Pioneer Day celebration

Residents of San Juan County will converge on Monticello this weekend to celebrate pioneering and pioneer spirit at the annual Pioneer Day celebration on July 24 and 25.
The theme for the celebration is Pioneering the Past, Present, and Future. A full schedule of events can be found in this issue of the San Juan Record.
Friday marks the beginning of the festivities, with highlights for the day including family and school reunions, the annual Blue Mountain Invitational Fastpitch Softball tournament and a free concert in Veterans Memorial Park.
The Monticello High School Class of 1965 will hold a 50-year reunion at the Lions Club Building.
The annual softball tournament attracts teams from across the state and the Four Corners area. The tournament will get its start with a home run derby starting at 3 p.m. on Friday.
The softball tournament will begin at 5 p.m. on Friday. Both the derby and the tournament will be held at the Monticello City softball fields. The tournament will call it a night late in the evening and pick back up beginning at 8 a.m. on Saturday morning.
The band Dust Pan Magic will play a free concert at Veterans Memorial Park. The concert will begin at 7 p.m.
The park is also the starting point for the Monticello Ghost Tour, which begins at 8 and 9 p.m. on Thursday and 7, 8 and 9 p.m. on Friday and Saturday.
Additional events that run both Friday and Saturday include Civil War historical demonstrations, a quilt show, and vendors at Veterans Memorial Park.
The Civil War living history demonstration begins Friday at 9 a.m. and runs until 2 p.m. at the Monticello Visitor Center. The demonstrations continue Saturday from 1 to 5 p.m.
The quilt show takes place at the Monticello branch of the San Juan County Library. It runs Friday from 4 to 6 p.m. On Saturday, the show continues from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Vendors will set up at Veterans Memorial park starting at 4 p.m. on Friday and start again on Saturday, immediately following the parade.
Saturday activities begin early with the Pioneer Day 5K run beginning at 6:30 a.m. at Loyds Lake.
The annual Lions Club breakfast will take place at the LDS Stake Center pavilion behind the post office, beginning at 7:30 a.m.
The annual Pioneer Parade will begin at 10:30 a.m. The route begins at the high school and loops around to Main Street and back up to the high school on Center Street.
The Grand Marshalls for the 2015 parade are World War II veterans. All veterans are invited to meet at the high school and participate in the parade.
The carnival at the park begins after the parade at Veterans Memorial Park. Events for children include inflatable bouncy houses and a nickel dive at the swimming pool from 2 to 3 p.m., with a $1 open swim from 3 to 5 p.m.
The day concludes with fireworks at dark:30.