Proctor Journal

A Proctor native has been named Grand Marshal of the Moose Lake Fourth of July parade. Dave Talbot Jr., a 1967 Proctor graduate, is Moose Lake’s City Administrator, a position he has held for the past 14 years. The parade, part of a five-day celebration, will begin at 10 a.m. Saturday.

For Talbot, the honor is meaningful. As a Vietnam Veteran Marine, he does not take the significance of Independence Day or Memorial Day lightly.

He has been guest speaker at both the Proctor and Moose Lake Memorial Day observances. In his years working in Moose Lake he has only missed one Fourth of July parade. That was in 2006, after his lung transplant.

This is not the first time he has been in the annual parade. For a number of years he rode in the city squad car at the head of the procession. In the past few years, he sat behind the wheel of a 1949 Ford convertible, as the official Grand Marshal Parade car driver.

Talbot said he was attracted to Moose Lake because it is a lot like Proctor. He added that he recalled going to the “city park for picnics with family and friends.”

Talbot came to Moose Lake by way of Duluth. “I started work as a Department of Finance accountant for Duluth,” he recalled. He was later appointed as the Director of Finance. “That’s where I stayed until 1992.”

He left Duluth after 19 years, following a city hall “shake up.” He then became the Chief Financial Officer and Special Project Director for the Hibbing Economic Development Authority.

The two jobs made him a perfect fit to become Moose Lake’s first and only city administrator.