No, it’s not a distress call. It’s our annual spring celebration, which is so nice that we did it twice this year!
Since 1912, each senior class of Mary Institute and then MICDS has celebrated May Day. The first May Queen was crowned at a Maypole dance held in the School gymnasium. Over the years, annual fetes were held at various locations around St. Louis, including the Washington University Chancellor’s Garden and Forest Park’s Municipal (Muny) Opera Stage. In 2000, the children and grandchildren of alumna Lilly Busch Hermann ’41 arranged for the renovation of the May Field on the MICDS campus, and it was rechristened “Lilly’s Field” in her memory. Since then, senior girls—joined by fourth, eighth, and 11th-grade girls—have celebrated spring in a beautiful location. Younger sisters of seniors serve as Ribbon Presenters.
This year, a pop-up thunderstorm right after the seniors bowed sent everyone scurrying for cars and buildings. We did manage to crown Madison Sineff ’24 as our 2024 May Queen! Our intrepid seniors made a plea to dance in the rain, but in the name of safety (a Maypole is quite the attraction for lightning) Head of School Jay Rainey asked everyone to instead seek shelter.
Overnight, a small group of committed staffers made arrangements for the seniors to return to Lilly’s Field on Sunday to complete their ceremony. They gathered, with support from their ribbon presenters and a few younger schoolmates, to conduct their Senior Circle and to weave the Maypole. The weather cooperated and the girls were able to demonstrate all the work they had put in through numerous early morning and weekend practices. Sineff was re-crowned and celebrated all over again!
After, families gathered together on Lilly’s Field to exchange flowers and take photos. While it wasn’t the May Day anyone expected, it was special in its own way and will provide stories for years to come.
Congratulations to our May Day seniors!
Many thanks to Emily Freeman Huber ’89, Director of May Day, Sarah Keen, Associate Director for Events, and our dedicated grounds, facilities, and security teams for rallying to execute not one but two events!
Special thanks also to Annie and David Sloane P’20 ’25 for their help with photography on May Day Part Deux:
