Cormorant a close-knit community
CORMORANT TOWNSHIP, Minn. – Gerry Haukebo remembers when township government only cared about roads and weed control.
Times have changed, especially in Cormorant Township, a community of about 1,000 in the heart of lakes country near Pelican Rapids and Detroit Lakes.
An overhaul of a 1908 school-house in the township’s center set the stage for a new era of services to be offered for Cormorant’s residents.
The remodel, completed in 2002, brought a library, exercise room, indoor walking track and history museum to the township’s community center and town hall.
Since then, the facility has broadened its horizons to add several local programs and services including an early-childhood program for the Lake Park-Audubon School District, an art club, tae kwon do classes and a bridge club.
For longtime residents like Haukebo, the community center is a much-needed addition.
“It’s really been splendid,” said Haukebo, who visits the community center at least three times a week, often to enjoy coffee with friends.
“What they’ve done here, making a facility available for all these different kinds of activities, suggests a much expanded kind of function by the township government.”
The community center served as a school until 1965, said former town board member Mary Erickson, whose family has four generations that have served in Cormorant’s township government.
As the area’s population of retired people began to climb, the township government wanted to create a gathering place for the community, she said.
The center’s upstairs ballroom is now a popular location for wedding receptions, luncheons and Lion’s Club meetings, said Claudia Hanson, the township board’s clerk.
Entertainment is able to come to the Cormorant Lakes area, bringing people together and reducing isolation for retirees who live at the lake, she said.
Plans for a lobster boil, Italian dinner and performance by a Scandinavian folk group are in the works for next year. Activities are outlined in the community’s newspaper, The Cormorant Flyer, and at www.cormoranttownship.org, Hanson said.
“We try to think beyond the box of what ordinary townships do,” Hanson said.
“I think the township is very open to providing community activity. They want to bring something else to the public.”
Readers can reach Forum reporter Melinda Rogers at (701) 241-5524