May Day 2016
Minneapolis is a great city. One of the things that makes it so great is the annual May Day parade and celebration put on by Heart of the Beast Puppet and Mask Theater on the first Sunday in May. It’s a tradition that began in 1975 when Sandy Spieler organized a group of 50 or 60 people to create a celebration of spring and the end of the Vietnam war. It has grown to where it brings some 50,000 people to watch the parade as it makes its way down Bloomington Avenue and to Powderhorn Park for the ceremony and festival.
My first May Day experience was in 1978, a year after I’d moved to Minneapolis, and I’ve attended it almost every year since. I now live across the street from Powderhorn Park, so this festival happens practically in my front yard.
Here are some photos I took at this year’s May Day celebration.