Last week we asked you to check out a Labor Day celebration nearby and thank the people whose work you appreciate by sending an e-card or video. Here’s a snapshot of some of the creative ways people celebrated Labor Day yesterday:

In Louisville, Colo., union members passed out Labor Day thank-you cards to firefighters, transportation workers and even Rocky, the NBA Denver Nuggets mascot, and Bernie, the St. Bernard mascot for the NHL Colorado Avalanche. View pictures on the Colorado AFL-CIO Facebook page.

In downtown Detroit, more than 15,000-20,000 working families and union members joined in a Labor Day celebration and an estimated 3,500 attended a rally with Vice President Joe Biden, celebrating  America’s unions.

At the rally, Biden said:

We know who built this country. Organized labor is the reason America is coming back.

In Great Falls, Mont., the Central Montana Central Labor Council hosted 2,000 union members at a large picnic at Montana ExpoPark. Picnic attendee Jennifer Jarvey told the Great Falls Tribune:

It’s just inspiring….It brings people together, and that’s what (unions) are supposed to do.

At Magna Copper-Park in Utah, local unions, including Electrical Workers (IBEW) and Plumbers and Pipe Fitters (UA), gathered for an annual picnic and classic car show. "I love it. We get every union involved in it," Darin Martin told the Deseret News. Martin, a pipe fitter, brought along his son Chance who received balloon swords and rode in a miniature electric train for children.

The Savannah Regional Central Labor Council held their annual Labor Day picnic on Sunday. For the kids (and big kids), the council brought out a pirate and a puppet show for entertainment. The watermelon seed-spitting contest was a big hit for picnic attendees. Georgia union members also handed out "thank-you" cards throughout the state in Columbus, Macon, Five Points, Cobb County, Savannah and the Veterans Affairs hospital in DeKalb County. 

In Pittsburgh, the “Bring Jobs Home” message was heard loud and clear during the annual Labor Day parade. AFT President Randi Weingarten, who marched in the parade, said:

Here, in Pittsburgh, you see it on the street….People still understand not just what the labor movement did yesterday, but what its potential is for tomorrow, and that is connecting communities together with each other—parents and teachers, clergy and workers—to demand a better day.

Kenosha Laborfest 2012 in Wisconsin honored Jeff Weidner, president of the Kenosha Professional Fire Fighters Association Local 414, as Labor Person of the Year. Bucket truck rides, pony rides and the moon walk kept all the Kenosha union members entertained throughout the Labor Day festival. 

In Seattle, Wash., hundreds of union members and their families celebrated Labor Day at the M.L. King Jr. County Labor Council’s annual picnic at Woodland Park. See the YouTube video below by Kathy Cummings, Communications Director for the Washington State Labor Council, AFL-CIO. 

The Southwest Florida Labor Council celebrated with a picnic, stressing the importance of working families and using the holiday to register voters and pass out important information on health care reform and the Affordable Care Act. Watch a video of the Southwest Florida Council's Labor Day picnic.

In Manchester, N.H., AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Liz Shuler spoke at the New Hampshire AFL-CIO annual Labor Day breakfast at the St. George Greek Orthodox Church. The New Hampshire Labor News reported Shuler focused pushing back against the anti-worker agenda and getting to work on electing pro-labor candidates. 

Shuler said:

It is good to be with people who appreciate what Labor Day is meant to be, to appreciate work, to appreciate who really builds it....Labor Day is the unofficial start…when we lace up our walking shoes and begin to canvass our neighborhoods.

President Trumka speaks with Sen. Sherrod Brown in Ohio on Labor Day.

Mike Gillis, Ohio AFL-CIO communications director, reports AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka joined his Ohio brothers and sisters in celebrating Labor Day. On Sunday, he spoke to an enthusiastic crowd in Lorain, along with Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), Rep. Betty Sutton (D-Ohio) and other guests about the importance of the work public employees do each day:

“If you take one thing from this celebration, make it this: We built this country together. We built it with unity. Every single one of us lends a hand. We do it every day. Our work binds us together. And together, we are better,” said President Trumka.

We won’t rest until we reclaim our country and our economy for the people who make it work—because we’re the ones who wake Ohio up every single morningand tuck her into bed at night.

Check out the AFL-CIO Labor Day 2012 calendar to see actions that happened near you and find more Labor Day-related events coming up this weekend.