MayDay Minneapolis

The May Day Parade really outdid itself this year. There were more groups, more floats, more costumes and puppets, more bands. A lot more resistance politics, as might be expected after the winter of ICE in Minneapolis. The Powderhorn Park neighborhood in South Minneapolis remains working-class, sort of like Northeast was twenty years or so ago before it gentrified. That added to the “This is What Democracy Looks Like” vibe.

The parade has been going on for over fifty years, the first one organized in 1975 by the Powderhorn Puppet Theater, which became the In the Heart of the Beast Theater. A couple of years ago, HOBT handed control of the parade to a 501(c)(3) community group called Peer Education Health Resources but known as Mayday Minneapolis.

In keeping with the puppet theater theme, the main focus of the parade was still floats and puppet costumes crafted by actual people. I did not see a single corporate-sponsored float or commercially-produced helium balloon like the Macy’s parade. The vibe was much more . . . heart of the beast. A lady walking by at the beginning shouted “No one Fs with people who make puppets!” Lots of Ren-Faire overlap. Bees, bugs, hummingbirds, butterflies and other creatures were the themes of many groups’ puppets and signs.

But there was also a trans group, a LOT of ICE-resistance and anti-fascism, and even the “Mad Max” group of fire-breathing metal monstrosities that somehow managed to still be quite whimsical. The final car in that line was basically a barbecue on wheels, which I imagine the whole crew enjoyed after the parade.

The parade itself went on for at least 90 minutes. Afterward there was a Tree of Life ceremony in the park, and then a daylong party. I didn’t stay for that, but I imagine it was quite something. We stood near the beginning of the parade route and the crowd watching was as interesting and colorful as what we were seeing on the street. A good Mayday in Minneapolis!