A different kind of senior day

Cloquet will celebrate its senior citizens from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Tuesday, June 15 at Veterans Park. Those 60 and older will be celebrated at the park at the second annual Senior Day in Cloquet with prize drawings, food and beverages, a photo booth, myriad vendors and more.

Gift bags will be given out to the first 100 guests. Arrowhead Transit is offering free rides to and from the park that day. Call 1-800-862-0175 at least an hour ahead for a ride.

The June 15 event will also mark World Elder Abuse Awareness Day. Allegations of maltreatment of vulnerable adults in Minnesota trended downward in 2020. State and local experts who track this data believe the Covid-19 pandemic is causing the drop in reports.

In Minnesota, the maltreatment of vulnerable adults is reported through the Minnesota Adult Abuse Reporting Center, operated by the Department of Human Services. MAARC data show that reports of suspected maltreatment dropped in the first 10 months of 2020 compared to 2019. About 50,000 vulnerable adult maltreatment reports were made in 2020. Earlier this year DHS released data that showed a similar decline in child maltreatment complaints during the same period.