DAPHNE, Ala. — Daphne’s May Day Park will live up to its name on May 15 for the city’s resurrection of the annual May Day celebration.

The celebration’s return was announced at Monday’s city council meeting, but Jane Ellis, assistant to the mayor, said the event this year will not be as elaborate as many people remember and the event is still in its planning stages.

The May Day celebration was held from 1911-1970 in Daphne and included town “royalty,” dancing and a slew of fun activities, according to long-time resident Al Guarisco.

“It was a great occasion in the days before all of this commercialism and television and all that.

“The pageant was significant in that it was county wide,” Guarisco said.

He said the event celebrated spring with pageantry.

“Each community would submit a court consisting of a king, queen and maids. They competed to see who was the best-looking court in the community. Daphne’s queen was the hostess queen so she did not compete,” Guarisco said.

Guarisco recalled the event as a day of entertainment for everyone.

 “People usually stayed around long enough and they had a dance in the open-air pavilion. It was a very significant celebration,” Guarisco said.

However, he fears that past May Day celebrations will be difficult to replicate because of society’s priorities now.

“I think it would be a nice thing to bring back but I don’t think it will ever fly in the original format. I think it would be something good for the city to do,” he said.

The city has accepted the challenge and will start small with this year’s event. Ellis and members of the city council hope this event will be a stepping-stone to bring May Day back to its glory days in the upcoming years. 

“We don’t have all the details worked out,” Ellis said. “We just thought it was something that had been done years ago and there actually used to be a May Day Association here in Daphne.”

It is unknown just yet if this year’s event will include a May Day court and queen.

The event will be held on May 15 at May Day Park prior to a sunset concert series. Ellis said the city is utilizing this opportunity to dedicate the bridge at May Day Park in honor of former Daphne Mayor Victor Guarisco. Ellis said the dedication was postponed from an earlier date due to inclement weather.

“We thought this would be a good time to do the dedication and revive the May Day celebration,” Ellis said.  “We have talked about it for a year or so, that it would be a fun thing to bring back.”

Plans for this year’s event include bringing back some of the May Day queens from previous celebrations.

“This year, it will be a mini-version. Next year, we hope it will be a bigger event,” Ellis said.