A lively and rambunctious crowd is pictured
celebrating the holiday with the always-hilarious ‘sack race’. The unknown photographer captured
the moment that the lead runner is plummeting to the ground as his closest competitor looks on
with interest, while completely airborne, truly ‘a moment in time.’ May Day has been celebrated
for thousands of years in many different ways, though large community gatherings like this seem
relegated to the past. An April 4th San Francisco Call newspaper article reported that the town of
Kentfield was planning a large, countywide gathering, not only to celebrate May Day, but also to
break ground for the newly proposed Marin Stadium & Clubhouse. The land was donated by Mrs.
Adeline Kent to build a sports stadium, clubhouse, “swimming tank”, athletic grounds, racetrack,
meeting rooms and theater that would come to be known as The Tamalpais Centre.
Festivities for the day included May Pole dancing, athletic games and contests for men, women and
children, two baseball games, military drills by the Mount Tamalpais and Hitchcock military
academies, a brass band of 40 pieces, and refreshments for all. Extra trains were scheduled for the
day and estimates of the crowd were more than 4,000 total with over 1000 school children
participating. The day’s concluding attraction was a “balloon ascension” and “parachute drop”
that thrilled the crowd. Mrs. Kent, mother of Congressman and conservationist, William Kent,
used a “silver shovel” to officially break ground that day for the $12,500 clubhouse and by October
of that year the The Tamalpais Centre was in operation. The theme of community involvement and
a dedication to “healthy pursuits” was the driving force behind the Tamalpais Centre’s mission
which had been established, “to meet the social needs of our time and place…wherein all of us
working together may more fully enjoy the life granted each of us.”
(Originally appeared as History Watch article in the Marin Independent Journal)