Salt Lake County foods, beverages celebrated on Pioneer Day, D.C.-style

By Jennifer J. Johnson | [email protected]

Some 400 people carefully navigated their way under Utah’s iconic Delicate Arch. 

They took care not to brush against the sides of it or disrupt it. Some even bowed their heads, ensuring clearance.

They bowed their heads? To ensure clearance?

Huh?

It was the day after Pioneer Day. That “arch” was but an inflatable arch, decorating a Washington, D.C. doorway. Emblazoned on it was Utah’s brand phrase, Life Elevated. 

The inflatable arch was as close as it gets to the real deal for Utah natives living in or visiting the nation’s capital, and for non-Utah natives getting exposure to the state.

Life Elevated through the Flavors of Utah

Welcome to Utah Sen. Mike Lee’s Flavors of Utah shindig. This year, Lee hosted 400 guests at a lively reception, held July 25 in the historic Kennedy Caucus Room of the Russell Senate Office Building.

The Flavors of Utah event, now in its third year, is held around Pioneer Day in D.C. and is all about — according to the sponsoring senator — letting people “sample” what Utah itself is all about.

Salt Lake County features some fantastic flavors

Letting others know what Utah is all about starts with a brief explanation of Pioneer Day. 

Lee’s invitation to the event detailed Pioneer Day thus: “Pioneer Day is an official holiday celebrated on July 24 in the state of Utah. It commemorates the entry of Brigham Young and the first group of Mormon pioneers, into the Salt Lake Valley on July 24, 1847. While the holiday has strong links to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, it is officially a celebration of everyone, regardless of faith and nationality, who immigrated to the Salt Lake Valley during the pioneer era. An era which is generally considered to have ended with the 1869 arrival of the transcontinental railroad, the driving of the golden spike in Promontory, Utah.”

From there? The celebration of the pioneering spirit of Utah’s food and beverage companies takes center stage.

Of course, guests are invited to try the iconic green Jell-O — the same gelatin decorating maybe not pioneer meals, but Norman Rockwell-like Utah tableaus since mid-century — and the same gelatin memorialized in collector pins from the 2002 Olympics, which Utah hosted.

But less quirky and just as Utah-centric are delectables from throughout the state, including several Salt Lake County offerings.

JulieAnn Caramels in Sandy was represented at Lee’s event, along with another literal sweet—the chocolates of Salt Lake City’s historic Sweet Candy Company.

Holladay’s AppleBeer Corp. was in attendance, showing off its unique, multi-flavored, zero-proof beers, along with Salt Lake City’s famed Squatters Pub microbrewery summer beers.

West Jordan’s Drake Family Farms was in the house, offering goat-dairy products, including yogurt. 

“The pioneer spirit of each of these companies is inspiring. The story of starting in a kitchen and growing into a 100,000-square-foot production facility is something you will see over and over again,” Lee’s invitation stated.

Utah’s flavors—standing proud against the veteran D.C. host—Hawaii

Lee said the first event just started with some D.C. staffers mourning their missing Pioneer Day in Utah and deciding to commiserate over root beer floats.

“We’re always in session the week of Pioneer Day,” Lee explained, “so, originally, we started doing homemade root beer floats and invited a lot of staff members and others we knew, and [Flavors] sort of grew out of that.”

“Best-themed event on Capitol Hill,” is the reaction Lee gets from visitors attending the event, he told the City Journals in a phone call from his D.C. office.

But while the Utah celebration is geared around Pioneer Day, having a state delegation host such an event did not start with Utah. Hawaii is credited with starting this sort of hosting, circa 2012, with an annual event occurring about a month prior to the Utah celebration. 

“One of the better-known ones,” is how Lee described the Hawaiian event. “I know there are others out there.”

The political side

Although Republican Lee is the host of the event, Utah’s full congressional delegation of six men, all Republicans, save one, participated in the event.

While this year’s event had Washingtonians experiencing what Utah offers, back home Utah hosted the nation’s governors on Pioneer Day proper and the few days after, as Salt Lake City was home to the National Governors Association meeting, July 24-26. Governors from around the country attended the Pioneer Day parade and likely sampled many foods and beverages Lee promoted in Washington, D.C. 

Sponsors of Lee’s Flavors of Utah event included Associated Food Stores, Utah Food Industry Association and Zions Bank, as well as more than 20 Utah food vendors.

When asked which Utah fare was the fairest of them all for guests attending the Flavors event, Lee, ever the consummate politician, said, “All of them were received really well…. I’m always hesitant to mention some instead of others.”

The main takeaway? “[The event] helps people understand how much we love food and that we have a lot of good food from Utah.”