Depending on your orientation, May Day is either an international distress signal, a workers’ holiday celebrated in the former Soviet Union or a spring festival featuring May Pole dancing.
This photo, obviously, represents the latter.
It took some digging but we discovered that this 1964 Chattanooga News-Free Press photo was taken at the May Day celebration at Chattanooga Central High School, then located on Dodds Avenue.
In the 1960s, May Day celebrations were common at Chattanooga area high schools as students enjoyed the traditional spring festival, which often featured the crowning of a May Day king and queen.
In 1964, the Central High May Day queen was Pat Ramsey and the king was Johnny Slater, according to a newspaper report. The event in the photo was staged on the school’s front campus under the watchful eye of then-principal W.H. Millsaps.