May Day Parade and Festival

Sunday, May 3, 2009
35th Anniversary of MayDay

There are two parts to our MayDay event, the parade, and the ceremony, followed by a festival in Powderhorn Park until dusk.

Every spring, the MayDay Parade explodes onto Bloomington Avenue! We own the street for the day, dancing and playing instruments with fiery verve.

We tell our story, section by section, each designed musically and visually by MayDay staff artists as a walking theatrical performance.

Meanwhile, tens of thousands more line the streets, enjoying the spectacle and each other. People are everywhere - on rooftops and on lawns, toting babies in backpacks and toddlers in wagons, or sitting knee to knee along on the curbs. Everybody greets neighbors from near and far with a "Happy MayDay!!" The city feels intimate, overflowing with goodwill and spring fever.

The MayDay Ceremony in Powderhorn Park has become a joyous annual ritual for nearly 50,000 people in the Twin Cities. Each year, a 200-person pageant re-tells the story of that year's parade, with children and adult dancers, puppeteers, a live orchestra and four giant serene puppets who represent the Prairie, Sky, River, and Woods.

It culminates in the Tree of Life Ceremony: to the steady beating of drums, a resplendent red Sun Flotilla paddles the Sun from across the lake to the shore where the Tree of Life sleeps, waiting to be reawakened.

For more information, visit http://www.hobt.org/mayday/
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Sunday, May 3, 2009
35th Anniversary of MayDay

There are two parts to our MayDay event, the parade, and the ceremony, followed by a festival in Powderhorn Park until dusk.

Every spring, the MayDay Parade explodes onto Bloomington Avenue! We own the street for the day, dancing and playing instruments with fiery verve.

We tell our story, section by section, each designed musically and visually by MayDay staff artists as a walking theatrical performance.

Meanwhile, tens of thousands more line... (read more)