Multimillion Dollar Investment Could Mean Big Changes for Cloquet Parks

CLOQUET, Minn. —

The City of Cloquet is going to make big improvements on its parks, thanks to more than four million dollars in sales tax revenue.

Those dollars will be used in a large project focused on Dunlap Island and Broadway.

And right now, on the east end of Dunlap Island, in the place known as Voyageur’s Park doesn’t look like much.

That space is pretty much just sand and mud with some sporadic construction equipment ready to move dirt.

But the city’s public works department has big plans for this new park.

They plan on installing a warming house and an ice ribbon for the winter; and one of the biggest playgrounds in the city for the warmer months.

Folks with the city say they hope the new park will be a destination visitors can use year-round.

“So we’re trying to create something that serves both our residents and can serve as a regional draw as well,” said Caleb Peterson, Director of Public Works for the City of Cloquet.

Peterson says that he hopes putting this kind of investment into a new park could spark success for future businesses in this area.

“We talked about how to not just look at it as individual parks, but as a complex as a whole, how we take advantage as a whole riverfront, and how we tie in the west end, and the island as a historic district and hopefully bring the whole area to life,” he said.

The 20-foot-tall Big Voyageur Statue that used to be here is being refurbished at a shop in Wisconsin.

It will eventually end up at this pedestal on the other side of the island.