Rain swamps Labor Day holiday

Labor Day is traditionally a time to enjoy the last days of sunny summer weather, but Monday's rain made it hard for area residents to enjoy the day off.\nDespite the storm, IU students also had a hard time celebrating the holiday. With classes beginning, students spent the day heading off to the first day of classes for the fall semester. Throughout the city, the holiday created to honor workers was observed by some and barely noticed by others.\nSenior Jeremy Haid hoped for an extra day of summer vacation but instead spent much of his Labor Day offering rides to friends who needed to get to class or run errands around town. \nHaid said he got the idea to offer rides to friends while he was walking home in the rain earlier in the day.\n"I went to my one class today, which got out early because it was the introductory day," Haid said. "So, as I was heading home under my umbrella, I began to feel sorry for those rushing around without umbrellas. It was very tempting at times to just give my umbrella to someone else. Then I had the idea of doing a taxi service. I had no other obligations for the day, I love to drive, and I had errands to run anyway."\nLike Haid, Bloomington resident Shaunica Pridgen, also managed to find a bright spot in her rainy Labor Day.\n"I guess I didn't technically do anything special for Labor Day," Pridgen said, "It was my mom's birthday the night before so my family went out to dinner. I guess that was my Labor Day celebration, just a day early."\nBut despite a few less than desirable Labor Day experiences, many Bloomington residents took advantage of the day off and spent the last few days of summer with friends and family. \nIsaac Gerstenzang, manager of Oliver Winery, felt that people were eager to have a good time, despite the rainy weather.\n"It was definitely a busy day for us, especially for a Monday," Gerstenzang said. "Labor Day brought in a lot of people that were wrapping up their summers, just looking for a good time on their day off."\nAlthough many people did go out to enjoy the day, Gerstenzang felt that the rain probably kept some people from celebrating the way they originally planned.\n"I think that if the rain had just held off for a little, we probably would have had a few more people come in," Gerstenzang said. "But overall we had a really good day here and all the people who did come out for the holiday seemed to really be enjoying themselves"