SPRINGDALE, Ark. — May Day, or Jemenei in Marshallese, is constitution day for the Marshallese community.
According to the Shiloh Museum, the day acknowledges the first step towards independence as a nation when they signed their constitution on May 1, 1979. To celebrate, the community host sports tournaments throughout the month of May.
Organizers say a dozen teams signed up for this year's Youth May Day. The event was free for anyone to participate and was described as a community get together by organizers.
"A lot of these teams here, they are friends, cousins, sisters, brothers," said Marcina Langrine of the Marshallese Education Initiative, one of the organizers of the event.
Langrine explains that the youth May Day celebration is geared towards the youth as the larger May Day Celebration costs to enter for money prizes and is only for adults.
"We kind of just wanted to focus on the youth just to come out and have fun, you know, be with their friends, meet the vendors meet other teams, and then just have a good time," Langrine said.
Albious Latior provided a welcoming statement during the celebration's ceremony.
Latior is one of the founders of the tournament, having started it in the early 2000s when he was part of Springdale High School's Islander club. He says it was started to help keep kids out of trouble. They would host the tournaments at the beginning, mid-semester, and end of the school year.
He says many Marshallese students wouldn't participate in the already available school sports, so they started the group started their own tournament.
"Make me feel like our dream is still happening," Latior said. "Because most of our students are having fun while staying out of trouble."
"It's just a really great way to just come together. I As a community or in Marshallese, we say ippān doon. So togetherness, and that is part of you know, that is our core traditional values as a Marshallese," Langrine added.
According to Latior, the larger Marshallese May Day celebration will take place Memorial Day weekend. A parade will take place May 24 at 2 p.m. headed down Emma Avenue in Springdale. The tournament will follow continuing through May 27 and expanding to Tyson Park.
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