Labor get its tradition on

These buttons are united in their support of working men and women.

"Unions: Keeping America Great," proclaimed the 2017 button.

"Right to Work provides No Rights and No Work," the red and blue button said in 2017.

"Solidarity" was the simple message in 1982.

And this year's 2019 Labor Day button promised "Blood, Sweat & Tears, Another 100 Years!"

In truth, the city's been celebrating its labor roots more than 100 years, but that was last week's story.

This story is about the now, when Cloquet does Labor Day bigger than any other city in the region. People come from all over Carlton County, Duluth and even farther afield to enjoy the festivities on the last holiday of the summer season.

The parade is the main attraction, and this one featured numerous unions, sports teams, politicians, businesses, bands and military groups, along with other organizations all marching or dancing or rolling down Cloquet Avenue for an hour or more.

Packs of people stood at attention as the Cloquet Combined Honor Guard marched flags down the street and huge applause erupted when the community band rolled through.

State Rep. Mike Sundin was this year's grand marshal, so he had to ditch the red scooter he usually rides in the parade.

Sundin was beaming while standing on the familiar red, white and blue Carlton County Central Labor Body float.

"I'm just glad this community maintains respect for the working families and the efforts of organized labor to make their lives better," Sundin said later.

As more union floats cruised by, the roar of engines could be heard. The AAD Shriners had a fleet of dune buggies that sped along in acrobatic circles across the avenue. Soon after, the giant orange Bergquist Dala horse came by.

Warner and Janet Bodin figure they've attended or walked in nearly every Labor Day parade in their long lives here. Warner, a Korean War vet, has been a member of the honor guard for 47 years and marched in the parade every year until recently.

A few blocks down, at Nelson's Funeral Home, where 250 complimentary chairs were all taken, they gave out hundreds of free donuts.

"We love to come here for the Fourth of July and Labor Day," said Duluth's Molly Broderius, revealing that she and her sister brought 10 kids between the two of them (eight are Molly's). "It's so nice, and we love the donuts and coffee at Nelson's."

As she spoke, her 4-year-old daughter, Jazzy, with a pink bow in her hair, smiled and waved at a long row of Corvettes driving past. "I like candy," Jazzy shouted at the drivers. She often achieved her desired result as candy rained down at her feet.

In the moments after the parade, there was a massive migration from Cloquet Avenue to the Labor Day Carnival in Veterans Park, where inflatable bouncy castles and a maze allowed kids to burn off some of the sugar they ingested during the parade.

The petting zoo was a particular favorite for many of the young children. Bunnies, sheep, goats and a giant pig were just some of the animals that frolicked around among the excited children. An alpaca seemed to attract the most attention.

A few blocks away, at the NorthEastern Saloon and Hotel, a somewhat older crowd enjoyed the annual Labor Day car show, good company and plenty of beer and brats.

Again, it wasn't only a local crowd. Bob Kunze of Duluth was relaxing with a half-dozen family members in lawn chairs behind his 1958 station wagon and his daughter's yellow Woody with back windows that looked like they belonged on a ship.

"Car shows on a nice day are just wonderful," Kunze said. "Car people are real friendly and this is a really good venue. We went to the parade and came back to spend the afternoon here."

Sundin was happy to talk labor and the legislature after the parade, before he headed up the stairs inside the Cloquet Labor Temple to join in the free community picnic.

"I'm proud of the work we (the legislature) have done for working families, particularly the wage theft bill and improvements to workers' comp for injured workers," he said.

He talked about the Helmets to Hard Hats program he helped pass, which puts veterans into building trades jobs, and the state minimum wage increase to $10 an hour coming at the beginning of 2020.

"It might not sound like much, but it's a boon to people that rely on minimum wage jobs," Sundin said.

He was in perfect agreement with the message on the 2015 Labor Day button that evoked the words of the late U.S. Sen. Paul Wellstone: "We all do better when we all do better."

And there's nothing better than 103 Labor Day celebrations in Cloquet.