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REFLECTIONS ON BOX ELDER COUNTY AT THE END OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY J.n Brigham City it is Peach Days, which lays claim to being the oldest harvest festival in the state of Utah. In the rocky alluvium of Brigham City, the honored crop in the early agricultural years was peaches. Out in "the Valley" it is Wheat and Beet days, with produce coming in from the dry farms and the sugar beet and onion fields. Then there is the C o u n t y Fair. Though there are variations, taken together, they conform to the ancient p a t t e r n . The people come together once a year. Those who come in from outlying communities with their produce and their farm animals to exhibit have to stay near the fairgrounds. They have to stay, to eat, a n d to visit the banks. Sometimes they suffer injuries and have to go to the hospital. They meet other family members from nearby towns, and share news and family photographs. Sometimes they go to the photography booth or the caricaturist's booth, and have a family portrait done. While waiting for the judges to come by, they play cards or throw horseshoes. Sometimes they race, either on foot or on their sleek, combed horses. They go to the street dance, they walk and talk, and spend time with girlfriends or boyfriends. There is the election of the Peach Queen or
