The coming of spring is saluted on May Day with a Maypole dance at Gas Works Park, sponsored by the Fremont Arts Council (some of whose leading lights are seen here, clad in the traditional white). Morris dancers, drummers and pipers set the festive tone; then the Maypole dancers step to the music, twining gaily colored ribbons into an elaborate braid around the towering pole. This ancient rite of Spring may be followed by a Handfast ceremony (trial marriage lasting a year and a day), and always ends with much feasting and merrymaking.
