Lehi City celebrates Pioneer Day with new historical sculpture

LEHI (News4Utah) – The city of Lehi celebrated Pioneer Day with the unveiling of its newest historical sculpture featuring a pioneer family at the Lehi Legacy Community Center.

A Lehi city spokesperson said the sculpture, titled “Harvest Sunset” cost approximately $90,000 to build. The city selected sculptor Scott Streadbeck out of a pool of entrants for the project.

“The city said they wanted a pioneer family that represented the early settlers of the valley,” said Streadbeck. “There’s a lot that we enjoy and see about the moment a pioneer arrives to an area. But I wanted to do the next step after when the family is at the time of harvest. Maybe they’ve been here a year or two and working to make their new home blossom and grow.”

Streadbeck comes from a family of sculptors and has nearly 20 years of sculpting experience. He said the design required research and real people whom the sculpture is modeled after. The project took him two years to complete.

“Once we were happy with the design, we molded and cast it. We took a 3D scanner, scanned the whole piece, took big pieces of foam, and milled it with a machine which gave me a full life-sized version,” said Streadbeck. “I would carve on the foam until I was happy with it and then put clay on top of the foam.”

He said he hopes his sculpture encourages preservation and education about our state’s history.

“I hope it’s a teaching tool. Something that can help others picture what life was like back then and think about how much we owe the early settlers and what they did for us,” said Streadbeck. “I heard one of the kids say, ‘What is this?’ And the adult said, ‘You don’t know about Pioneer Day. We’re going to have to teach you.'”

Julie Larocco, a 4th grade teacher from Farmington who visited the Legacy Center Tuesday, used this opportunity to teach her grandchildren about the history of Pioneer Day.

“It brings back history. We don’t want to forget it. You know time goes by and sometimes, kids don’t really know what people like the pioneers went through to establish Salt Lake City and Utah,” said Larocco. “For me, it was very realistic. I think this was a great piece of art.”

For more information about Scott Streadbeck’s sculptors, click here.