On May 1, 1956, Carl Peterson was a boy on a mission. Armed with a basket of flowers, he set out from his family’s farm in Greeley and headed for a neighbor’s porch, hopeful that a simple May Day tradition might win the attention of the girl next door.
“You’d make a May Day basket, take it up to the porch, ring the doorbell and run,” he recalled. “Well, not too fast, because if they catch you, they kiss you.”
In Peterson’s case, the gesture worked.
“She caught me,” he said with a sly smile.
Seventy years later, that memory still came easily to Peterson as he stood Friday afternoon at the High Plains Environmental Center in east Loveland, where families gathered to celebrate the ancient European festival and a notable milestone for the center.
“It’s the High Plains Environmental Center’s 25th anniversary,” said the center’s Executive Director Jim Tolstrup, who was dressed for the occasion in a kilt and other Celtic-inspired attire. “But the celebration will be going on all year. We have a lot of events planned.”
Founded in 2001, the center has grown into a hub for environmental education, with demonstration gardens, restored natural areas, a barn owl nesting box and programs focused on sustainability and conservation.
Spread across the center’s grounds, Friday’s event certainly had the feel of a spring festival. Wearing flower crowns, attendees of all ages assembled small May Day baskets using fresh flowers, while music drifted through the air and volunteers in flowing dresses and floral garlands leaned into the holiday’s old-world charm.
The celebration drew a mix of longtime supporters and newcomers, including a group of friends in their 20s who said they were simply looking for a fun way to spend a spring afternoon.
“I saw it in the Reporter-Herald and thought, ‘What am I going to do this weekend?’” said McKenzie Schrank. “It looked super fun — flower crowns and getting outside. I’m definitely the kind of person who says, ‘This looks interesting — who wants to come with me?’ So I posted it in a group and found some friends to come.”
The highlight of the afternoon came at the maypole, where laughter rose as children and adults took hold of long ribbons and circled the pole, weaving in and out until it was wrapped in a spiral of color.
The celebration is just one of several planned throughout the year as the High Plains Environmental Center marks its anniversary, with events scheduled through the summer and culminating in the Wild Wonderful Weekend festival in September.
For Schrank, the extended celebration is off to a strong start.
“It’s May, it’s spring, and this was the perfect thing to do on a Friday night,” she said.
For more information about the center and its upcoming events, visit suburbitat.org.
