Labor Day and the Last of Summer

I come from a place where we celebrate the laborers. We have a big parade and a weekend-long carnival to recognize the laborer's need for two important things: relaxation and recognition.

The Labor Day Festival is our traditional way of having one last summer fling before getting back into the swing of our "routine" for the other three seasons of the year. The festival has everything you'd expect - food, music, games, community service, rides and beauty contests. It's as American as you can get, especially considering it takes place in the country's first planned community that was built during the Great Depression of the 1930's. This is another reason why we take Labor Day so very seriously. Our city was designed to give the working poor their own homes and to give them that sense of pride that comes from being an engaged member of a community. It was (and still is) a place where people live and work together for the common good, blind to their social-economic, racial, religious differences, bound to the shared sense of community.

This was exactly what FDR and his advisors sought to create. And, I've have been fortunately to have grown up in this environment and to retain my ties to the community through family and friends (for I've moved up the road 15 miles.)

So, I wanted to give praise where it is due. Also, thanks to this year's festival planners. It was better than ever!