From startups to natural foods Colorado is a bellwether state and has been ahead of the curve in so many ways. Did you know that the Centennial State was one of the first to give women the right to vote?

We were also one of the very first states to celebrate Labor Day. That’s right – Coloradans like a good day off when we see one!

The very first Labor Day was celebrated in New York City in 1882. It was organized by the Central Labor Union and about 10,000 laborers marched in that first of many “workingmen’s” parades.  There were some Labor Day holidays held at the municipal level in 1885 and 1886. In February 1887 Oregon was the first to make Labor Day a state holiday, after which four more states – our beloved Colorado along with Massachusetts, New Jersey and New York – followed suit later that year.

Before long Connecticut, Nebraska and Pennsylvania jumped on the Labor Day bandwagon and in 1894, by which point 23 states had enacted their own Labor Day celebrations, Labor Day became the federal holiday, i.e. day off, that we know today.

Nowadays, Labor Day is associated with the end of summer, lots of great sales on barbecues and outdoor furnishings – and the start of football season! We celebrate with outdoor activities, picnics, barbecues and microbrews, savoring good times with family and friends. It’s when we bid farewell to those long hot summer days and face the unavoidable fact that autumn and back-to-school season are once again upon us.

But Labor Day is about more than hot dogs, potato salad, frisbees and dips in Colorado’s refreshing creeks! It’s the original holiday of the working man (and woman) and its popularity spread alongside the rise of labor unions at the turn of the century. In the early days there were huge parades led by trade and labor unions along with civic speeches given by prominent leaders of the time. My how things have changed!