Eagan 150th Celebration Continues to Garner Recognition

Last year's celebration of Eagan's 150th Anniversary continues to accumulate awards even though it is four months into the new year. 

Awards were presented at Wednesday night's City Council meeting to the City of Eagan, Dianne Miller, assistant to the city administrator, and Scott Swenson, chair of the Eagan 150th Committee.

Bill Korte, vice president of the , presented the Local Government Innovation Award, which is sponsored by the Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs. The award was in recognition of the "150th Anniversary Food and Fund Drive."

Lisa Horn, executive director of the Eagan Resource Center, nominated Eagan for this award because, as Korte stated, "Eagan's 150th celebration definitely did impact the food needs of persons in this area." 

The original goal of collecting 150,000 pounds of food for hungry families in Dakota County was more than exceeded and the final total reached almost 400,000 pounds.

According to Korte, who was very glad that the state recognized the city's efforts, Dakota County has seen a 22 percent growth in the need for food assistance. "This award says 'we are a community that made a difference.' "

Miller received a Public Health Achievement Award recognizing her efforts for organizing food drive logistics and events. The Dakota County Board of Governors granted Miller the award, according to Maguire, "to recognize a citizen who does good work to promote the group, individual and youth health and well being of the citizens in Dakota County."

The final award of the evening was presented to Swenson. He received the Star of the North Award, given by Congressman John Kline to people who "perform random acts of kindness or assist others in need," according to Maguire.

Maguire added, “Scott was recognized not just for his work on the 150th committee but for all the work Scott does in the community. I think the suggestion of someone who performs random acts of kindness is an understatement for Scott; they are seldom random, he does them so often.”

Swenson addressed the council saying, "The Spirit of Eagan continues. Clearly it wasn’t a spirit that was just tied to the 150th -  it’s a spirit that was here from the beginning.”

Swenson reported that a number of organizations have continued with their efforts on behalf of . Next, he presented the council with a booklet that commemorates the year-long anniversary celebration.

Swenson wants to present the 500 booklets to the organizations and individuals whose efforts made the celebration a success. The printing costs for the booklet were donated by Thomson Reuters and other sponsors of the event.