Cedar City commemorates railroad centennial with week’s worth of activities, celebrations

Written by Jeff Richards
June 30, 2023

CEDAR CITY — The Cedar City Railroad Centennial celebration featured a variety of activities throughout the week of June 19-24.

Cedar City Community Band members play during Cedar City Railroad Centennial celebration, Cedar City, Utah, June 24, 2023 | Photo courtesy of Karl Hugh, St. George News / Cedar City News

Wrapping up the weeklong festivities was a re-enactment of Pres. Warren G. Harding’s speech delivered in Cedar City almost exactly 100 years earlier, on June 27, 1923. Saturday’s program was held in Main Street Park downtown, right across the street from where Cedar City’s train depot used to be located. 

According to a Cedar City news release, the city’s Historic Preservation Commission planned the celebration to commemorate the railroad’s impact on Iron County tourism, commerce, and agriculture industries. 

“Thousands of people, young and old, traveled  from across the state to attend various events and take a stroll down memory lane in appreciation of  southern Utah’s rich history and connection to the railroad,” the news release states. 

Following are recaps of some of the activities from the week:

Officials and members of the Dansie family unveil unveil a plaque as part of Cedar City Railroad Centennial celebration, Cedar City, Utah, June 19, 2023 | Photo by Jeff Richards, St. George News / Cedar City News

June 19: Three separate historical markers were unveiled at downtown locations that marked the former sites of El Escalante Hotel, the Commissary Warehouse, and the Utah Parks Bus Garage. Later that evening, a sold-out group artwork activity led by local artist Reggie Ford activity brought dozens of people to the Iron Springs Resort, where artists turned blank canvases into paintings of the red caboose that sits on the property.

June 20: Local historian and SUU professor Ryan Paul led more than 100 people on a historic walking tour downtown, concluding at the Cedars Hotel on Main Street. Paul’s storytelling experience was titled, “Memories of the U.P. (Union Pacific, Utah Parks) and You.” 

This day also marked the first of five days of free train rides, with the popular trackless “choo choo” making a downtown loop of a few blocks along 100 West and Main Street, starting and ending at the Cedar Post Pawn Shop, formerly Utah Parks Company’s commissary building. The outside wall of that building also now sports a new railroad-themed mural painted by local artists Randy Seely and Stacey Johnson, which was unveiled on Thursday.

June 21: Visitors enjoyed free admission to Frontier Homestead State Park, which has a number of railroad photos and memorabilia on display. A family game night was held that evening inside the museum building, and a scavenger hunt also took place   

Actor Michael Harding portrays Pres. Warren G. Harding during re-enactment at Cedar City Railroad Centennial celebration, Cedar City, Utah, June 24, 2023 | Photo courtesy of Cedar City Corp., St. George News / Cedar City News

June 22: The old train depot on the corner of Main Street and 200 North was the site of a musical social featuring live entertainment by the Cedar City Community Band and a special “sing away” performed by former National Parks employees in the outdoor amphitheater. 

Also staged was a neighborhood “slow roll” community bike ride that took place near Park Discovery, followed by a children’s movie at the park.

June 23: An invitation-only gala event hosted by Cedar City Mayor Garth Green took place at the former Utah Parks Company’s bus garage building at 451 N. Main Street, now the home of Rainbow Sign & Design / Decorworx. Attendees dressed in 1920s attire as they dined while watching performances by Charleston dancers and a barbershop vocal quartet. 

Saturday’s re-enactment of Harding’s 1923 speech also featured several folks dressed in period costumes, including actor Michael Harding portraying Pres. Harding, Lesa Bulloch as First Lady Florence Harding and state Sen. Evan Vickers as then-Utah Gov. Charles Mabey.

“You live in a wonderful state and you people of Utah are empire builders,” Harding told the crowd during his remarks.

He later added:

I know the sturdy stuff of which the pioneers are made. I pay you pioneers of this section my greatest respects for the foundation which you laid in building this magnificent community of southern Utah.

Caboose at Iron Springs Resort, Cedar City, Utah, June 19, 2023 | Photo by Jeff Richards, St. George News / Cedar City News

Mayor Green also spoke at the event, as did historian Paul, along with Union Pacific public affairs director Nathan Anderson and Brad Westwood, senior public historian for Utah Department of Community and Culture.

The community band, under the direction of Steve Shirts, performed a variety of historic and patriotic numbers, including such popular favorites as “Amazing Grace,” “Hail to the Chief,” “The Stars and Stripes Forever” and “I’ve Been Working on the Railroad.”

Although the main celebrations have concluded, people can still visit Cedar City Library-in-the-Park’s Antiques and Ancestry exhibit of photos, artifacts, and railroad memorabilia until Aug. 1. Additionally, a collection of 70 historic railroad photos will be on exhibit from June 26 through Sept. 2 at the Randall L. Jones Theater. The exhibit will then be shown at Southern Utah University’s Gerald R. Sherratt Library from Sept. 6 through Oct. 6 and at the  Cedar City Library from Oct. 11 through Dec. 1.

For more information about the Cedar City Railroad Centennial, visit the celebration’s page on the city’s website. To watch the Visit Cedar City | Brian Head tourism bureau’s minute-long video recap on Facebook, click here.

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Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2023, all rights reserved.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Jeff Richards, a native of Salt Lake City with family roots in Panguitch, lived in Moab for 20 years before joining St. George News in 2017. Jeff is a longtime journalist and secondary school teacher. He and his wife Penny are the parents of five daughters. They also have three young grandsons and one granddaughter. Jeff and his family enjoy swimming, camping, sightseeing, reading, and taking pictures.

Email: [email protected]
Twitter: @stgnews@moabjeff@stgnewssports

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