kids on the hay covered trailer stopping at different sights around town while Anna explained the significance of each one.
Can we have a Founder's Day without Mary Law at the piano? I don't think so. It might be hard to see, but that's her playing for Mrs. Young's kindergarten class who each donned their Pioneer garb to sing the classic Joe City children's song "Work Work Work". Yeah, we teach'em young around here.
Mrs. Hunt lead this group of elementary students in"I'm Proud to be an American".
I was asked to give an update on the Pioneer Monument. If you missed it, don't worry you can read it here:Monument Update
Almost two years ago Julie Clifford & I might have knocked on your door on a Sunday afternoon with our little bag of Joe City postcards, you invited us in out of pity or curiosity, it does'nt matter they both work just fine, while we explained what we were up to, a Monument to the Joseph City Pioneers. We had been approached, by the late Jim Lofgreen, to help raise money to pay for a project that he had planned. The amount needed was $5,000. Julie & I put our two heads together & came up with the idea to make Joseph City postcards. People would love them! We really didn’t know what we were doing at first but we just started taking pictures & writing down ideas & quotes that were unique to Joe City, like “Early to bed early to rise, work like hell & fertilize”, which I am giving Floyd Hansen full credit for. Soon we had a set of 24 post cards; we packaged them up & started going door to door peddling our wares. Before we knocked on the first door we knew what we would find, people who appreciate the Pioneer heritage of this town & who were generous in showing their gratitude & respect. I’ve never seen so many Mormons break out their check books on a Sunday! We sold nearly 70 sets of & I should probably apologize to anyone whose Christmas gift that year was a lousy set of Joe City Postcards. Some of you may also remember that you bought a ticket for a barbeque dinner. Our barbeque was also a great success thanks to Linda Miller’s great organizational & bargain hunting skills. We had such a huge turnout that we ran out of food & had to turn people away. I’d like to think that everyone was really supporting our cause but I think Mr. G’s was just closed that night. Some of you may have a small replica of the monument sitting on your shelf. Have you been wondering if you’ll ever see the large version? Well, I have too actually. I’ve been asked today to give a Monument Update. I’m going to be putting a sprinkler system in soon & I don’t want anyone thinking I sold post cards to get it!
We did raise the $5000.00. Thank you so much for your support & generosity. The supplies were purchased & the project is nearly finished. We are however at a stand still after the passing of Jim Lofgreen who was the creator of this project. Just this past week Julie & I went on a mission to find our monument. Well, we found it & all I have to say is we were dressed way too nice for the job of bringing it home. Our local high school art teacher, Robert Pugh, has offered to finish this for us & we are very grateful for his help. No motivation or money has been lost & this project will be completed. We wish Jim could be here to see the result of his creation. We hope to have his family members there when it is finished. In the foyer we have displayed a portion of what has been finished. It is my favorite part. When deciding what words to put on the monument we read accounts of those who were the first to come here. When we read the account of Henry Holmes, a scout sent by Pres. Brigham Young to asses this area for colonization, we knew that these were the words we wanted, he wrote in his journal,
“I do not know whether it makes any difference whether
the country is barren or fruitful, if the Lord has a work to do in it.”
Joseph City isn’t known for it’s beautiful landscape, but it is known for it’s great spirit & strength. Henry Holmes’s perspective was correct. The Lord does have a work to do here, it started in the windy spring of 1876 & it continues still.
I want to thank everyone who has supported this monument. We appreciate you so much.
It was a fun day with only a slight wind. Thanks to anyone who had anything to do with it!