This weekend, Sanpete’s harvest season gets underway with some old-fashioned hayrides at Baxter Manor on Spring City’s Main Street. Every Friday and Saturday evening in October, Spring City’s City Councilman James Baker and friends of the Spring City’s Main Street Alliance are hosting family hayrides from 4pm- 8 pm.  Tickets are available online at Baxter Manor Bed and Breakfast’s website for $20-25.   (www.baxtermanorspringcity.com).  Get your tickets early because The Halloween historical hayrides are selling out.  Additional tours have been added at 4pm on Saturdays to accommodate demand.  The tours have been instantly popular because guests enjoy personalized tours of historic Spring City’s famous landmarks and important cemetery headstones, lit up “after dark.”

“Historic Spring City After Dark” — A Halloween History and Cemetery Tour is drawing visitors from throughout Utah, with participants traveling from as far away as St. George and Davis County for a very different kind of Halloween evening.

The tour, created by Baxter Manor Bed and Breakfast owner James Baker and Becky Fellhauer, takes visitors on a scripted journey through Spring City’s past. Beginning at Baxter Manor, guests board a hayride and travel through stories spanning the community’s earliest settlement through the 20th century before visiting both of Spring City’s historic cemeteries.

Rather than focusing on the frightening side of Halloween, After Dark offers something more enduring: the opportunity to remember the people who built, served, struggled and sacrificed to make Spring City what it is today.

“October is a fun time of year and hayrides help Spring City, its restaurants and cottage merchants, the chance to offer fun holiday gifts and food to visitors.  Sharing Spring City’s historic tales after dark also gives a fun Halloween twist to the evening.” Says Main Street Alliance leader Becky Felhauer.

Spring City Councilmlan Jim Baker  Council and Fellhauer have spent considerable time developing a historical narrative that includes both familiar names and lesser-known stories. Men and women from generations of Spring City families are represented, giving participants a glimpse into lives that might otherwise remain only names on a headstone.

Stories of the Allred, Meek, Baxter, Hansen, Behunin, Justesen and Sokill families, among others, provide a window into the challenges faced by early settlers and later generations. The life and experiences of Latter-day Saint Apostle Orson Hyde, whose connection to the community is part of Spring City’s history, are also included.

For many participants, the stories become particularly meaningful when heard while standing among the graves of the people being remembered.

Remembering Those Who Served

This year’s tour also carries special significance as the nation celebrates the 250th anniversary of the United States.

Throughout the journey, Baker and Fellhauer have incorporated stories of Spring City veterans and the sacrifices made by local men who served their country. The narrative reaches from the Mormon Battalion and the Black Hawk War to World War II, revealing personal experiences that connect national and regional history to the people of this small Sanpete County community.

Some of the accounts are harrowing. Others are quiet stories of courage, endurance and loss.

Together, they remind visitors that the history of America is not simply found in textbooks or famous battlefields. It is also found in small communities, family histories and the lives of ordinary people who answered extraordinary calls.

The stories of Spring City’s earliest settlers offer a similar opportunity for reflection. Participants hear about families who faced isolation, hardship and uncertainty as they established homes and farms in the Sanpete Valley.

For Baker and Fellhauer, the purpose is not simply to tell stories, but to create a connection between today’s visitors and those who came before them.

Sanpete families and friends should plan on booking hayrides beginning October 9^th through the 31^st.  Saturday tours begin at 4pm.  Sunday tours begin at 6:30pm.