It’s Labor Day — a time to fold up the white clothing and fire up the grill one last time. But, of late, beyond the words printed on the calendar, “Labor” Day doesn’t seem to have too much to do with “labor” at all.

It’s a safe bet, for example, that many folks skimming around lakes today won’t spend too much time thanking President Grover Cleveland for the day off.

“The popularization of Labor Day as it currently stands where you stop wearing white slacks or start going to school has a lot to do with the decline of organized labor in the early 1970s,” said Kansas University history professor Jeff Moran, who teaches an introductory course on U.S. history after the Civil War.

In 1894, during large railroad and steel strikes, labor unions faced the constant danger of being quashed by the government, Moran said. It was an uneasy time, to say the least. U.S. Marshals would shoot into crowds of striking workers, Moran said.

Cleveland, hoping to stem the angry tide, instituted the federal holiday as an extra day off essentially “to throw organized labor a bone,” Moran said. It had a somewhat limited effect, Moran said, as the militancy of the labor movement continued for a few years more. But the day has stuck around.

“What’s interesting is, at this point, Labor Day has become so untethered from its origins,” he said. “People think it’s like the labors of Hercules, or something else.”

Even Kansas’ Secretary of Labor acknowledged that, for her, the holiday has become more about the changing of the seasons.

“I think what it has become is kind of the capping of a fun summer season,” said Karin Brownlee, a former Republican state senator from Olathe who was appointed as the state’s labor secretary by Gov. Sam Brownback this year. Brownlee added that the holiday is usually followed by a realization that school’s back in session, and it’s time to get back to business as usual.

Though labor unions were heavily involved in the formation of the holiday, unions today have a sizably smaller portion of the workforce than they once did, she said.

She said she still appreciates the efforts of workers, and thinks it’s worth recognizing their efforts — she said she spent some time at a celebration that provided ice cream and cookies to state employees Friday.

Previous labor secretaries have taken the occasion of Labor Day to host a news conference to discuss issues related to the workforce. Brownlee said the state will have an economic report out this month, and she will likely discuss those issues at that time.

For many inside organized labor, however, the day remains a relevant one. Jake Lowen is a Lawrence resident who serves as the political director for the Wichita/Hutchinson Labor Federation. That organization planned a Labor Day picnic for the weekend in Wichita.

Speaking on Friday, he estimated that 500 people could attend the picnic for the organization that represents 30,000 union members in south-central Kansas.

“I’m happy to say it’s still a pretty big deal,” he said.

He said similar events were planned in Kansas City and Topeka, though he wasn’t aware of any major Labor Day events in Lawrence. Topeka has a Labor Day parade scheduled, a bit of an homage to a traditional way to celebrate the holiday, Lowen said.

Lowen said he hoped labor could organize itself into a movement, and demand job creation policies on the national stage.

“The real power of this day is the opportunity for labor to get together and reorganize themselves and come together as a community,” Lowen said.

Like Brownlee, Lowen said he hoped that people took the extra time off to spend with their families. But he added that he hoped people took a little extra time to reflect on the reasons why they got the day off in the first place.

But even with a diminished focus on labor, the day off work likely isn’t going anywhere fast.

“We’re a consumer culture now and not a labor culture,” Moran said. “We demand the day off as consumers, but labor doesn’t have a lot to do with it anymore.”