Happy 166th birthday to Provo City!
Celebrate the founding of Provo City on April 1, 1849. Bring the whole family and your friends and join in the celebration at the Provo Pioneer Village. The Village will be open for tours and self-guided visits starting at 5:00 PM.
At 6:00 PM, Provo historian Robert Carter will welcome the evening’s featured program, Escapades of the Pony Express, given by local storyteller Elaine Brewster, whose great-grandfather was the last living Utah Pony Express rider. The musicians of Mail Express will assist her. Ms. Brewster brings to life the exploits of some of the Express riders, such as Billy Fisher, William Henry Streeper, Perry Decker and Elijah Nicholas Wilson as the riders encountered blizzards, hostile Indians, bandits and blazing deserts during April 1860 to October 1861. The time period of the Express is the middle of the time period represented in the Pioneer Village. The 50-minute program is appropriate for mid-elementary-school age and up. Refreshments will be provided after the program.
The Provo Pioneer Village is managed by the Brigham Young Chapter of the Sons of Utah Volunteer and is run completely by volunteers with the support of the local community. The Village’s mission is to bring to life Provo’s pioneer heritage for all visitors old and young. Everything you see in Pioneer Village is from 1849 to 1869—the schoolhouse, Haws Cabin, Turner Cabin, the George A. Smith Store, carriage house, and other historic buildings. The public may also enter the Village’s newest acquisition, the James Washington Loveless adobe house, which is the oldest home in Provo.