on August 27, 2013 at 1:37 PM, updated August 27, 2013 at 7:39 PM

 CLEVELAND, Ohio — The original meaning of Labor Day is not “woohoo three day end-of-summer weekend let’s par-tay!!” This federal holiday, first celebrated in 1894, is meant to honor the contributions of workers to society – i.e., it’s more than a good weekend for bargain shopping.

This year, in honor of the holiday the North Shore AFL-CIO Federation of Labor is hosting their inaugural Labor Day Festival. Scheduled from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday at Euclid Memorial Park in Euclid, the fest will include live music, a family tent with Jungle Bob and activities from Waterloo Arts, safety tents, a dunk tank and food and beverage vendors. The fest takes the place of the group’s annual parade. It is free and open to the public.

“The festival is something that can be larger and reach more people,” says Leonard Di Cosimo, President of the Cleveland Federation of Musicians and festival chair. “Our theme is a celebration of labor building community. We want people to realize organized labor is much more prevalent in society than they think. We all have friends and family and neighbors in the AFL-CIO.”

To that end, there will information tents from many area unions.

‘With the recent events of trying to turn people against unions, especially the public sector unions, this is an important time educate people about Labor,” says DiCosimo.

And, it’s never a bad time to par-tay.

(Oh, and in case you were wondering why the nascent Labor movement convinced the government to adopt this federal holiday in 1894, it was due to the bloody American Railway Union strike against the Pullman Company. When anger erupted over 30 workers being killed, many by the military, congress unanimously approved the holiday, already celebrated in 30 states.)