Penza, 1 May 2015. PenzaNews. An official celebration of May 1, Spring and Labor Day, was held on Lenina square early on Friday. The groups of people began gathering on Moskovskaya street about an hour before the event.

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Workers of industry, education, culture, healthcare, civil organizations and unions started with unwrapping the flags and banners with their symbols.

At the start, people from all four areas of the city – Leninsky, Oktyabrsky, Zheleznodorozhny and Pervomaisky – went towards the square and stood by the regional government hall stage occupied by authorities, veterans and heads of unions.

The first to address the gathering was the regional United Russia party speaker Ivan Belozertsev, speaker of the regional Legislative Assembly.

“This day unites all working people, is an opportunity to once again show respect to the workers who did everything to provide the frontlines with everything with their work on factories and fields and thus brought the Victory closer,” he noted.

The regional Parliament speaker thanked the citizens for their hard work and wished them more successes in the future.

He was followed by the city head Victor Kuvaytsev.

“I heartily congratulate you with Spring and Labor Day! May First is the holiday for those who make the tomorrow with their daily labor, create the prosperity and good for our families, our native city, our country overall. We remember that labor was and always will be a sure value, the main foundation of all that is good, the link between our personal and civil relations. Our city is very rich with high-quality, very valuable labor traditions. We got them as the legacy of our parents, and it is our task to grow a worthy generation to replace us. I believe the new ones will be able to multiply those traditions,” he stressed.

The official part also included the speeches of the presidential trustee Sergei Kazakov, head of the Lunacharsky Drama Theater, and representatives of working unions.

The speeches were followed by a performance of the Oktyabr Grishin Russian native choir, after which the public rally began to dissipate.

However, the celebrations continued on special stages throughout the city, such as many concerts of veterans’ choirs and a brass orchestra in the downtown.

Moreover, the city officials set up a free meal base by the Denis Davydov square, where any citizen can enjoy a plate of buckwheat meal and sweet tea.