Labor Day Parade draws large crowd downtown

A large crowd gathered in downtown Terre Haute today to honor union workers participating in the 35th annual Labor Day Parade.

The route stretched westward from 11th Street to Fourth Street along Wabash Avenue and then south to Poplar Street. The parade consisted of around 50 entries and more than 2,000 participants.

State baseball champions, the Northview High School Knights of Brazil, were parade grand marshals this year. The Wabash Valley Central Labor Chapter of the Southern Indiana Regional Labor Council and Central Wabash Valley Building & Construction Trades Council sponsoring the event. The Wabash Valley Central Labor Council is located in Terre Haute and covers Clay, Greene, Knox, Owen, Parke, Putnam, Sullivan, Vermillion and Vigo Counties. 

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.”