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Even though there are several months between now and Labor Day, plans for the annual festival are already being made.
Nearly a dozen people attended the first Labor Day committee meeting Wednesday evening and talked about everything from the parade to the annual pageant.
IMG 0315Henryetta's Labor Day pageant will be held Aug. 19 at the Henryetta high school auditorium.
The pageant has seen the number of contestants decline over the years and pageant chair Shannon Frair said there is going to be an extra effort this year to get the word out about the event and put applications into more hands.
Those applications will be ready in the next two weeks.
Linda Gerster, Labor Day chairperson said more volunteers are needed to help with all of the events. She pointed out extra help is needed on parade day getting the entries in the correct places.
"We want to get more entries in the parade this year," she said. "We would like to see more businesses participate. In the past, just about every business had a float or decorated car and we would like to have that again."
Committee members will be reaching out to a number of area schools to invite the bands to participate. "We were told that we need to get other calendar early so we will be making contact in the next month or two."
Some of the events will remain the same with the annual turtle race, fish scramble and children's games still on the tentative schedule this year along with the gospel sing at the high school and the Living Legends rodeo.
Under discussion at this time is First Family Federal Credit Union moving their car show from Nichols Park to downtown HenryeIMG 0206tta on the Saturday before Labor Day. The show had been at Nichols for the past couple of year along with a barbecue contest.
According to David Dykes there had been issues with parking and spectators driving around the park as well as it being further from Henryetta.
One suggestion was to place the cars on Main Street for the Saturday Sept. 2 judging. That would entail blocking off Main from Third to Sixth streets and allowing vendors to set up along the middle of the street. The street would be open to through traffic later that day.
That plan will be going to the Henryetta city council for discussion in the coming weeks.
Another move would include the barbecue cookout. It is tentatively scheduled to be located at the American Exchange bank drive through parking area. Both Gerster and Friar encouraged all area schools, clubs, businesses and organizations to get involved in the Labor Day celebration.
"This is the largest Labor Day observance in Oklahoma and has been going on for over 70 years, Gerster said. "There's a reason for that and it is the involvement of the people. The more who help and provide ideas, the better the celebration.
The next meeting for the committee will be April 12 at 6 p.m. at Shoney's.