The fifth annual Youngstown May Day Festival returns this weekend with speakers, commemorations, music, food, vendors and art activities.

The family-friendly event occurs noon-6 p.m. Saturday and Sunday at Calvin Center, 755 Mahoning Ave., Youngstown. Admission is free.

The two-day event will feature speakers, roundtables and workshops, including “Intro to Grassroots Activism,” “Immigration Defense NOW,” a panel on progressive electoral strategy and an introduction to conscious-living practices.

This year’s theme will be “Let This Radicalize You.” Organizers said the theme is “in response to the unprecedented, devastating attacks on civil rights, due process, climate control, education and the rule of law.”

The festival will open with a memorial honoring Mahoning-Trumbull workers fallen on the job site. The ceremony, which is co-sponsored by the AFL-CIO, honors the historical roots of May Day as a struggle for workers’ rights and remembers that workplace safety is still an ongoing concern for people in the Mahoning Valley and beyond.

The festival will include crafts, local vendors and community organizations. Food and baked goods will be available from Sauceeino, VegatierExpress, Vampy Vegan, Youngstown Food Brigade and Lulu’s Baked Goods.

The two-day event will occur rain or shine. In the event of rain, organizers will move activities indoors. A schedule of events appears below.

Saturday, April 26

Roundtables and discussions occur in the Yoga Room in Calvin Center.

• AFL-CIO’s annual Fallen Workers Memorial. Honors and recognizes workers whose lives were claimed by a work-related incident, illness or disease, and remembers those they have left behind. 1 p.m.
• “Social Ecology: Practical Ways to Unite the Red & Green.” Presenter Glenn Hall will examine the theory of social ecology. 2:30 p.m.
• “Grassroots Activism Roundtable: What it Looks Like to Do the Work.” How to identify local problems and build winning campaigns and projects with seasoned organizers from the region. Moderator: Susie Beiersdorfer. Presenters: Dana Oleskiewicz, Trans Allies of Ohio; Mandy Fehlbaum, OH SB1 Petition; Kayshia Washington, SOBE Concerned Citizens; and Felicia Armstrong, Friends of the Mahoning River. 3:30 p.m.
• Panel: “Immigration Defense NOW.” Explores the legal and political climate of immigration and shares mutual-aid practices for individuals and communities to support immigrants and communities. Presenters: Vicki Vicars, vice president of operations, Thrive Mahoning Valley; C Stonebraker-Martinez, co-director of the InterReligious Task Force on Central America; Tori Hamilton, attorney at Catholic Charities Migration & Refugee Services; and Lauren Burgess, YSU student, member SJP-YSU, Pro-Choice Penguins, & YSUnity. 5 p.m.

Performances

Music occurs on the outdoor stage. In the event of rain, performances move to the chapel in Calvin Center.

• We Are Pirates. 1 p.m.
• Crash the Great. 2 p.m.
• Tim Raridon. 3 p.m.
• Jonathan Blackshire. 4 p.m.
• Danny McMaster. 5 p.m.

Sunday, April 27

Roundtables and discussions occur in the Yoga Room in Calvin Center.

• “EdChoice, No Choice: How Ohio’s Voucher Scheme is Gutting Public Schools.” Presented by Nate Brown and Ana Chapman of Honesty for Ohio Education. 1:30 p.m.
• “The Struggle for Socialism: Then & Now.” Presented by author, historian and librarian Sean T. Posey. 2:30 p.m.
• “Run. Win. Get Stuff Done!” Progressive electoral strategy in uncertain times and moderate spaces. Lauren Matthews, Alexis Smith, DO, Susie Beiersdorfer and moderator Dalton Bosze will host a panel discussion on running and winning progressive electoral campaigns in Ohio. 3:30 p.m.
• “Agents of Change and the Power of Conscious Consumption.” Erin Timms, Chris Flak and Jim Converse will present materials and experiences on how change starts with choices to de-commodify, shop local, and consume with the planet’s future in mind. 4:30 p.m.

Performances

Music occurs on the outdoor stage. In the event of rain, performances move to the chapel in Calvin Center.

• Indig0Forest. 1 p.m.
• Emotional Labor. 2 p.m.
• Tay’larrae. 3 p.m.
• Tom Cvetkovich. 4 p.m.
• Black Wolf & The Thief. 5 p.m.

Activities

• Live mural painting with David Wheeler and make your own mini-Maypoles and rainbow suncatchers. All weekend.
• Queertivities: community and personal zine making, Mahoning Valley Queer Action. 1:30 p.m., Saturday.
• Black Out Poetry with Erica Putro. 1:30 p.m., Sunday.

Participating groups and organizations: Progress Mahoning Valley / Indivisible, League of Women Voters of Greater Youngstown, National Youth Advocate Program, Thrive Mahoning Valley, Free Mom Hugs, Citizens’ Climate Lobby Mahoning Valley, Beyond Plastics, Save the Deer, PFLAG Mahoning Valley, Stop SOBE, Jillian Barker, BSc, CLS, MHFA, Lit Youngstown, Climb Youngstown, Unitarian Universalist Church of Youngstown, Steel Valley Reproductive Justice Coalition, Positive Women’s Network, Youngstown Community Pride, Honeycomb Art and Wellness, The Scribbler’s Den, Mahoning County Library Pop Up, DSA MV, Akron CPUSA, Vegetarians of the Greater Youngstown Area, TimeBank Mahoning Watershed, Full Spectrum Community Outreach, Youngstown Food Brigade, NEO SRA,, NEOIWW, Trans Liberation Front of the Mahoning Valley, Students for Justice in Palestine, Trans Artist Alliance, Columbiana County Pride, Equality Ohio/Community Needs Assessment, Mahoning Valley Queer Action Network, YSUnity, Freedom Fighters of the Mahoning Valley, and Friends of the Mahoning River.

Participating vendors: Alyssum and Ash, Amira’s Creationz, Blue Poplar Studio, Bumble Feast Natives, Car Jacket, Chicken Greeting Cards by Greta, Chill Crow Designs, Double Scorpio Designs, Emily’s Dainty Delights, Excelestial Being, Eyez4Fashiion For Fae and Fair Folk, Glamour Edge Beauty, Glamour Edge Beauty, InterReligious Task Force on Central America-Fair Trade Goods, Jersee Rose Studio, KCM Crafts, kesleyslittleshopofhorrors, Lulu’s Baked Goods, kesleyslittleshop, Luminous Being Artmaking, Rugrat’s Creations, Sean Posey Books, Second City Soaps, Selenite Studios, Tarot By Cait, The Beaded Betch, The Crown Jewels by Queen Rose, The Globemallow Bee, Thieve of the Woods, Tiny Treasures, Vampy Vegan, Vegetarians of the Greater Youngstown Area, and the Youngstown Food Brigade Bake Sale.

Calvin Center for the Arts

About: May Day is both a historical celebration for organized labor and for many religious traditions who welcome the return of the spring with dance and song. The festival joins the red and green traditions to mingle together historical and present struggles of labor with celebrants of Beltane, those fighting for civil rights, workplace democracy, climate justice, and other supporters of justice, care, and support of a sustainable planet, fair workplace, and inclusive communities.

The Youngstown May Day Festival is a grassroots, DIY festival bringing together a wide variety of Valley organizations, groups, and projects that support human rights, environmental justice, and workplace democracy, three prongs of care that have long been present in our communities. We also celebrate the return of spring and abundance with ancient rituals of the May Day traditions.

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