Rain holds off for May Day Festival

CRESTVIEW — Families flocked to Allen Park last weekend for a day of celebration and entertainment at the 42nd annual Crestview May Day festival, hosted by the Carver Hill Memorial and Historical Society.

Mayor David Cadle was on hand to officially declare May 26 May Day in Crestview.

“The activities of the day beginning with the May Day parade provide an opportunity for families to spend time together and give recognition to those ancestors who left a legacy of overcoming adversity to provide for family and community,” Cadle said.

Crestview’s May Day festival celebrates the history of Carver-Hill School, the last segregated school in Crestview. The school closed its doors in 1969, after Okaloosa County schools were desegregated.

Despite the threat of thunderstorms and the first named storm of the season bearing down on Northwest Florida, the bad weather held off for the duration of the daytime May Day festivities.

The festivities began with a parade that ran along Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue and McClelland Street, ending up at the Carver-Hill Museum and Allen Park. The dedication ceremony and announcement of the May Day court was held on a stage set up on the museum grounds.

This year’s May Day Queen was Sharonnia Larkins, a retired Army veteran and Crestview resident.

“Thank God for change,” Larkins said in her acceptance speech. “We have come a mighty long way, but we still have a long way to go.”

The May Day festival in Crestview blends a celebration of the city’s African-American history with traditional European May Day activities like singing, dancing and wrapping the maypole. May Day is traditionally celebrated May 1 in other places.

For the remainder of the afternoon, the festivities included live music, food, vendors and games. Some of the games included tournaments that festivalgoers could sign up to participate in, including a three-on-three basketball tournament at neighboring Allen Park.

Many of the parade floats were put together by alumni classes from Carver-Hill. The class of 1968, one of the final upper classes to attend Carver-Hill School, won first place for best decorated float.

“If you were at the event last night, you got a good trip back into the 1960s, because that class of 1968 did an awesome job of putting that program (together),” Carver-Hill Memorial and Historical Society President David Wheeler said, referring to the Fellowship Night event held Friday evening.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Rain holds off for May Day Festival