Sunday’s weather was perfect for a parade. The sunny day with mild temperatures added to the irony. After Annie Malone Children’s and Family Service Center rallied to secure funding so that the legacy would continue for 2025, a terrifying force of nature put a stop to the 115th Annual May Day Parade.
“In the wake of Friday’s devastating tornado, which caused widespread damage and heartbreak across St. Louis, Annie Malone Children & Family Services has made the difficult but purposeful decision to pivot from our original May Day Parade plans,” said CEO Keisha Lee. “Instead, we are turning our full attention to what matters most right now – our children, our families, and our neighborhoods.”
They should – and would – have been downtown cheering on participants of the 115th Annual Annie Malone May Day Parade. Instead of putting “the culture” on front street up and down Market, hundreds occupied portions of the original parade route and other areas in North St. Louis that were impacted by the EF3 tornado that ripped through the region Friday afternoon. Five were killed. Countless were injured. Thousands lost their homes. Thousands more suffered major damage to their homes, churches, rental properties, businesses and vehicles. The impact ranged from minor inconveniences to shattered – and stolen – lives.
As onlookers drove through the affected areas, they were witnessing more than property damage. Pieces of Black history are within the piles of wood, bricks and concrete.
As they took in the devastation, there was something else that should have left them in awe – hope.
In direct opposition of the “do not self-deploy” orders given by Mayor Cara Spencer, so many showed up to do whatever they could to make a difference.
Traffic on Martin Luther King Drive, just past the mural of Tina Turner, traffic was at a standstill. Concerned citizens were driving in to do their part. Cars filled with bottled water, snacks and pizza asked people on the sidelines where would be the best place to drop off their items.
As one woman hugged a stranger with a car full of supplies before she had a chance to exit and distribute the items, a chant that was often recited during the protests in Ferguson came to mind.
“This is what community looks like.”
Near St. Louis Avenue Little Caesar pizza boxes stacked higher than the people behind them distributing slices and beverages.
None of them wanted to be identified.
“You don’t have to tell nobody our names,” one of the men said as he lifted bottled water from the bed of a pickup truck. “Tell them to bring they [expletive] out here and help. We need all the hands we can get.”
“And feet too,” a woman who was helping alongside him with the distribution of pizza and snacks chimed in to co-sign.
Near St. Louis Avenue and Marcus, an elderly gentleman sat on the bricks that landscaped a hilled front yard. He was manning a makeshift charging station that consisted of a generator and two power cords.
“Charging Station,” was written in black marker across a deconstructed white cardboard box.
Further down, near Kingshighway, a cart with Urban League of Metropolitan St. Louis insignia and disaster relief written across the windshield zoomed by. Their location in Roberts Plaza, where they distributed thousands of care packages at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic was a crumbled pile of metal. But they were still out doing what the Urban League does best – helping others.
Back in The Ville, what was left of the Harlem Tap Room – a mainstay lounge in The Ville – continued to crumble. But there was a group around the corner at Jaden’s Diner serving hot meals on the side of the establishment.
A few blocks over, the Annie Malone Crisis Center had spent the morning temporarily transformed into a community response site at the time it should have been making runs back and forth downtown for last-minute parade preparations.
They distributed free food, household products, toiletries, White Castle gift cards. They also offered on-the-spot case management services to connect families with the resources they need – from shelter support to counseling and recovery guidance.
“We are here. We are grieving with you. And we are moving with urgency and compassion,” Lee said. “Annie Malone has stood at the heart of St. Louis for more than a century. Our legacy is rooted in action, and that legacy continues – not through a parade this weekend, but through presence, through care, and through service.”
Living It content is produced with funding by the ARPA for the Arts grants program in partnership with the Regional Arts Commission of St. Louis and the Community Development Administration.
