100th Anniversary of the Cherry Mine Disaster

These pictures were taken at the 100th commemorative anniversary of the Cherry mine disaster in Cherry, Illinois, the weekend of November 14th and 15th. I tried to put them in order of when they were taken but got it backwards. The last picture shows Cherry, Illinois, a normally sleepy town, filled with cars during the Saturday rally. I was late to this main event, arriving just as it was ending, but I got a snapshot of the streets and the rally just before it dissolved. I got some shots of the new memorial to the workers who died in the fire, as well as a decent picture of labor folksinger, Bucky Halker. For some even better pictures of the event, and information on the disaster, visit Ray Tutaj's website.

100th Anniversary of the Cherry Mine Disaster

This weekend we're heading up to the village of Cherry, Illinois, where my parents currently live, to commemorate the Cherry Mine disaster. My mother's family is from Cherry, moving there from Italy a year after the disaster occurred in 1909. I'm excited to participate in this event mostly because I've always heard stories of the disaster in my childhood. The commemoration event looks extremely well organized with the full participation of organized labor, and the labor folk singer Bucky Halker will be performing at various times throughout Saturday. Here is a flyer I found. I also like this article, from the Springfield paper, because it is education-related. For a brief history of the disaster, with relevant sources, check out the Wikipedia entry.