This panel depicts Maine’s 1889 Labor Day parade where more than 600 workers from across the state and representing many occupations marched through Portland’s streets under their union banners. After the parade had ended, hired trains took laborers and their families to Sebago Lake for a picnic to listen to music and speeches. Over the years, the Labor Day speeches continued to inspire workers and also remind them of their shared goals of fair wages, improved working conditions, and of their indispensable role in creating the wealth of the state. Labor Day celebrations grew in Maine until it became a state holiday in 1891 and a federal holiday in 1894.
In an effort to express the dignity and value of labor, the Knights of Labor in the Biddeford area organized Maine’s first Labor Day observance on August 31, 1886. To celebrate, three thousand workers gathered on Peak’s Island for a day of relaxation. Maine observed the holiday only four years after workers in New York City gathered for America’s first-ever Labor Day. The following year, the Knights organized a state-wide effort when several cities declared a municipal holiday, and many shops and factories closed for the day.
