By Aidan Mortensen | KOAL News
Celebrated annually, Wellington’s Pioneer Days seeks to unite the community and provide entertainment for all ages. To discuss the 2025 rendition of the event, Castle Country Radio was joined by Wellington Mayor Jack Clark and his wife, Jennifer Clark, to preview all of the fun coming to the city.
The festivities start early in the week, with a citywide scavenger hunt opening Pioneer Days.” We’ll release clues daily, and it takes you around the city of Wellington. It’s good for adults and kids alike,” explained Jennifer Clark. “And there will be an actual treasure at the end. We went around town and found a bunch of the Sacajawea dollars from all the banks. So there will be like a $50 gold coin prize at the end, plus an additional $50 in gift certificates and other things.”
She added,” And the first person who finds the prize will get the money. But after that, anyone that finds the location and takes a picture of themselves there will have their name put in for a drawing for another prize. So there’s still incentive to go hunt that treasure.”
Clues are posted daily on the Wellington City Events Facebook page and at the post office. The first clue reads,” Stamped and sorted and on the go. Letters and parcels row by row. A giant stamp is in your view – just look above to find the clue.”
Moving to Thursday, July 17, the fun continues with a side-by-side trail ride. “They are going to meet at the rodeo grounds at 9 a.m. People pack a lunch with them and they’re going to go until about 4 p.m.”
Moving into the main slate of events, the Clarks shared some of the festivities happening on Friday, July 18. The fun kicks off at 6 p.m. with a sloppy joe dinner at the park, with a live auction and performance by the Desert Sage Band to follow.
“We’re excited for these events,” expressed Mayor Clark. “They played last year for a couple of short segments in the park, and we enjoyed them so well that we invited them back.”
On Saturday, July 19, the festivities begin bright and early at 7 a.m. when the fire department hosts its annual breakfast. “We had a lot of people asking about this last year because it was not there,” said Mayor Clark. “It’s going from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m., and it’s $5 a person, $20 per family. And it’s a fundraiser for the fire department.”
Following breakfast is the cornerstone of any city celebration, the parade. “We’re doing it down 100 East again, and it starts at 10. If anybody wants to enter a float in it, then they contact Ashley at 650-9793,” explained Jennifer Clark.
Throughout the day, the celebration will feature kids’ games and activities, vendor booths and live entertainment. Starting at 11:30 a.m., the competition kicks into gear with a kids’ cornhole tournament. “David Adair is heading that up, the kid’s cornhole. It’s going to be $5 per person 15 and under. You can contact him at 435-820-1296.” Mayor Clark continued,” Along with that, they’re doing an adult Switcholio tournament. That’s going to start at 5 p.m. They do have a $1,000 grand prize they can win from that. And it’s a $20 entry fee per person.”
A new event is coming to Pioneer Days in Invictus Armored Combat – a group that was previously seen performing at the Price City Renaissance Festival. “Seth Wells is on our planning committee, and he’s actually a part of this group. And so they come down and they’ll be doing some live fighting at 4 p.m. And it’s going to be a good time.”
The penultimate event of the celebration will be Pioneer Games held in the park from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. “We do some games that are traditional for that time period,” explained Jennifer Clark. “There’s, of course, like the tug-of-war with the rope. And they have some kind of thing where they have sticks and they flip these little round rope rings.”
Closing out the 2025 rendition of Pioneer Days will be a movie in the park. “We’re pretty excited about this one. This movie is filmed in our area. Rigoletto is the movie, and the Utah International Film Festival sponsors it. We have some actors there who are going to tell us some of their experiences when they filmed this show. We also have the food vendors who are going to have some food and they’re going to sell popcorn and other concessions.”
Bringing our conversation to an end, Mayor Clark stated,” I just want everybody to come out and have a good time. We’re expecting to have some fun events and it makes it even better if we have a good crowd there. So come on out and enjoy our Wellington Pioneer Days.”
Wellington’s Pioneer Days will begin on Thursday, July 17 and run through Saturday, July 19. A full schedule of events is available online at the Wellington City Events Facebook page.
