Salt Lake City · July 18, 2026

TWO ANNIVERSARIES, ONE SPIRIT

This year carries a rare kind of weight. The United States marks its 250th anniversary in 2026, a milestone the whole country has spent the year building toward. Utah has its own anniversary running alongside it: the Days of ’47, honoring the pioneers who reached the Salt Lake Valley in 1847 and marking 179 years since. Pioneer Day lands on July 24, and the week around it brings rodeos, parades, and celebrations across the state.

Two different timelines, but the same throughline. One is the story of a nation declaring what it believed it could become. The other is the story of a people who crossed a continent to build a home in a place no one else wanted. Both are stories about starting with very little and building something lasting anyway. That is the spirit Utah brings to the table in 2026, and it showed up clearly this month.

A DELEGATION TO WASHINGTON

Ahead of the nation’s 250th, Jeremy Andra, BGen (Ret.) Max Stitzer, and I had the honor of joining Aaron Starks as he and 47G led a delegation of more than 20 defense companies, industry leaders, and academic partners to Washington, D.C.

The trip put Utah’s aerospace, defense, and innovation ecosystem in front of the people shaping national policy, at a moment when the whole country is reflecting on what it has built over 250 years. Twenty-plus organizations in one delegation, representing the depth of what Utah has built. It is the kind of showing that does not happen by accident, and it reflects years of work to make sure Utah has a seat at the table in Washington.

It was a privilege to be part of it, and a reminder that Utah’s pioneering spirit is still very much alive, this time carried into rooms on Capitol Hill instead of across the plains.

BRINGING IT HOME

That same spirit is what the Days of ’47 celebrate every year. Handcarts and wagons, faith and grit, a people who built a state from nothing in one of the harshest places to try. Utah’s aerospace, defense, and technology sectors did not appear out of thin air either. They grew out of that same willingness to do hard things in hard places, a legacy organizations like 47G carry forward today.

• Days of ’47 events run across Utah through Pioneer Day, July 24
• America’s 250th anniversary frames this year’s celebrations at every level, national and local
• Utah’s delegation to Washington carried more than 20 companies and partners to the capital, an example of that same pioneering spirit in 2026

None of this happens without 47G. Under Aaron Starks, the organization has built one of the fastest-growing aerospace and defense ecosystems in the country, but what stands out most is how deliberately it honors where Utah came from while pushing hard toward where the state is going. Even its name carries that dual meaning, tying the pioneers of 1847 to a legacy of pushing past limits. That is not branding. It is a genuine throughline, and it shows up in the way 47G brings companies, researchers, and policymakers to the same table year after year. Utah is fortunate to have an organization willing to carry that history forward this deliberately, and Black Star is grateful to stand alongside it.

WHAT’S AHEAD FOR BLACK STAR

That same pioneering spirit is what drives the work we have lined up. Here is where Black Star is headed over the next few months.

Policy Pulse: FY27 Budget Resolution. The House Budget Committee has moved a reconciliation package forward that directs $60 billion toward defense, a fraction of the $350 billion the Pentagon had been seeking, and the resolution now heads to a full House vote. The Bennett Group and 47G are hosting a virtual briefing on Monday, July 20 from 2:00 to 2:45pm MDT to unpack what it means for programs in the pipeline. Black Star will be there, and we will bring what we learn back to our members.

Building the AI Agent Team, Alta Club, August 4. On Tuesday, August 4, Black Star is joining WW Partners, GetLatest AI, and the Alta Club for a working lunch on building AI agent teams inside real organizations, not demo environments. This also marks a new chapter for Black Star at the Alta Club, founded in 1883 as a home for Salt Lake City’s business community. Black Star and The Bennett Group are building a standing presence there through executive gatherings and member events. Let us know if you would like an introduction to the Club’s membership team.

Hard Tech Week and Zero Gravity Summit. Mark the last week of October. Hard Tech Week runs statewide across Utah from October 26 to 30, organized by 47G, Utah Tech Week, and The Nucleus Institute, with live demos and facility showcases across the state. The week’s flagship event, the Zero Gravity Summit, anchors it all on October 28 and 29 at the Salt Palace Convention Center. Black Star will be on the ground for both.

• FY27 Budget Resolution Briefing, Monday, July 20, 2:00 to 2:45pm MDT, virtual
• Build Your AI Agent Team, Tuesday, August 4, Alta Club working lunch
• Hard Tech Week, October 26 to 30, statewide across Utah
• Zero Gravity Summit, October 28 to 29, Salt Palace Convention Center

As you take in the rodeos, the parades, and the fireworks this week, it is worth remembering what they actually commemorate: people who moved forward when moving forward was the hard choice. Black Star is proud to carry that same spirit into the work ahead. Reach out if you want help thinking through where any of it intersects with your own roadmap.

Onward,

Elijah Taylor

Black Star Syndicate | blackstarsyndicate.com