When you hear "May Day," do you think: pagan homage to the long-awaited arrival of the warm seasons? Then get thee to the Hartsbrook School's annual May Day celebration, on Friday, May 1, from 1-3 p.m. at 193 Bay Rd. in Hadley. Veterans of Hartsbrook's fall fair can attest that this school knows how to do festivals right. May Day organizers promise activities including a May pole dance and—no, you're not dreaming—a "cupcake walk." For info, call (413) 586-1908.
When you hear "May Day," do you think: workers' rights and a commemoration of the 1886 deaths of striking laborers at Chicago's Haymarket Square? Then check out "Our Right to Good Green Jobs," this year's version of the annual May Day celebration put together by Western Mass. Jobs with Justice (this year, with co-host Co-op Power).
The celebration will feature music (performers include the beloved peaceniks Raging Grannies) and a speech by longtime organizer and AFL-CIO official Stewart Acuff, who, according to a JWJ press release, "will rally listeners to struggle for an economic recovery that puts Main Street before Wall Street, passes the Employee Free Choice Act and restores workers' right to organize, ensures health care for all, creates good green jobs, and holds bailed out corporations accountable to the people." Thus rallied, listeners are then invited to work off some steam at a dance party, part of the grassroots Co-op Power's annual Sustainable Energy Summit, which is taking place at UMass on May 1 and 2.
The May Day event will take place Friday, May 1, at the UMass Campus Center Auditorium. Music begins at 6:30 p.m.; Acuff will speak at 7:45 p.m. Donations to benefit Jobs With Justice will be accepted, although, the group notes, no one will be turned away for lack of money. For more information on the celebration, call (413) 827-0301; for more information on the Sustainable Energy Summit, go to www.cooppower.coop.
