Here are 5 things to know about longest running Labor Day parade in Galesburg
At 10 a.m. Monday, Sept. 5, the 130th Galesburg Labor Day parade will kick off.
Here are five things to know about the parade before it starts.
Parade route is same ol' same ol', but expect a crowd
The parade will begin at the intersection of Main and Chambers streets, following west on Main Street for four blocks before turning south on Cherry Street for two blocks, ending at the Knox County Courthouse. People are welcome to line the north and south sides of Main Street and east and west sides of Cherry. Spectators are generally several people deep along the parade route.
More:Photo Gallery: 2009 Labor Day Parade
What's in the parade?
As of Tuesday afternoon, over 80 different groups, including over 33 unions, will take part in the parade. More continue to sign up, with organizer Randy Bryan telling the Register-Mail “We don’t turn anybody away” as the time of the parade approaches.
Among the largest union contingents will be the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 649 and Smart Union 195 Transportation Division.
Marching bands from Galesburg High School, ROWVA High School, and Knoxville High School are expected to participate.
For Bryan, the music of the marching Streaks, Tigers, and Blue Bullets remind him of parades in larger cities, as he cites a never-forgotten experience of a double-decker bus in Chicago filled with the music of every kind of drum he could imagine.
Organizers also welcome the expansion of all kinds of music and bands to take part in the annual parade.
“We’re always trying to add more schools, and everyone loves music.”
You say your parade has planes?!
Labor Day is also the kickoff for the 51st annual National Stearman Fly In. Since 1972, the brightly colored vintage biplanes have been a familiar sight in the skies of Galesburg in early September as pilots arrive from throughout the country.
Bryan notes that while pilots have always enjoyed showing off their planes and doing flyovers during the parade on their own, for several years the flyover has been preplanned and coordinated with the singing of the national anthem.
More:See photos from the 2021 Galesburg Labor Day Parade
Who is this year's Labor Day parade grand marshal?
The grand marshal is Darrell Moody, retired carpenter and former president of Carpenters Local Union No. 183, which has since been consolidated in East Peoria. Moody, born, raised, and a lifetime of work in Galesburg, was chosen for his long service as a union leader.
Bryan recalls always seeing Moody around town.
“He was everywhere. You’d see him at events, at job sites.”
What about the parade's history?
The Galesburg Labor Day parade dates back to 1892, when the Galesburg Trades and Labor Assembly was founded on July 4. The city has celebrated ever since. While the local parade is considered to be “the longest continually running Labor Day parade in the United States,” there are at least four years the parade has not run. From 1942 to 1945, as the United States was fighting in World War II, Galesburg canceled the parade, as did most cities in the country.
“Plans for a celebration were initiated some months ago but were discontinued when it became evident that the majority of the union members favored no celebration this year,” reported the Register-Mail on September 3, 1942, “thus there will be no Labor Day parade.”
The parade resumed in 1946, and has gone on ever since.
This article originally appeared on Galesburg Register-Mail: When is Galesburg Labor Day Parade? Marching bands, unions, Stearman
