Senior Connections SeniorConnections Oct 19 | Page 6

Cokato’s Gordy and Dorene Erickson honored as
parade grand marshals
JACK NELSON
Newsroom Assistant
After countless hours working behind the scenes
to make the Cokato Corn Carnival a success, Gordy
and Dorene Erickson led the parade this year as grand
marshals in recognition of their dedicated service to
the community.
The parade took place Aug. 12.
Dorene moved to Cokato when she was 8, and Gordy
has lived near or in the city his whole life.
Dorene has been chairperson of the Corn Carnival
committee for 19 years. After this year, she will pass
on the torch and step away from her position.
“After a while, you implement all the ideas that you
have and do all the things you thought you wanted,”
Dorene said. “The Corn Carnival, if you grew up here,
you know: it’s nostalgia, it’s reunion, it’s friends, so
you get it to the point where there’s a committee that
has the same vision for it, and then it just passes on to
another committee member that has the same ideas.”
She plans on continuing to work with the committee
during the transition in leadership.
In addition to being Cokato’s mayor and Corn Car-
nival chairperson, respectively, Gordy and Dorene are
active in the community in other ways.
“We volunteer for a lot of things,” Gordy said. “The
Corn Carnival, Dorene’s in the chamber, I’m in the
Lions, and I’ve been there for around 30 years. Once
you start volunteering, it’s really easy.”
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Senior
Dorene added, “It gets
in your blood, and you
just want to help.”
The Corn Carnival re-
lies heavily on volunteer
work provided by com-
munity members, and
the Ericksons believe
this tradition remains
strong.
“I get frustrated with
people who say the
younger generation these
days isn’t coming out,”
Dorene said. “I think the
Corn Carnival has done
a pretty good job of get-
ting volunteers out there.
We have between two
and three hundred vol-
Gordy and Dorene Erickson
unteers every year, and continue to do so.
they come and do their
two or three hour shift,
and they’re happy to do
it. I’m hoping that continues.”
“When they send you a card for the corn carnival,
you almost feel obligated to volunteer, which we did,”
Gordy added. “I worked corn-stand cleanup, at the
bingo stand, I’m on the parade committee now; you
Connections October 2019
have served the Cokato community for decades, and
PHOTO BY JACK NELSON
just volunteer. Dorene is the chairperson, so that also
pushes me a little more to volunteer.”
To the Ericksons, part of what makes the Corn Car-
nival so special has to do with the town itself. Gordy
said of Cokato, “We’re great. We’re going forward,
we’re getting more developed.”
“I think there’s a lot more activity and growth and
liveliness in Cokato than there is in a lot of small
towns in the area,” Dorene added.
The Ericksons said they believe that one reason for
Cokato’s positive image is its feeling of safety. They
told a story of how visitors to the carnival from out of
town were impressed because they felt safe bringing
their kids to the carnival.
The visitors told Dorene, “Where can you go in this
world anymore where you feel like you can just let
your kids run and do their thing and you don’t feel
like they’re unsafe? It’s pretty unique.”
After stopping by Cokato on a whim, this family
turned the carnival into a tradition, returning every
year for the festivities, like so many others.
The Ericksons appreciate the work of other volun-
teers.
“There are 19 of us within the city [carnival commit-
tee], and everybody has their certain thing,” Dorene
said. “Everybody has their part, and I, by any means,
don’t know it all, because there’s way too much, but
each of these people are great at their job. So, that’s
perfect.”
This spirit of collaboration and community is what
keeps the Corn Carnival alive and well, and the Erick-
sons continue to be a strong part of that tradition.
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