The Hispanic Dance Team from Winlock performed for festival-goers at last year's May Day event in Vader.
Vader has been hosting its annual May Day Festival for the past 65 years, and they have no plans to change.
The only problem is that they don’t have any kids to wrap the May pole as part of the traditional rite of fertility.
“We don’t wrap the May Pole anymore because the school is gone,” explained May Day organizer Janet Charlton.
The lack of youthful participants due to the school closure in 2007 has done little to dampen the enthusiasm of the townsfolk for their annual spring celebration though.
Scheduled for Saturday, the Vader May Day Festival will include a community breakfast, hula dancers, parade, cake walk, quilt show, garage sales and vendors.
“It’s supposed to be 85 (degrees) that day, which is awesome because a lot of times it’s just pouring down rain,” noted Charlton, who represents the fourth woman and third generation of her family to organize the event. Charlton’s grandmother was a founder of the event, and her mother and aunt have also orchestrated the event in the past.
“And now I’m doing it,” added Charlton.
Although the town’s youthful population has dwindled, there are still new possibilities on the horizon for the Vader May Day Festival.
“Some of the old Vaderites have talked about doing an oldtimers May pole,” noted Charlton. She said that the idea is discussed each year during planning but so far they have not been able to round up enough representatives from the old school. “One of these years we’re going to surprise people,” added Charlton.
Back in the here and now, Saturday’s May Day Festival is scheduled to begin with an 8 a.m. breakfast at the Masonic Lodge. Hula dancers will descend on the streets around 10:30 a.m. and the parade will take off at 11 a.m. Following the parade will be the big cake walk, and the rest of the afternoon will be reserved for folks to make the rounds in town to visit the more than 30 vendors that are expected to line the streets.
Garage sales, children’s games at the Little Crane Cafe and a quilt show at the Assembly of God Church will also strive to keep the masses entertained.
Charlton noted that Jason Dailey will be the honorary grand marshal for the day. She cited his volunteer work, city council membership and efforts as a local business owner as reasons for his selection.
