May First was a holiday of sorts when I was a girl. You didn't get out of school and there were no bank or post office closings, but we did have a May Pole dance - and a May Queen too!
The above shows the 9th grade girls at Northridge Junior High in 1958 I would guess. There was one special May Pole dance, where the queen and her court wove the ribbons in and out, but the rest of the girls did their own dances.
At the elementary level, we also had a carnival. As you can see above, lots of full skirts and petticoats were in abundance too.
Eisenhower dismantled the holiday for schools when the Russians focused on May Day as a workers' protest day. Too bad - because there is something fresh and endearing about lots of lovely young ladies dancing about in full skirts and petticoats.
And you will notice that even in black and white, you can see that the day was gray and overcast - just like today!! (That's for all the folks who say, "Why is it so gray and gloomy? It's May.")
