Bigger groups of people coming in are something he is not accustomed to.

“I always get nervous when people walk in that door in groups,” he said Wednesday afternoon.

So when about seven people came in together Wednesday afternoon, he may have been a bit suspicious.

There was no need to be concerned.

-Messenger photo by Bill Shea
Dr. Terry Moehnke wears his Frontier Days 2024 grand marshal hat while talking to people in his optomtery office Wednesday afternoon. His wife, Pam, wears a Stetson also. Representatives of the Frontier Days Committee and the Fort Museum and Frontier Village surprised Moehnke in his office Wednesday to inform him of the honor.

The group consisted of representatives of the Frontier Days Committee and the Fort Museum and Frontier Village. They were there to inform him that he had been chosen as the 2024 Frontier Days grand marshal to honor him for his long history of service to the community.

He and his wife, Pam, were presented with dark blue Stetson hats similar to those once worn by cavalry troopers.

Moehnke said he was surprised.

The Frontier Days Committee had selected him as their grand marshal late last year and even considered announcing it during his last City Council meeting in December.

Moehnke represented Ward 1 on the council from 2013 to 2023. During that time, he pushed for riverfront improvement, infrastructure upgrades on the city’s northwest side and the establishment of the municipal broadband utility called Fort Dodge Fiber.

He also started the Backpack Buddies program that provides qualifying school children with nutritious food to eat on the weekends. The program got its name from the fact that the food used to be placed in the students’ backpacks.

Moehnke also led the creation of the Veterans Memorial Park along Badger Lake that features trees planted in memory of veterans, various markers and memorials and an amphitheater where the community’s Memorial Day services are held. It is now called Terry Moehnke Veterans Memorial Park.

This year’s Frontier Days celebration will be held May 31 through June 2.

“I think it’s a good tradition that we need to uphold,” Moehnke said.

Frontier Days, he said, “creates memories that will last a lifetime.”