10 Questions About…

After the frigid Operation Metro Surge, May 1 hit differently this year thanks to ICE and ice. Traditionally, May Day has been a celebration of spring and international workers. This year, we leaned into that as we banded together to reclaim the Minnesota May Day spring – led by our community of international workers. Everyone brought their talents to the table.

What the outsider might not see is that people have been bringing their talents to the table since Fall 2025, when the Metro Surge started. Those talents kept our community safe and fed, with laundered clothes and a safe way to get to school and work. Those talents called out ICE agents, brought necessities to recently released detainees from the Whipple Building, planned large and small events. Those talents built a heightened sense of community around the Twin Cities. May Day was an opportunity to show our solidarity with some of our more joyful talents.

My May Day festivities started with a march on Lake Street hosted by MIRAC. The signs were creative. Native dancers led the event. Speakers were eloquent. Crowd was building the whole time we were there.

Happening at the same time was MayDay MayDay a fundraising concert hosted by MN Music Resistance featuring Mary Cutrufello, Surly Grrly, Cindy Lawson, Los Pinches Gueys and Venus de Mars and All The Pretty Horses. It was a nice blend of styles and genres. What was most fun to see was musicians who had never met stay for each other’s shows, jump up on stage and just in general make connections that solidify the community and lift up everyone’s music.

We snuck out between sets to catch the March as they got to the Lake Street Target, where the Minnesota Singing Resistance staged a puppet performance. Turns out Target closed (at 6pm on a Friday night) in anticipation of what the crowd was going to be. I love the courage of doing bold puppetry in a parking lot. They captured the almost obligatory adoration Minnesotans had for Target and their sense of community and how it morphed into cynicism as Target seemed to lean on performative GLBT sales and took a nosedive when Target was the first to tank their DEI programs.

Some of our events were unplanned like the super cute children’s dance in the park. People celebrating their heritage, community and family. Just what we all do when we are (or have) young kids. It gives us a sense of sense, which should give us the generosity to embrace other people who have celebrated their individual heritage, to appreciate their dance steps and delicacies and to learn and thrive together to build a stronger most-American community.

Another semi-planned event was the brass bands playing two doors down from the Hook. So much good music on one block and few genres that hit a resistance button louder than a brass band.

Our final nod to the times was enjoying a projected screenshot commentary on the failures of the current Administration. Whew – what a May Day!