Parades saluting labor are coming together on two fronts, with events set Aug.
29 in Alton and Sept. 7 in Granite City. The Alton area’s annual parade saluting organized labor and its members will be held Aug. 29 in Upper Alton. The parade, one of the state’s oldest labor commemorations, will begin with participants stepping off at 10 a.m. from the Alton Middle School “Pit” parking lot, 2200 College Ave. The parade, held each year by the Alton-Wood River Chapter of the Greater Madison County Federation of Labor, then will take its traditional route and head east up the College Avenue hill. Marty St. Peters, president of the federation, said the group is making efforts to boost participation in the parade and increase the number of spectators, which has declined in recent years. “We’ve been working closely with the city,” St. Peters said of Alton officials. “We will be putting big banners across streets to let the community know to come out, get candy for the kids and to build it up and make it nice. We are trying to get more participation.” The parade’s grand marshal will be new Alton Mayor Tom Hoechst, who took office May 27.
“We like him,” St. Peters said. “He’s very friendly to labor, he’s a new mayor and we thought it would be nice to have him as marshal.”