Like all traditions, Black Diamond Labor Day celebrations have changed over the years, but the community’s spirit remains intact. Like every year since 1947 when the current format was established, there will be a parade down Highway 169 through the middle of town, starting promptly at 10 am, Labor Day morning, followed by booths and activities on the ball field. And, there are events all weekend long, beginning Saturday evening, Sept. 2, with a free movie at Ten Trails Civic Park. Things kick into gear on Sunday with Doggie Day, live music, and games. And don’t forget the antique car show on Monday in the Eagles’ parking lot, sponsored by lifelong Black Diamond resident, Troy Boxx.
During the Black Diamond’s early days of celebrating Labor Day, there were parades of mine workers representing their union, the United Mine Workers of America. The 1911 event featured 60 miners from Burnett led by the Enumclaw band, with several hundred other marching mine workers representing the coal mining towns of Renton, Ravensdale, and Franklin. That afternoon’s program consisted of sporting events, including boxing, wrestling, and foot races until the big event of the day, a 4 pm baseball game. The big contest featured Renton taking on the Diamond team with local lads with winning 12-6.
By 1930, the union’s Central Council and Pacific Coast Coal Company sponsored a joint Labor Day picnic. The program for that year’s event involved children’s foot races at 10 am, dinner at the Company Hotel at noon, with a 1 pm band concert. Then at 2 pm came the popular baseball game between Black Diamond and Carbonado with a $100 cash prize for the winning side. A second concert began at 5 pm, and an hour later boxing matches were staged at the ball park in front of a wooden grandstand that held hundreds of spectators. A free double-feature movie followed at the show hall, with a dance and Grand Ball at the Masonic hall. Admission for men was 75-cents while ladies entered for free.
When this 1947 photo of bicycle contestants at the grandstand was taken, the modern Black Diamond Labor Day tradition had just begun. It originated after Pete Dearden, Lew McCauley, Willie Franchini, Bill Hawthorne, and Frank Manowski each slapped down $10 and said, “Let’s have another Labor Day Parade,” according to Jules Dal Santo. That year Betty (Johnson) Blakeney and Joyce (Dearden) Gripp were named princess while Bernice (Gibson) Kochevar was crowned Queen (maiden names in parenthesis). The girls were between 16 and 18-years-old with the one selling the most Labor Day buttons chosen as Queen.
Through the 1950s, 60s, and 70s, drinking beer at one of Black Diamond’s four establishments was an essential part of the big weekend. Sgt. Ernie Richardson of the local police department described it in a 1974 interview with the Seattle Times, “An old-fashioned civic celebration in the midst of a mammoth beer bust. They come from all over and really get warmed up.” Revelers had four taverns to choose from – Morganville, Boots, Kings, and Boondockers, located just south of town. Only Boots Tavern remains.
This photo comes courtesy of the Black Diamond History Museum with background info provided by former archivist, JoAnne Matsumura, now an Issaquah historian and photo collector. For more information about this year’s Labor Day event, check out: https://www.blackdiamondlabordays.org/
