May Day Parade and Festivities

Sunday, Steve and I went to the May Day parade, put on by The Heart of the Beast Puppet and Mask Theatre. The parade started out with participants from the local Black Label Bike Club, plus many bicyclists simply showed up in the spirit of things.

Then there was an impressive chain link float with shooting flames, a ferris wheel, and skateboarders that was put together by a group of bike riders from South Minneapolis.

A big part of the event is about various groups voicing opinions and educating people on issues like GMOs, the use of Drones by the military, legalizing marijuana, raising the minimum wage and so on.

I’d never been to the annual May Day event (this was its 40th year) but if I go back, there will need to be better planning. We really couldn’t see much of the Festivities following the parade. There were just too many seasoned attendees who had marked out their spaces with blankets well ahead of time.

Speaking of seasoned attendees…  with so many bright, festive colors around me, and greetings of “Happy May Day!” it truly felt like a welcoming of warmer days to come. In fact, it was the nicest day we’ve seen for awhile.

I used to have a few puppets when I was a kid. Once, when I was sick with the measles, my Mom took a red pencil and marked my clown puppet with red dots so I had a companion to share my pain. The clown was kind of skinny and sad, like me. I didn’t like him much.

I preferred my dragon puppet, who was red, had big teeth, and looked fierce. Not quite as fierce as this guy, but close…