FORT FRANCES – A border town has lost one of its leading citizens – an “amazing entrepreneur” and “lifelong advocate of the community,” in the words of Mayor Andrew Hallikas.
Duane Cridland, who shared the 2023 Fort Frances Citizen of the Year award with his wife Grace, succumbed to cancer last week at the age of 64.
“He was not only a pillar of the community,” Hallikas said Tuesday. “He was a lifelong advocate of the community.
“He, over his adult lifetime, was an amazing entrepreneur, mentored other entrepreneurs, and always donated and helped out in his community. He was a true person who gives back.”
Cridland’s many contributions to Fort Frances life included support for the town’s skateboard park, annual bass tournament, Border Skating Club and numerous community events.
The Fort Frances High School graduate’s entrepreneurship included being a partner in Cantilever Distillery + Restaurant in Rainier, Minn., and the Flint House restaurant in Fort Frances, as well as decades in the insurance business.
Cridland’s deep sense of connection to the community was evident during the town’s Santa Claus parade last November, Hallikas recalled.
The mayor and Cridland occupied a convertible together in the parade, he said.
“People were applauding as we went by, and you could see that it really touched Duane.”
Hallikas added that Duane’s enthusiastic volunteerism was remarkable “in this day and age when we find it often difficult to get volunteers.”
Cridland “volunteered his entire lifetime and he set an example for all of us as to what volunteerism is and what good citizenship is,” the mayor said.
“And he will be sorely and sadly missed. They just don’t make them like that anymore.”
