La Crosse Labor Day Parade and Fest 2023
As Coulee Region residents prepare to celebrate Labor Day, the Western Wisconsin AFL-CIO is pleased to announce the continuation of a 132-year tradition, the La Crosse’s Labor Day Parade & Fest, this year held on Monday, September 4th. The parade step-off takes place at 10:00 AM from the corner of Gillette and Kane Streets on the north side of La Crosse.
“Today, we take the time to recognize and thank the working people of our country who form the backbone of America. Wisconsin residents across the state are working hard to support their families and move our state forward, and labor promises to stand behind the working families of Wisconsin.”
– Mike Davis Jr, President WWAFLCIO.
La Crosse Labor Day kicks off with a ten-block, family-friendly parade. After the parade, festivities move to the north end of Copeland Park, with free games for children (a “fishpond” and piles of sawdust with coins hidden inside), bingo, meat, and other raffles for adults – and more activity. WWAFLCIO volunteers will provide soda, beer, brats, hot dogs, and chips for purchase.
This year’s parade marshal is Terry L. Hicks, former president, and current president emeritus of the WWAFLCIO. Hicks’s decades of service to the labor movement include his 16 years as president of the WWAFLCIO, longer than any other individual in the organization’s 132-year history.
Terry’s also one of a select few individuals who have served as La Crosse Labor Day’s parade marshal twice, the other time being in 2003. Additionally, Terry’s been the editor-in-chief of Western Wisconsin’s Union Herald for over two decades. The Union Herald is one of just three union newspapers left in the State of Wisconsin. Terry’s been a union member since 1965.
“I’m proud to have been chosen as La Crosse’s 2023 Labor Day Parade. Support your local union and lend your voice to the cause. This Labor Day I am fairly healthy, completely happy, and glad to be here,” Hicks said when asked about being chosen as the 2023 Parade Marshall.
One of WWAFLCIO’s goals for the Labor Day event is to provide residents of the area with a family-friendly parade and holiday experience while celebrating and honoring all working people in the Coulee Region.
International AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler had this to say about unionism this Labor Day, “The idea of a union may sound complicated, but, unions are just a group of people coming together. They are about each of us becoming the most powerful version of ourselves that we possibly can.”
Labor Day is a day to remember the rights of working people are not gifts but won and defended by grassroots movement driven by a desire and passion for change.
As you celebrate Labor Day, be sure to remind friends, family, and colleagues that every job is important.
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