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Labor Day already? Here’s what’s happening…

Date Posted: August 20 2010

The dog days of August are here, days are getting shorter, and (feel free to cringe) summer is fading fast. But that means that Labor Day is right around the corner.

Celebrations of the American worker are held in various communities in Michigan, and building trades workers and their families are urged to participate in a parade or picnic near you.

Following are worker-related events in various locales in Michigan taking place on Labor Day weekend.

Detroit: For the building trades, a line of march on Labor Day, Monday, Sept. 6, will proceed as usual east along Michigan Avenue towards Campus Martius downtown. The building trades will line up before the parade, as usual, along Trumbull Avenue south of Michigan Avenue. The parade will start at 9 a.m.

Participants will march in the following order this year, with the Boilermakers (115-year anniversary) taking the lead on Trumbull, closest to Michigan Avenue:

  1. Boilermakers
  2. Sheet Metal Workers
  3. Painters
  4. Cement Masons/Plasterers
  5. Carpenters
  6. Elevator Constructors
  7. Iron Workers
  8. Laborers
  9. United Association of Pipe Trades
  10. IBEW
  11. Roofers
  12. Asbestos Workers
  13. Bricklayers and Allied Craftworkers

Other unions will march down Woodward from the Cultural Center to Campus Martius.

Grand Rapids: For the second year the Grand Rapids Labor Fest will be held at Ah-Nab-Awen Park near the Gerald Ford Presidential Museum, off of Pearl Street, one block east of U.S. 131. The day’s events will take place from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Labor Day around the “Spirit of Solidarity” monument in the park.

Activities include free admission to the Gerald Ford Presidential Museum, live music, food vendors and a beer tent, kids’ activities, labor displays and an antique American-made car and motorcycle show. Last year 6,000 people were in attendance.

Ishpeming: The 20th annual Labor Day festival will be held on Sept. 6, with a parade starting at 11 a.m. The parade starts and ends at the Cliff’s Shaft Museum and goes from Euclid to Main to Division and then comes back to the museum via Lakeshore Drive. A picnic will be held and speakers will be heard from noon to 4 p.m. Events are sponsored by the Marquette County Labor Council, AFL-CIO

Muskegon: The Muskegon Labor Day Parade will be in downtown Muskegon starting at 11 a.m. on Labor Day. Participants should meet at Heritage Landing at 9 am, to catch the Pioneer Resources Shuttle buses to the staging area, which will be at the end of Clay Avenue.  The parade will start there and will end at Seventh Street and Western Avenue.  Following the parade will be a solidarity tent with food and refreshments.

St. Ignace: The annual five-mile walk over the Mackinac Bridge begins at 7 a.m. on Labor Day. Walkers are allowed to start until 11 a.m.  The walk starts in St. Ignace, and shuttle buses ($5) are available for the return trip from Mackinaw City. The Labor Day Bridge walk brings more than 70,000 people to the area.