Jan. 26—GRAND FORKS — Curt Kreun, a state senator who has a long resume of public service and volunteerism, on Thursday was awarded the Greater Grand Forks business community's most prestigious recognition.

Kreun received the Henry Havig Award during the Grand Forks/East Grand Forks Chamber of Commerce's annual meeting and dinner, held at the Alerus Center.

Prior to the event, Chamber CEO and President Barry Wilfahrt spoke about Kreun and his dedication to the community.

"He exemplifies community service and a lifetime of volunteerism," Wilfahrt said. "If there's an issue that makes a difference to Grand Forks or to East Grand Forks, Curt has been there working on it on behalf of the people in our community. That's really why he deserves this award."

The award was presented at the end of the meeting, following remarks from three aerospace leaders who touted the UAS industry in Grand Forks. Thursday's attendance topped 450.

Kreun was surprised at the recognition — traditionally, the winners of the award do not know in advance. That sometimes can create tricky circumstances, since the Chamber of Commerce works to ensure the winner's family and friends are in attendance for the recognition.

More than a dozen members of Kreun's family stood on stage behind him as he accepted the award.

"This is probably one of the greatest honors a person in his community can receive," he said. "You do these things that were indicated that I've done — I didn't even remember some of them — because you enjoy what you're doing, where you're living, the people you live with and the people you work for."

Prior to Kreun receiving the Havig Award, the traditional passing of the gavel occurred between outgoing Chamber of Commerce Board Chairman Tommy Kenville and incoming Chairman Russel Crary. Outgoing board members also were recognized, as was Kathy Reiser, who won the Ambassador of the Year Award.

Speakers included Derek Tournear, director of the Space Development Agency; George Rumford, director of the Department of Defense's Test Resource Management Center; and Tom Swoyer, president and partner at Grand Sky.

Grand Sky — the aviation business park west of town — has gone from an idea a decade ago to a facility that today caters to a growing UAS industry. Located near Grand Forks Air Force Base, it's becoming an aerospace hub, and one that each year increases in significance — not only in the businesses it brings in but in its importance to the economy and even national security.

For example, the U.S. Air Force in July announced that as it retired its fleet of Global Hawk Block 30 aircraft, it would transition them to Grand Sky to be converted into Range Hawks, to aid the Sky Range missile testing program.

Sky Range will allow for better — and more secretive — testing of long-range missiles by using the converted Global Hawks to aid in monitoring tests. In recent years, the U.S. has monitored testing via ships, which are easily tracked by adversaries.

During his segment, Swoyer appealed to those in attendance to adopt "a new way of thinking."

"We need to understand there is a whole new way of thinking that we have to consider here as a community. We are talking about managing a 24/7 global operation from Grand Sky," he said. "That means on nights like tonight (with poor weather), the road can't be closed. That means on nights like tonight, we have to be able to move people around. We have to be able to secure communications and be able to do this all the time, 24 hours a day and seven days a week because that's where the missions will be."

He also stressed the importance of the work being done at Grand Sky.

"There will be other things tested here but hypersonic missiles to start," he said. "This is one of the most advanced, lethal and dangerous weapons that our country faces and that our country is developing right now. That is all being done here in Grand Forks. It's because of (the people in) this room. It's because of the community investment and the community engagement and involvement."

In a pre-recorded speech that was played on a video board, Tournear spoke of satellite operations that will be based at Grand Sky. Although the satellites won't launch from the facility, they will be operated and overseen there.

He said that primarily, his agency wanted to settle in a place that is tied to the military. Also, Grand Forks is located in the northern latitude, where there is "a lot of connectivity with our satellites."

"And the third reason, which cannot be overstated, is the community. Not only the community at Grand Forks Air Force Base but the broader community of citizens in Grand Forks and the rest of North Dakota," he said. People in Grand Forks are "very supportive of the mission, very patriotic and very helpful in allowing us to make sure that we get what we need and are able to push forward."

Rumford outlined the Sky Range program and the role Grand Sky — and those converted Air Force Global Hawks — will play in it.

"So what brings it here to Grand Forks? We needed to have a place that can support us to do this," he said. "... We saw that there is a lot of opportunity in the private sector and we really like the responsiveness and innovation and we wanted to try something that hasn't been done before."

The Department of Defense considered locations in California, Arizona, New Mexico and Oklahoma, Rumford said. But in North Dakota, "we saw some of the investments being made at Grand Sky and saw it as a non-traditional approach."

He said it's more important to prioritize opportunities over tradition.

"Somebody planted a seed and that seed has come forward and I get to reap the benefits of that harvest," he said.

Rumford said there were many reasons to come to Grand Forks, including its location in the center of the continent. But also, "we need to be able to have a strong community that has a strategy, the backing and the foresight to know what needs to be done."

After the speakers came the Havig Award.

At the end of his current term, Kreun, a Republican, will have served a dozen years in the Legislature. This session, he was appointed to serve on the Senate Appropriations Committee. He previously served on the Grand Forks City Council for 12 years and 16 on the East Grand Forks Board of Education. He is the current interim chairman of the Grand Forks Public Arts Commission.

He is a past chairman of both The Salvation Army and the AM Rotary Club, past member of the Alerus Commission, the Prairie Harvest Foundation, and the Lake Agassiz Water Authority, and has served on skating and hockey boards.

During the 1997 flood, Kreun oversaw an area of diking and sandbagging on the Point.

According to the Chamber-supplied biography, he also was instrumental in getting the attorney general's support for cooperation between North Dakota and Minnesota drug task forces.

"Grand Forks and East Grand Forks are two great communities that we live in," Kreun said. "They look forward. Our school districts are strong, our university is strong, our technical college is strong. All because everybody puts their efforts into our community just like was indicated before. I can't say how honored I am to have this happen and the support I get from my whole family. ... And I thank all of you for being here. I thank all of you for participating in everything that you do."

The Henry Havig Award has been given since 1977. The all-time winners, and the year for which they were awarded, are: Charles Goodman, 1977; Hugo Magnuson, 1978; Edward Lander, 1979; Thomas Clifford, 1980; Lawrence Bue, 1981; Harry Rice, 1982;

Jean Kiesau,

1983; Clarence Sande, 1984; Edward Christenson, 1985; Don Miller, 1986; Ray Bostrom, 1987;

Richard Fiala,

1988; Richard Wold, 1989; James Dalglish, 1990; Don Lindgren, 1991;

Earl Strinden,

1992; Thomas McElroy Jr., 1993; John Marshall, 1994;

Curt Magnuson,

1995; Patrick Dooley, 1996; James Gjerset, 1997;

Ken Towers,

1998; Don Larsen, 1999;

Walter Swingen,

2000;

Hal Gershman,

2001;

Robert Kerr,

2002;

Marlan Helgeson,

2003;

Bob Peabody,

2004;

Greg Gerloff,

2005;

Randy Newman,

2006;

Dr. Robert Boyd,

2007;

Dave McFarlane,

2008;

Gordon Caldis

and Gerry Joyce, 2009;

Don Fisk,

2010;

Wes Rydell,

2011;

Judi Paukert,

2012;

Henry Tweten,

2013;

Jim Hansen,

2014;

Duane Hafner,

2015;

Marijo Shide,

2016;

Lonnie Laffen,

2017; James R. Bradshaw, 2018; Kristi Magnuson Nelson, 2019; Ray Holmberg, 2020; Greg Opp, 2021.

The Herald's Korrie Wenzel contributed to this report.