I had only been in Minneapolis for 8 months at the time and I cant say those months were the happiest. I had only moved to Minneapolis in the first place because my daughter's mom decided to move here after our divorce,and even then I had to be persuaded to move by Minnesota Senator Eugene McCarthy, He was running a third party campaign for President,and I was on the ballot in a couple of states as his Vice Presidential candidate although at the time,I was too young to hold the office. When I first moved to Minnesota,I thought I'd be in contact with Sen.McCarthy more often,but only saw him once before he flew back to his other home in Virginia.
With Sen McCarthy out of the picture,I didn't know a soul in Minnesota outside of my ex wife. I was staying in St Paul with a couple I didn't know and whose busy schedule didn't allow them to show me around town.
Learning the Twin Cities on my own was not fun with the lowest point coming on my birthday. Things were still tense with my ex wife at that point and my birthday visit to Rose was not fun to put it mildly. I left their place and walked into to a bar on Lake Street thinking it was,as the sign had pointed out,a Sports Bar. The reality was the place was a front for prostitution and crack dealing.
Things had to get better from that point and they began to when I took a job going door to door raising money for Greenpeace. Initially I thought I'd be doing well if I survived long enough to get one paycheck from them. The thought of a black man going door to door asking for money in Minnesota suburbs didn't appear to be a gig that would last long. Maybe it was because for the first time since I moved,I got to know and work with like minded people or maybe because I got the sense that my co workers really liked me or some sort of combination,I found a way to stick around.
Thanks to my friends at Greenpeace,I got to find out about the CC Club,Black Forest Inn,Leaning Tower of Pizza,Liquor Lyles,The Viking Bar,New Riverside Cafe and First Avenue. Now I was going to find out about the Mayday Parade sponsored by the Heart of the Beast Puppet and Mask Theater.
Rose's mom and Rose attended that Parade and Ceremony too and once the parade ended and we were inside Powderhorn Park, I looked for them. It was clear early on that Rose's mother was not having a good time. I believe I can safely say that the abundance of hippies wandering through the park was not making her comfortable. Rose on the other hand,was having a blast..Parade! Bright Colors! Other kids! We would switch off in watching Rose. It wasn't long after the Ceremony when Rose's mom decided she wanted to go. This was not going over with Rose and soon a temper tantrum erupted.
"I'll take her" I said Rose got to get her face painted,relieved me of the little cash I had for cotton candy and had short moments of playtime with other kids.
As the afternoon was coming to a close,one of my Greenpeace co workers offered to watch Rose for a moment while another co worker took me to a hidden part of the park to smoke a joint. He said to me,I think you're going to like what's coming up next
We finished the joint in time for me to be introduced to..THE MAROONS! REGGAE! Rose was having fun with other kids and didn't mind my dancing around at all.
In the following years,attending the Mayday Parade became a bonding event for Rose and myself. She even marched in the parade one year and for a long time after she and her mom returned to Colorado,she would always want a detailed report of Mayday happenings..this from a daughter who more or less adopted her mother's views on hippies.
HAPPY MAYDAY!! (Parade and Ceremony or not)
