Photo by Samantha Davis. Kids run out to grab candy being thrown by participants in the Coming Home Days parade in Cottonwood on July 13, 2024.

COTTONWOOD – The annual Coming Home Days parade made its way through the streets of Cottonwood over the weekend on Saturday.

The heat and humidity didn’t stop people from gathering and having fun. Fire trucks, ambulances, tractors, local committees and clubs made their way through town, throwing candy and other gifts to eager kids and families. The City of Cottonwood announced during the event they received a sizable donation toward the splash pad and Laker Island park funds, which quickly advances the project to next steps.

The Minnesota DNR donated $350,000 last week, for a total of $830,000 on the entire park project.

“It meant the project was a go,” city administrator Teather Bliss said. “If we wouldn’t have gotten the grant, we would have been pushed out another year at least.”

The project will include updated features in addition to the splash pad like a new bathhouse, playground equipment, shelter house and an ADA fishing dock.

“We will start our formal planning with the engineer and hopefully we will go out for bids this fall, and break ground in the spring,” Bliss said.

There have been two committees working on the project: The Cottonwood Area Foundation and splash pad committee.

Tam French, administrative manager at Cottonwood Co-op Oil, led the splash pad part of the project.

“It’s been fun to get the community involved in some of the things we did,” French said. “Two years ago on this day we announced it to the public.”

Bliss said she is happy the project is able to happen and praised the public for their involvement and help with the process, while French said she is glad to help give back to the community she grew up in.

As the city committee and participants revealed the news on their parade float with a preliminary sketch of the new park and a “We did it” poster detailing the donation, Layton Johanneck was also able to showcase her contribution that will be placed at the splash pad.

“The kindergarten through sixth grade did a coloring contest, and then the National Honor Society broke it down to 10 for us to pick,” French said. “Then, they paint it like the coloring contest.”

Johanneck designed a turtle, which won the contest and will be displayed.

Prior to the parade, the fun started with games, ice cream and a smoothie truck outside of the fire department.

A handful of floats took action in the parade, including the city’s fire and emergency response teams, the American Legion, the Minnesota Boxelderbug Bug Days royalty and the Lakeview booster club.