True story: a friend gave me a long thick piece of PVC pipe with holes drilled into it when she moved away from Madison. She had spray painted it bubblegum pink and she called it a maypole.
Later that year, in the spring of 2011, Helen Sarakinos and I tied ribbons to the rim of a bike wheel, and wove willow among the spokes, and sent our intentions out with the birdsong on the wind: neighbors and Friends, come gather together for a maypole picnic!
It is still just a PVC pipe with a wheel zip-tied to the top, but it has been a true pleasure of my parenting life to gather round it annually.
Later that year, in the spring of 2011, Helen Sarakinos and I tied ribbons to the rim of a bike wheel, and wove willow among the spokes, and sent our intentions out with the birdsong on the wind: neighbors and Friends, come gather together for a maypole picnic!
It is still just a PVC pipe with a wheel zip-tied to the top, but it has been a true pleasure of my parenting life to gather round it annually.
The May Picnic in the Park goes like this:
- we gather from 11-1 on what is generally a very windy day on the banks of the Yahara River (in the parkway along Thornton Avenue)
- children help decorate the pole with flowers
- musicians bring instruments and play whatever they feel like
- families plop down blankets and picnic baskets
- we have a great time playing, share food with friends and neighbors, and maybe even prancing around the pink pole
2021
2018
2017
2015
2014 |
2013 |
2012 |
2011 |
____________________________________
For Zadie
and for Willa
with many thanks to my mother
who has mothered us all so well.
who has mothered us all so well.
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