May Day in Olympia was peaceful. Police aren’t ready to call it over.

Two years after May Day demonstrations in Olympia turned violent, this year’s event was peaceful.

“So far,” Olympia police Lt. Paul Lower said Thursday. “We feel like we maybe have a couple days to go based on past May Days.”

There were no May Day-related disturbances Wednesday night, according to Lower. Earlier in the day, a crowd gathered at Sylvester Park in support of workers’ rights.

Lower said there will be a heightened police presence across the city for the rest of the week.

Last year, vandals tagged businesses with anarchy-related graffiti and broke windows in downtown the night after May Day.

On May Day 2017, dozens marched through downtown, throwing rocks at police and fighting with onlookers.

Property damage that year was estimated at $60,000.

Goodwill’s Blue Boutique on Capitol Way South was among the businesses damaged that year. Since then, the store has closed early and had private security guards on duty for May Day, including Wednesday.

“The whole irony is all of our profits go to training the unemployed,” said George White, a spokesman for area Goodwill stores.

“As long as we feel there’s a concern or even a remote chance there would be a risk to our employees or customers, we’ll take the steps to make sure everybody is safe.”

This story was originally published May 2, 2019 at 9:14 AM.