Today in Johnson City History, Tuesday, April 29, 2025
May Day, a stolen cow and more
Wednesday, April 29, 1925: A century ago today, the Johnson City Chronicle reported that “May Day offers another opportunity for a happy day for the children. The celebration of May Day with a dance is an old custom. It was long ago customary to start before dawn, making excursions to the woods and bringing in wild flowers for the May festival. A bough was brought from the forest, stripped of its branches, planted, decorated with garlands of flowers and became the center of dances and games.
“In planning the May Day party nothing could be more in keeping with the day that the May Pole dance. Attach strips of bunting of varying colors to the top of the pole. The children will be delighted in their white dresses, or in a costume the color of the bunting ribbon. In tripping around the pole, the ribbon will wind on it to produce the very pretty effect of the gay colored pole. To unwind the ribbons, the dancers must reverse, beginning with the last to wind their ribbon on the pole.