The annual May Day celebrations in Glasgow this weekend are the most ambitious in years.

As well as the May Day march and rally there will be films, concerts and talks, with Monday evening’s Great May Day Cabaret at Oran Mor sure to be a highlight.

The line-up includes a Marxist magician (you don’t see many of them on Britain’s Got Talent), Ian Saville, and the rumour of an unlikely musical collaboration between Dave Anderson and the Co-op Funeralcare Brass Band, which is bound to be cheerier than it sounds.

However, I wonder whether anyone attending will realise that this weekend marks the 30th anniversary of the first Mayfest which, back in 1983, launched itself on a shoestring budget as Glasgow’s International Festival of Popular Theatre & Music. It emerged from the idea that May Day in a city with strong labour movement connections should be the beginning, not the end, of the celebrations.

Mayfest was a surprise hit and I was lucky to be part of the tiny all-woman team who worked on it. The following year, community events were added, with groups from housing schemes performing in city-centre venues, while Nicaraguan and Cuban companies played in tenants’ halls.

Future stars played Mayfest and fell in love with Glasgow - Whoopi Goldberg was a hit in her one-woman show at the Third Eye Centre & William S Petersen (of CSI fame) enthralled audiences at the Tron Theatre. Victor & Barry, Michael Marra and many more entertained late-night revellers at the Mayfest Club at the Mitchell Theatre.

Sadly, over the years, Mayfest’s unique identity was homogenised and erased, as succeeding directors put their stamp on it, at the expense of its original roots, and it folded in 1997.  And while it’s unhealthy to live in the past, it’s important this week to acknowledge the important role that Mayfest played in helping Glasgow to establish and proclaim itself as a vibrant centre for the arts. The Garden Festival and the 1990 Year of Culture are often cited, but Mayfest seems to have been written out of the local history books.

So, this weekend I’ll be raising a glass to Mayfest and especially the brilliant band of women who got it off the ground.

 

There’s a populist Scottish spirit at the heart of one of this week’s new cinema releases. We Are Northern Lights is a feature documentary that explores Scotland and Scottish people through films submitted by more than 1500 people, some using just mobile phone footage.

The crowd-sourcing and editing are massive achievements in themselves, but what’s most impressive is that this film is being screened at selected Cineworld cinemas across Scotland. It’s up against blockbusters like Iron Man and Olympus Has Fallen, but as the film has Scotland-wide appeal it may just prove to be a big attraction at the multiplex. And, if enough people buy a ticket over the opening weekend, its run may be extended. Go on, support the local film - Iron Man can wait!