In the plaza between the Church History Museum and FamilySearch Library in Salt Lake City, the Utah Old Time Fiddlers and Country Music Association made way for two women at the front of their little stage. One woman sang “Come, Come, Ye Saints” while the other harmonized on her harmonica in the shade of a canopy.
Their music rang out around the 2025 Pioneer Fair booths set up all around the museum — filled with activities and exhibits that helped participants understand what life was like for their ancestors.
Tiffany Bowles, an educator at the Church History Museum, called the July 19 event “the most important part of the museum’s summer” as the workers helped provide this enriching experience in celebrating the pioneers.
19 opportunities
When the fair started in 2017, the number of booths and demonstrators could fit into the plaza between the Church History Museum and the FamilySearch Library. In the years since, with many more volunteers, the booths loop around the museum.
In the 19 booths this year, crafts, skills and performances were available to try and watch. Some of the favorites for the kids were the pioneer games, learning the Deseret Alphabet and a trading post where they could exchange stamped cards for candy that pioneer children would eat.
The booths were run by workers and volunteers dressed up in pioneer clothes and knowledgeable in their crafts. As families and individuals would approach and watch, all the demonstrators engaged the younger kids and talked patiently while making a lace ornament or hammering a glowing bit of metal.
The booths included:
- Musical performances
- Tin punching
- Handcart pulling
- Cyanotype printing
- Live pottery demonstrations
- Laundry hanging
- “Foods of the Frontier”
- Trading Post
- Photo ops
- Blacksmithing
- The museum’s Independence Rock name writing
- Lace tatting and wool carding
- Quilting
- Tinsmithing
- Mountain man demonstrations
- Mormon Battalion exhibiting
- Rag doll making
- Pioneer games
- Deseret Alphabet learning
Natalie Bodine, events coordinator at the Church History Museum, talked about the tangibility of the activities in a digital age and how it connects the participants to their ancestors.
Crowd favorites
Some of the participants considered themselves lucky that while they were visiting family or Temple Square they were able to attend the 2025 Pioneer Fair.
Alyse and Chandler Brown were visiting family in Utah with their four kids when they learned about it. From Austin, Texas, the Browns were accustomed to the hot weather as they listened to pioneer stories from a demonstrator. It was Alyse Brown’s favorite part as the demonstrator would ask what stories the crowd wanted and captivated the listeners.
Christee and John Aydelottee from the Boise, Idaho, area went to the Deseret Alphabet class while visiting the museum and learned about the Pioneer Fair there. The whole experience impressed on Christee Aydelottee the importance of journaling and keeping a history.
“We wouldn’t know about these experiences and accounts if they hadn’t written it back then,” she said.
Connecting with the human family
One father said he was impressed with the vignettes and accurate portrayals, but he wanted his 4-year-old son to get something more out of the fair by being more connected with the human family and having an increased understanding of their own family’s pioneer and Mormon Battalion heritage.
Whether the fair attendees listened to songs played along the Oregon Trail or made rag dolls, all were welcomed.
“I hope all feel welcomed around history as it comes to life,” Bowles said to those who participated in the fair.
