One of the main purposes of the Malad Valley Welsh Festival is to preserve and celebrate the stories of the pioneers who settled Malad Valley.  Beginning in the 1850s, Henry Peck and his sons Fred and Charlie began coming to the Malad Valley to cut wild hay for the freighters traveling from northern Utah to the silver and gold mines of Montana. The official founding date for Malad City is 1864 with the settling of other communities in Oneida County following soon afterward.

One of the most popular activities at the Welsh Festival always is the wagon rides along historic routes in Malad. Beginning in Malad City Park, authentic wagons drawn by pickups provided by Hess Pumice will travel along North Main Street and Bannock Street, the first roads through Malad.  Once known as the Montana Road or the Gold Road, North Main was one of the first areas settled by Henry Peck and his sons. Bannock Street was a cutoff of the Oregon Trail that headed west toward Oregon. Guides will point out sites of interest as the wagons travel along these historic streets.  The Malad High School Academic Team will place signs with information about homes and businesses from the earliest plat map available, dating to 1910 when Malad was just a village because it did not have large enough population to qualify as a city.

At the Malad Valley Welsh Festival, displays of family trees, census records, and other artifacts will be on display in the 2nd Ward Church (next to Malad City Park). Two new families will be featured this year:  Gomer Hughes and David Jenkins.  (See accompanying list for other families in this year’s displays.) You may find some long-lost cousins!

Whether or not you have been to Wales, “A Walk Through Wales” photographic exhibit will highlight some of the beautiful scenery, historic castles and churches, and famous sheep and other animals that make Wales a delightful place to visit.  This display of the land of so many ancestors of Malad Valley pioneers brings their history to life.

The Heritage Games, organized by the Malad Middle School MathCounts Team, will feature activities that pioneer children may have played as they crossed the Plains.  Come to the Festival to try stick pulling, races, and walking on stilts.

This year’s Welsh Festival is on Friday and Saturday, June 28-29, with a Fireside on Sunday evening. Come to the Welsh Festival and learn about the pioneer history of Malad Valley. There will be something for everyone – whether or not you are Welsh!

The displays and other events of the Festival are partially funded by grants from the Idaho Humanities Council, the Idaho Commission on the Arts, the Bistline Foundation, and the Idaho Blue Cross Foundation.

List of families featured in
family history displays: 

Benjamin Nephi Adams

William Clark

Daniel Daniels

Thomas Daniels

Richard Jenkins Davis

Winnifred Lloyd Roberts Evans

Benjamin D. Evans

Edward Davis Evans

Edward Jones Evans

William Thomas Griffiths

Gomer Hughes (new)

David Jenkins (new)

James Evans Jones

Morgan T. Jones

Richard Thomas Jones

William Hughes Jones

Thomas Parry

Daniel Evans Price

John Price

John Evan Price

Thomas William Richards

Benjamin Thomas

Frederick William Thomas

William Howell Thomas

Daniel Tovey

John Jones Williams

William W. Williams