Although Labor Day is still a couple of days away, it got an early start in downtown Rochester Friday night.
The Rochester Labor Day Parade is typically one of the largest such parades in the state. But the tradition got a new twist with the event being held Friday night, instead of the usual Monday parade.
The reason is because the Drum Corp Associates’ World Championships competition is going on this weekend at Sahlen's Stadium and parade organizers wanted to take advantage of the ability to get some of those bands to march in Friday night’s parade.
The theme of this year’s parade was called “Making Rochester Work, “ and president of the Rochester Central Labor Council Jim Bertolone says while the parade is a reason to celebrate the labor movement, the challenges faced by working people are not being addressed.
“Labor has been under attack for 30 years, we’re bloodied but we’re still standing, be forewarned, from the Koch brothers to Karl Rove we ain’t going away and we’re going to turn it around. “
The Labor Day Parade, which started off near Alexander Street and went down East Avenue to Main Street, also included another tradition for this event, a number of politicians running in this year’s elections along with their supporters.
