A Case of Summer Flew

By Norm Dvoskin

Summer Holidays are weird. We usually spend Independence Day socializing with a lot of people and Labor Day not working. Celebrating Labor Day by not working is like celebrating Arbor Day by paving your backyard.

I mentioned to a friend that Labor Day comes early this year. "It’s on Monday, September 1^st." He said, "How could that be? Isn’t Labor Day always the first Monday after the first Tuesday?" I think he was a little mixed up. Of course he was thinking Election Day which is in November and is always the first Tuesday after the first Monday. Is all this confusing? Anyhow, Labor Day is a Federal Holiday and has been celebrated on the first Monday of September since the 1880s. Our government created these three day weekends because they couldn’t cram all the rotten weather into just two days.

The strongest hurricane ever to make landfall in the United States occurred on Labor Day September 2^nd 1935. This unnamed storm hit the Florida Keys with estimated winds of 200 miles per hour. It was the first of three category 5 hurricanes that struck this country in the 20^th century. We’ve never had a hurricane hit Long Island on Labor Day, but in 1996, hurricane Edouard moved off just to our East with winds of 100 mph. High tides and surf caused coastal flooding and the beaches were closed to swimmers during the Labor Day Weekend. On Labor Day September 7, 1998, an F2 tornado hit Lynbrook with strong winds, heavy rain and hail. There were 170,000 power outages and Lynbrook was declared "In a state of Emergency."

Traditionally Labor Day is considered by most Americans to be the unofficial end of summer. The official end of summer, this year is September 22^nd while the financial end of summer, for me, was around the middle of August 9, (just kidding).

Labor Day is a sad time. The days are getting shorter, people return from vacation and the kids are headed back to school. For me it’s a special time of year, I usually get rid of all my, "How hot was it" jokes. Everything must go.

Many Long Islanders enjoy Labor Day with a picnic or a barbecue. My favorite thing is to drive to the mall and watch them put up Christmas decorations.