Labor Day is always a big deal in little Westville, but this year’s Labor Day celebration will be one for the history books.

With a couple of interruptions, I lived in Westville from 1961 until 1972. I attended Edison School, Central School and Westville Junior High School. I drank cherry phosphates at Susie’s. I played basketball in the park. I admired the BB guns at Vassen’s. And I marched in the Labor Day parades, dressed in my long-sleeved Boy Scout uniform, flanked by other moist members of Troop 34.

It will be nice to go back this year. The 100th annual Westville Labor Day celebration began Saturday and will run through Labor Day, Sept. 6. Attractions include a pretty-baby contest, ice cream social, food, historical displays, carnival rides, music, a car show, flea market, athletic contests, raffles, a hog roast, and, of course, the big parade.

Begun in 1910 by the coal miners’ union, it is the longest continuous Labor Day celebration in the state. The parade, starting at 11:30 a.m. on Labor Day, is the biggest Labor Day parade in east-central Illinois, with more than 150 entrants. Not bad for a town of 3,387.

The theme this year will be “Honoring Our Heritage: Connecting the Past to the Present.” Each float will depict historical events tied to Westville, such as coal mines, immigration, early businesses, schools, churches, and, of course, the first night football game, played in Westville in 1928.

It’s only natural that Westville should be known for its Labor Day festivities. It’s always been a blue collar town, and its first Labor Day parade was staged only 18 years after the nation’s first Labor Day parade was held in New York City. Each year, thousands of people return to Westville on Labor Day to see old friends, socialize, and honor the working men and women of the nation.

“Great memories are made year after year at the Westville Labor Day Parade,” said Gary Delhaye, Westville Lions Club parade chairman. Penny Holycross and Darren VanDuyn are co-chairs of the celebration.

Starting in the late 1800s, immigrants from all over Europe streamed into Westville to work in the mines. It became known as the “Melting Pot of Nations.”

In the early days, Delhaye said, local miners marched in the Labor Day parade wearing overalls and miners’ hats. Trade unions, then the American Federation of Labor and the Labor Council, sponsored the celebration until 1939, with music provided by the Musicians’ Union.

Then, until 1946, union workers affiliated with the Federated Workers Council ran the parade and its associated events. The village of Westville was in charge for a couple of years, then the Lions Club of Westville and the Sportsmen’s Club of Westville took over. They worked together until the late 1970s, when the Lions took charge. There was always free pop and ice cream. Labor Day parades featured marchers and floats provided by unions, churches, organizations and businesses. Fireworks capped the evening.

In 2003, the Westville Lions Club started partnering with St. Mary’s Church to make the celebration one of the best anywhere.

“There truly is no better place to be on Labor Day than Westville, Ill.,” Delhaye said.

If you’ve ever been to Westville on Labor Day, you’d have to agree. If you haven’t, head south on Illinois 1 this week, and again on Sept. 6.

There, you’ll see Labor Day as it should be … a tribute to men who worked hard and played hard. They were the ones who left family, friends and countries to come to Vermilion County. Here, they dug coal, battled mine bosses, staged strikes, and helped make the U. S. of A. the envy of the world.

It was hard, filthy, hazardous work, but they did it. They were men, through and through.

If you’ve ever enjoyed a paid vacation, a 40-hour work week or company health insurance, you owe them all a debt of gratitude this Labor Day.

Danville native Kevin Cullen is a former Commercial-News reporter. Reach him at irishhiker@aol.com.