"MAYDAY 2025" text with stylized birds
Large outdoor puppet parade with people in colorful costumes near a lake, featuring a giant colorful puppet with long arms and decorative elements.

Mayday is evolving!

Our Mayday celebration began in 1974, initiated and shepherded by In the Heart of the Beast Theatre (HOBT) as an annual event with broad community participation. For nearly 50 years HOBT enacted the Mayday Parade, the Tree of Life Ceremony, and the Festival in Powderhorn Park. In April 2023, HOBT announced that it would no longer produce Mayday, and “released it” to the community.

Now, in 2025, there is no single organization producing Mayday; the Parade is built by decentralized community groups hosting puppet-making workshops and the Semilla Center for Healing and the Arts is sponsoring an artistic cohort and workshops to create the Tree of Life Ceremony. Festivities in Powderhorn Park following the Parade will be quite different than in HOBT years, with no organized food trucks or large music stages. You are encouraged to bring picnics and enjoy the beautiful park.

This website shares how you, the community, can participate in Mayday 2025! 

This website will also eventually carry information about Mayday’s history, archives, and how people can contribute their own stories into a Mayday oral history collection. 

Illustration of four black birds with green plants in their beaks.


SUNDAY, May 4, 2025

POWDERHORN PARK, MPLS

Illustration of four black birds with green plants in their beaks.

Parade steps off at 12:00pm.
Tree of Life Ceremony following the Parade.

  • Man carrying large blue bird puppet in parade, with colorful costumes in background.

    PARADE

    The parade starts at 12pm at 28th & Bloomington. Line-up is at 10am!

    parade details
  • Group of people dressed in red holding red and yellow paddles, gathered around a large sun-themed decoration under trees, with a blue sky in the background.

    CEREMONY

    Turn toward the Sun with the Tree of Life Ceremony at Powderhorn Park.

    ceremony details
  • A lively street band performance with musicians playing brass instruments, drums, and other percussion. The scene includes colorful decorations and sculptures, with one musician holding a microphone. Onlookers and participants engage with the performance. The setting is vibrant and festive, likely at an outdoor event or festival.

    IN THE PARK

    Join your neighbors at events happening in and around the park all-day long.

    event schedule

SUPPORT

MAYDAY

Please contribute to the work of Mayday!

Your donations will go into a fund
for the sustainability of Mayday’s
essential infrastructure.