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No open and shut case in observing Labor Day

By J. FRANK LYNCH
jflynch@thecitizennews.com

A month after kids returned to school locally, Fayette County and the rest of the nation finally bid the unofficial farewell to summer this Labor Day Weekend.

The first observance of Labor Day is believed to have been a parade on Sept. 5, 1882, in New York, probably organized by Peter J. McGuire, a Carpenters and Joiners Union secretary.

By 1893, more than half the states were observing a “Labor Day” on one day or another, and a bill to establish a federal holiday was passed by Congress in 1894. President Grover Cleveland signed the bill soon afterward, designating the first Monday in September as Labor Day.

Labor Day has traditionally marked the end of summer and the return to school, even though school districts, particularly in the South, have pushed back the start of classes to early August in recent years.

Schools will be closed on Monday, which is a holiday for Fayette County students and teachers. Most federal, state and local government workers will also have the day off, except of course for those in public safety.

County and city offices will be closed throughout Fayette County, as will all banks and post offices.

The Citizen offices will be open on Monday, however.

Stores won’t be closed, as Labor Day sales are expected to draw thousands of shoppers to Fayette Pavilion and The Avenue in Peachtree City.

Hundreds more will likely try to beat the heat in a darkened movie theater, as the last weekend of summer boasts some big names like Reese Witherspoon in “Vanity Fair,” Josh Hartnett in “Wicker Park” and Queen Latifah in “The Cookout.”

In Coweta County, the annual Powers Crossroads Festival is expected to draw thousands of visitors to a site on Ga. Highway 34 between Newnan and Franklin just as it has each Labor Day Weekend for many years. For more on Powers Crossroads, see the Weekend section in today’s Citizen.