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SHELLEY — Families can step back in time and experience life on the frontier during the Snake River Homestead’s annual Pioneer Day Celebration on Thursday, July 23.
The celebration is one of the Homestead’s signature events, designed to bring history to life through hands-on experiences and demonstrations for all ages.
The free community event will be held from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the Snake River Homestead, 587 East 1250 North, west of Shelley.
“Pioneer Day at the Snake River Homestead is one of my favorite events of the year. It brings families together to celebrate the perseverance, resilience and heritage of the pioneers who built Eastern Idaho,” said Anna Williams Decker, chairman of the Snake River Homestead.
Visitors can explore historic buildings, enjoy pioneer games, browse historical merchants, listen to live music and enjoy local food vendors while experiencing what life was like for Idaho’s early settlers.
“We want to celebrate the pioneers and educate people, especially children, on the way of life back then,” organizer Chris Sheitz said.
The Pioneer Day celebration will feature things like blacksmith demonstrations, butter making, candle dipping, rope making, pioneer cooking, wagon rides, historic games, crafts and other living history demonstrations that give children and adults an opportunity to experience skills once used in everyday life.
The Snake River Homestead, formerly known as the North Bingham County Historical Park, is a nonprofit living history exhibit operated through the North End Recreation District. While the recreation district is also leading development of a planned 72-acre sports park in the area, it continues to preserve the Homestead as a place where local history can be experienced rather than simply observed.
“Over the past two decades, volunteers have transformed the property into a recreated pioneer settlement featuring historic buildings, including the Kirkpatrick Cabin, Bingham County’s oldest cabin, along with exhibits that showcase what life was like in eastern Idaho during the late 1800s,” Scheitz said.
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Visitors can tour a one-room schoolhouse, log cabins, a general store, a barn, a miner’s camp, and other historic structures while learning how pioneers lived, worked, and built communities.
Throughout the year, the Homestead also hosts fourth-grade educational field trips, seasonal festivals, Easter events, volunteer workdays, weddings and private rentals.
“Whether you’re coming for the history, the fun, or simply to spend time together, there’s something for everyone,” Decker concluded. “We invite everyone to join us as we honor their legacy, enjoy a day of fun and fellowship, and create new memories together.”
For more information about the Snake River Homestead or upcoming events, visit snakeriverhomestead.org
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