To celebrate all the hard work put in by Americans, many will take a day off Monday, Sept. 2, as we do every year in celebration of Labor Day.
While it might seem odd to celebrate working by not, it allows Americans to slow down for a day and remember everything accomplished by the long hours, endless days and year after year put in by workers.
Each year, millions of Americans spend the day relaxing with friends and family. In a tourist city like ours, many of our neighbors will be working, taking care of those of us who have the day off.
The Central Labor Union of New York celebrated the first Labor Day on Tuesday, Sept. 5, 1882, in New York City. The group held a second Labor Day celebration the next year, again on Sept. 5.
Who envisioned a day off to celebrate American laborers isn’t clear. Two men are credited with the idea — Peter J. McGuire, co-founder and general secretary of the Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America and later a cofounder of the American Federation of Labor in 1886, and Matthew Maguire, a New Jersey machinist who is credited with proposing a day off for workers at a New York City union meeting.
In 1884, the first Monday of September was designated as Labor Day and the Central Labor Union urged other union groups in New York City to also celebrate. By 1885, other cities reliant on heavy industry also saw celebrations.
Oregon passed the first law Feb. 21, 1887, designating Labor Day a state holiday before New York, although legislation had already been introduced.
New York, Colorado, Massachusetts and New Jersey also passed similar legislation later that year.
On June 28, 1894, the U.S. Congress enacted a bill making Labor Day a federal holiday.
Labor Day is one of the very few days we take off here at the newspaper, along with New Year’s Day, Memorial Day, the Fourth of July, Thanksgiving and Christmas. Instead, we move up our production schedule and that means we also move our deadlines for submissions.
For the Wednesday, Sept. 4, Sedona Red Rock News, The Camp Verde Journal and Cottonwood Journal Extra:
- News items like press releases and letters to the editor are due by 8 a.m. on Wednesday, Aug. 28
- Display advertisements due by 1 p.m., Thursday, Aug. 29
- Classified advertisements due by 3 p.m., Friday, Aug. 30
- For the Friday, Sept. 6, edition of The Scene
- Display advertisements due by 1 p.m., Friday, Aug. 30
- News items due by 5 p.m., Friday, Aug. 30
Our newsrooms in Sedona and Cottonwood will be closed all day Sept. 2 and reopen Tuesday, Sept. 3.
Celebrations of Labor Day started as community and family coming together to enjoy the fruits of their labor and some of those same traditions remain. Coming right after August just as school starts, Labor Day is the unofficial end of the summer and many families take one last short vacation over the three-day weekend or indulge in summer-esque activities like swimming or barbecues.
However you spend Sept. 2, remember to think about the hard work you and all the Americans who’ve come before you have put into creating the nation we live and work in today.
Christopher Fox Graham Managing Editor
