It was party time Saturday at Salt Lake International Airport’s Gate G-5 for a group of Utahns noted more for somber memorials and grief-filled reflections than for merrily posing with a green-faced Grinch in a hastily created Whoville.
Light-hearted celebrating, though, was precisely the point: The festivities were set up for Gold Star families from Utah, all of whom have lost a loved one in the military, as they prepared to hop on the “Snowball Express” for an all-expense paid trip to Disney World in Orlando.
The 30 travelers from all over the Wasatch Front — 10 families with 20 children among them — have spent months or years mourning their losses and remaking lives that were so horribly disrupted.