Pay a visit to the folks who brought you the weekend

The Cap Times is an independent newsroom. Sign up for the Opinion Roundup newsletter for weekly Madison and Wisconsin viewpoints. If you want to meet in person with some of the politicians who will be asking for your vote this November, this afternoon would be a good time to drop by the Madison Labor Temple at 1602 S. Park St. It's Labor Day, and the South Central Federation of Labor is holding its annual fun-filled LaborFest to pay homage to America's working people. Several hundred people will be on hand. The music, games for the kids and the comradeship are all free, but you can spend money on reasonably priced food and drink in the beer tent. Meanwhile, volunteers for the many Madison-area labor-friendly organizations that sponsor booths alongside the Labor Temple will be on hand to answer questions and explain their work. And this being an election year, you can bet that many of the candidates for county, state and federal offices will be on hand to shake hands, answer questions about their stands on the issues and explain why they want you to vote for them. It's about as informal a gathering of young and old, men and women and just plain working Americans that you can imagine. I went to my first LaborFest back in 1962. It was a bit different back then. Most of the afternoon was filled with speeches. A new 2nd District congressman by the name of Bob Kastenmeier spoke along with then-Wisconsin Gov. Gaylord Nelson, who was running in November for the U.S. Senate seat held by a Republican named Alexander Wiley. The main speaker was Joseph Beirne, the president of the feisty Communication Workers of America and vice president of the AFL-CIO. The CWA was organizing the tech giants at the time, like AT&T. Interestingly, Beirne, in an exclusive interview with Cap Times star reporter Elliott Maraniss, condemned James Hoffa, the controversial Teamsters Union president, who was under fire by Attorney General Bobby Kennedy for running a corrupt union. Beirne told Maraniss that Hoffa was damaging the entire labor movement. There are no speeches at LaborFest like those old days. Closest to them will be the roll call of the South Central Federation of Labor's union locals. Instead, the day to remember the union workers who fought for the 40-hour work week, safe jobs and health and pension benefits will be spent enjoying the camaraderie it all produced. You don't have to be a union member to attend, just possess an understanding of what labor has meant to America. Dave Zweifel is editor emeritus of The Capital Times. dzweifel@madison.com, 608-252-6410 and on Twitter @DaveZweifel. Share your opinion on this topic by sending a letter to the editor to tctvoice@madison.com. Include your full name, hometown and phone number. Your name and town will be published. The phone number is for verification purposes only. Please keep your letter to 250 words or less.