Why We Still Celebrate Labor Day

The Rise and Fall of the Labor and Union Movements in America

The Labor Day Holiday is celebrated annually on the first Monday of September. It is considered the unofficial end of summer (although summer actually lasts until the Autumn Equinox the 3rd week of September) and is marked by picnics, concerts, festivals, back-to-school sales (although many schools now start school in mid- or late August), and lastly Labor Day parades.

Here in Michigan, there is the annual walk across the Mackinaw Bridge (also known as the “Mighty Mac”) that separates the Lower Peninsula from the Upper Peninsula, usually led by the current governor of our state. The Mackinaw Bridge is the largest suspension bridge in the western hemisphere.

Michigan also has a big labor movement history, especially for the auto industry, so Labor Day is still marked by parades by union members in towns and cities all over the state.

In Detroit, the long Labor Day holiday weekend is also celebrated with the Detroit Jazz Festival, the largest free jazz festival in the world, which brings music lovers from all over the world to downtown Detroit. The festival, which spans four separate performance stages with scores of concerts over four days, celebrates its 40th anniversary in 2019.