Carol Fisher-Linn
Celebrating the season and the worker this Labor Day, September 7, 2026….
It’s almost incredible to believe that Labor Day is at our front step, knocking at our door. It seems like only yesterday when we were celebrating the beginning of summer and Memorial Day! With Labor Day coming almost a week into September, we have a bonus week of summer, except the kiddoes must go to school earlier than is traditional, which is generally the day after Labor Day. Sorry, Kids.
Although there is no Labor Day parade scheduled in Cattaraugus or Chautauqua counties this year, there are activities to look forward to during the Labor Day week. The 10,000 Maniacs are celebrating their 45th anniversary with a special 3-day event (9/3 to 9/5) in Jamestown with a headline concert at the Reg Lenna where the band first played in 1981. They are doing this to raise support and funds for local education, community causes and the arts in WNY. Were you there to support those local kids who called their band Still Life in ‘81?
Jamestown is holding a Labor Day festival on Sunday, September 6 at Bergman Park (487 Baker St.) from noon to 8:30pm, featuring music, food vendors, community events and activities for the kids, concluding with major fireworks. Be sure to catch them. They could be the last of the year!
If Demolition is more your speed, the annual Fritz and Lynn Seamens Demolition Derby with Stateline Speedway takes place on Monday, September 7. Live music, smoked barbeque, and concessions begin at 11am. Pits open at 8, grandstand at 12:30 with the Derby beginning at 3pm. Send the summer off with a crash! Stateline is in the town of Busti, 4150 Kortwright Road (might be listed in Jamestown on GPS).
With picnics and parties and other festivities surrounding Labor Day, we likely don’t consider how Labor Day came to be. The holiday is truly one that celebrates YOU, the American worker. But the American workers were not always dignified with a day of celebration. In fact, the workforce was at the mercy of the elite big business owners who even more egregiously than today’s big business took advantage of and, in many cases, the last living strength out of their workers.
Let’s look back. In 1894, President Grover Cleveland signed the Labor Day holiday into law – but only after political pressure brought about after the suppression of the infamous Pullman Strike perpetuated by tariffs, stock market bubble, devalued paper money, crashed wheat prices, bank runs, etc. Pullman workers lived in “company towns.” Due to the major drop in the economy, big business owners lowered wages but did not adjust down for the cost of living in those company towns. A strike followed. Thirty-plus workers were killed nationwide. President Cleveland deployed federal troops to break the boycott, resulting in these deaths. Recognizing the tragedy he created by sending those troops and needing to find favor with the labor movement, Cleveland capitulated and officially recognized the first Monday in September as Labor Day.
Just imagine living back in those days. If you worked in a factory, you were paid seventy-five cents a day ($23.13 in today’s dollars). You worked sixty hours a week and often the doors were locked to keep workers from taking breaks. As a result, The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in the Greenwich Village neighborhood in New York City, in 1911, was the deadliest industrial disaster in the history of the city, and one of the deadliest in U.S. history. 146 persons died, mostly young women and girls – the owners were acquitted by an all-male jury and fined $75 per deceased person while being paid $445 per person by insurance.
Prior to this tragedy, on September 5, 1882, organizers created a parade to call attention to these horrific conditions. It is reported that between 10,000 to 20,000 attended. A lot of beer was reported to have been involved and more unions formed after this event. Between the growing strength of the labor unions and the tragedy of the Triangle shirt factory fire, we now can celebrate a day honoring the American worker.
Since many locals live and work in tourist supported towns, they don’t get a chance to celebrate the holiday with a day off. Please, support our workers and give a big thank you to those taking care of you this Labor Day weekend. Here’s a thought – leave a bigger tip!