Community Volunteer Awards
2023 Honoree
Lloyd Lagerstrom and Patrick Wilson
Hidden Heroes
Lloyd Lagerstrom and Patrick Wilson
The Rancho Cordova Fourth of July is a well-planned volunteer-driven experience that sometimes can resemble a Mad Tea Party.
Fences up.
Chairs down.
Food trucks in.
Trash out.
Light towers on.
Fireworks off.
… and so it goes, with dozens of volunteers scurrying around to present Rancho Cordova’s biggest event of the year.
It looks like chaos, and sometimes it is. But calmly observing the hilarity are a pair of been-there, done-that guys named Pat and Lloyd. They are the Hidden Heroes of the Fourth of July.
Beginning days before the rest of the group arrives and remaining days after the last fireworks explodes, they methodically install, then take down more than a mile of temporary fencing and so much more.
Lloyd is a retired US Air Force officer who traded the cold winters of Milwaukee where he grew up for the warm sunshine of Mather Air Force Base. After he was done navigating aircraft for the Strategic Air Command, he helped wife Connie build a salon business. But always true to his patriotic calling, you could always count on Lloyd to be part of the Fourth of July.
Pat Wilson had a long career as a businessman and was blessed with a methodical mind and ability to fix stuff. When Lloyd met Pat, he invited him to join the Mad Tea Party down in Hagan Park, and help make the Fourth of July happen.
We have sort of lost track of how many years the Hidden Heroes have been at it, but it must be 15 or more? While others frantically race from task to task, Pat and Lloyd march with their fencing crew around the park, placing one fence panel after another until the entire 80 acres of Hagan Park is snuggly secured. But they aren’t finished yet.
When it is time to open the gates, they offer themselves for other duties – from answering distress calls to checking entry wristbands – providing the cool heads and steady hands you would expect from Hidden Heroes.
From time to time they steal off to spend time with their own families during the celebration. That’s especially true on July 3, which is also Lloyd’s birthday. But with their trusty radios and fence wrenches they are always standing by.
Pat and Lloyd are the not only the heart of an operation at the Fourth of July, they are also the brains. A problem is just another challenge to tackle, not a reason for a meltdown. Without much fanfare, they just get it done.
And by the way, if you are thinking these two are just pointing fingers, guess again. They haul around 40-pound concrete fence weights and operate heavy machinery like they were 30, even though they haven’t seen 50 in years.
They will take a well-earned rest after the Fourth then head out to Mather Airport in mid-September where they will join the hard-working logistics team at the California Capital Airshow for another couple of tough weeks, making that event fly, too.
Lloyd Lagerstrom and Pat Wilson, in the hectic days of the Rancho Cordova Fourth of July, we probably have not shown the gratitude we feel, and the respect you have earned, from all of us on the team. The thousands of people enjoying the carnival and fireworks have no idea you exist… but we certainly do.
Heartfelt thanks to Lloyd and Pat – the Hidden Heroes of the Rancho Cordova Fourth of July.
