The Grand Rapids Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) is holding their annual May Day celebration tomorrow at MLK Park:

For the last 2 years the closest Saturday to May 1st MLK Park has been reserved for a community celebration. Hundreds of people have come to the park for food, entertainment, and resources to organize for a better Grand Rapids and society. This year the celebration will take place April 28th at Martin Luther King Jr. Park from 12 noon to 8pm.

International Workers Day May 1 (May Day) is a holiday celebrated around the world in remembrance of the Haymarket Martyrs and the fight for the 8 hour day. May 1st marks the 126th anniversary of International Workers Day. The origins of International Workers’ Day go back to 1886. Hundreds of thousands of workers across the United States went on strike. In Grand Rapids, 7,000 furniture workers of the Knights of Labor left their workplaces for an impromptu march. Workers demanded that their 10- and 12-hour work days be shortened to an 8-hour day with no reduction in pay. Over the next few years, thousands of workers won the 8-hour workday that many of us still enjoy today. The memory of the Martyrs, and the struggle that they died for is what continues to bring hundreds of thousands of workers into the streets, around the world every May 1.

The IWW is also planning to “unveil an organizing campaign that may affect ArtPrize” according to their website.

Other things planned for the event include a Really, Really Free Market, music, a potluck, and tables from a number of different organizations.