The tradition continues on Friday, May 4 from 12:15 to 2:45 p.m.
Moorestown Friends School (MFS) will celebrate one of its oldest and most festive traditions, May Day, on Friday, May 4, from 12:15 to 2:45 p.m. The event, which dates back to 1912, will include the festive Maypole Dance along with performances, music, activities, crafts and roving costumed characters. Every four years, MFS hosts this Elizabethan celebration of spring that includes all students from preschool through twelfth grade, parents and alumni. May Day coincides with the school’s Alumni Weekend celebration which takes place May 4 and 5.
May Day festivities kick off with a parade of classes departing from in front of the Lower School. All students, faculty and staff will be dressed in May Day costumes. Opening ceremonies follow at the “May Day Amphitheater,” located on the athletic fields. The May King, Queen and Regent will be crowned at this time. Following the opening ceremonies, a wide range of activities will be offered, including musical and theatrical performances, human chess, storytelling, character presentations, a trebuchet launch and much more. Festivities culminate with the Maypole Dance performed by members of the Class of 2018.
In conjunction with the May Day Celebration of Community, the school will also conduct a food drive to benefit the Food Bank of South Jersey, which distributes 12 million pounds of food a year to nearly 200,000 individuals through its network of over 200 emergency feeding programs. Donations to the Food Bank are made available to programs located throughout Burlington, Camden, Gloucester and Salem counties.
At Moorestown Friends School, May Day has been observed since 1912. Beginning in the 1950s, it changed from an annual event to a rotating celebration, sometimes once every two years, and more recently, every four years. It has traditionally been modeled after a May Day of the Elizabethan period in England.
Members of this year’s senior class will perform the Maypole Dance, accompanied by the Upper School Symphonic Ensemble. The Maypole Dancers are seniors Connor Baraldi, Dakota Chambers, Amanda Cooper, Margaux Fox, Anna Goula, Sujin Kim, Libby Mayer, Jaspreet Momi, Marcel Nelson, Blaize Nyzio, Isabella Pillows, Kayleigh Schweiker and Rowan Suarez.
The King, Queen and Regent are randomly selected from those who express interest in the roles. The ceremonial court presides over the May Day events. Preschoolers costumed in petals and ivy will present flowers to the court, another long standing tradition at MFS in which the school’s youngest students honor those who are graduating.
The King, Queen and Regent of May Day are seniors Piercson Sheehan, Alexis Kasper and Will Kimberly. Seniors who are members of the court include Macy Brooks, Moises Cosme, George Diamond, Donavon Dugard, Zachary Farber, Chloe Jones, Siani Lee-Simmons, Lawrence Miles, Megan Mininno, and Imani Wingfield.
