Members of the Malad Valley Welsh Society gathered at the 2nd ward church building last week for a discussion of Welsh icon St. David, as well as a presentation by member Larry Thomas on the past businesses throughout Malad’s history.

St. David’s Day is an important national day of celebration in Wales, and so it is also grounds for a meeting of the local Welsh Society, which is one of the largest in the region.  

Lucille Washburn spoke to attendees on the life and legends surrounding the first millenium religious figure who was tasked with bringing Catholicism to the Welsh parts of the island.  What is known about St. David is a mixture of monastic records, folk mythology, national origin story, and information from other sources.  Washburn tracked through what is definitely known about him (the dates of his life and ministry), what is widely believed about him (his preference for Ireland over Wales, for instance), and what may or may not be true about him (we’ll just leave that alone…).  St. David is as much an important element of Welsh identity as are daffodils, leeks, and a long list of poets.

Speaker Larry Thomas began his discussion with an AI generated song about businesses from Malad’s past.  Thomas is both a longtime city councilmember as well as a longtime business owner on Main Street, and as such he is quite familiar with the range of businesses that have made their way through Malad over the years.  In his presentation, Thomas discussed many of the buildings on Main Street and around town, as well as the variety of businesses that have occupied those buildings.  Because the group was largely composed of locals, the session involved a lot of humorous memories of places past, as well as gasps of recollection about things people hadn’t thought about in years.

Thomas provided guests with a QR Code to an online quiz about past Malad businesses, which is reproduced here.

Members of the Society and their guests were treated to a potluck of snacks and treats, and stayed after the meeting to continue their discussion of Malad’s Welsh heritage and its business past.

The agenda will now move on to a discussion of the upcoming Welsh Festival, which is the premiere event for the group in Malad, and indeed is one of the biggest Welsh Festivals in the entire country.  The Festival names a “bard” poet at the end of its weekend of festivities, and brings a focus on the proud Welsh heritage of the Malad Valley dating back to the early pioneer settlement.