Downtown parade honors union workers

A crowd lined Wabash Avenue in Terre Haute to honor union workers participating in the 34th annual Labor Day Parade.

On a sunny and hot afternoon, The route stretched westward from 11th Street to Fourth Street and then south to Poplar Street and consisted of around 50 entries and more than 2,000 participants.

The Wabash Valley Central Labor Council and the Central Wabash Valley Building and Construction Trades Council hosted the Labor Day Parade. Following tradition, the parade wrapped up with a bean dinner at Fairbanks Park. It was also an opportunity to meet candidates in the upcoming election.

The Central Wabash Valley Building and Construction Trades Council is located in Terre Haute and covers Clay, Greene, Knox, Owen, Parke, Putnam, Sullivan, Vermillion and Vigo Counties.

The Terre Haute Labor Day Banquet will be held at the Holiday Inn this evening. Units will be judged and awards presented at the banquet.  

According to the United States Department of Labor Website, the first Labor Day holiday was celebrated on Tuesday, September 5, 1882, in New York City, in accordance with the plans of the Central Labor Union. “In 1884 the first Monday in September was selected as the holiday, as originally proposed, and the Central Labor Union urged similar organizations in other cities to follow the example of New York and celebrate a "workingmen's holiday" on that date. The idea spread with the growth of labor organizations, and in 1885 Labor Day was celebrated in many industrial centers of the country.”