2025 Torchlight Parade Marshal –
Erin Goggin

Torchlight Parade Marshal Erin Goggin

Article by Brad Quarberg, 2016 Maple Leaf Parade Marshal

A native Northsider credited for helping to save the Harry J. Olsen Senior Center is the 2025 Torchlight Parade Marshal

Erin Goggin found out she had been selected to lead this year’s Torchlight Parade in May when some previous marshals showed up where she works, the Harry J. Olson Senior Center.

“I couldn’t believe it, then I was shocked, then I was thrilled to pieces,” Goggin recalls. “It is so exciting.”

Goggin, who graduated from Logan High School in 1977, worked in retail at Dayton’s and Scheels Sports beginning in 1987 before returning to live in La Crosse in 2021. Despite working and living in Eau Claire, she returned “home” to La Crosse weekly. She says she “sort of fell” into becoming executive director at the Harry J. Olson Senior Center upon her return.

Under her leadership the center was saved from being closed and restored for La Crosse seniors. Goggin helped convince the City of La Crosse to deed the center over to a non-profit organization and raise operating funds. Her efforts benefited the lives of many seniors who use the center for socialization and companionship.

“I often say that when I was working before, I worked for somebody and I loved it,” she says. “But now I work for something. I can truly say I have never been happier or more fulfilled.”

While her executive job at the center is part-time, she spends a lot of time volunteering at the center’s fundraisers and other projects, including teaching water exercise for seniors during summer at the northside pool.

That success helped Goggin become better known and she was elected the city’s District 2 council member.

“It is the most frustratingly joyful thing I’ve ever been involved in,” she notes. “I believe I’m learning more now than I did in college. I am kind of a nerd. I like going to meetings, whether I am on the committee or not, just to learn more about how the city runs. I am a ‘findoutiologist,’ I’m earning my PhD in ‘findoutiology.’”

Goggin has served as a deacon and elder at North Presbyterian Church, something she thoroughly enjoys. She is especially fond of being involved in the Christmas Operation church members do for shut-ins during the holidays.

Goggin says the button designed for her to hand out during the festival represents what is important in her life: the Northside, the Harry J. Olson Senior Center, her parents and North Presbyterian Church. Friends, gardening and her cat, Baxter, are also important, she notes.

“I am blessed with a circle of friends that have supported me through the best and worst times of my life,” she explains. “I would not have the life I do without them.”

Growing up in La Crosse, Goggin has attended many Oktoberfest parades and loved going to the carnival rides as a kid. She loved the Northside Festgrounds because it was always like a gigantic reunion.

“I think it will be fun, exciting and interesting to be a part of Oktoberfest from this angle,” she says. “I can’t wait to share it with my family and friends. I look forward to meeting a lot of new folks, as well.”

Goggin can’t wait for the fest to get underway.

“I am so honored to be selected as the Torchlight Parade Marshal,” she says. “It is humbling and a once-in-a-lifetime honor.”

Meet the 2025 Torchlight Parade Marshal Erin Goggin

Family: Brothers Sean Goggin and Mark Goggin

Education: Graduated from Logan High School, 1977

Occupation: Executive director of the Harry J. Olson Senior Center; retired retail buyer, shop manager and assistant store manager at Dayton’s and Scheels Sports

Volunteer work: North Presbyterian Church: Deacon, Shut-in Volunteer; Northside Business Association; Northside Depot Association; Lower Northside Neighborhood Association

The symbolism in Goggin’s button

• The design represents what is important in her life:

-the Northside, Harry J. Olson and the Seniors

-the train is for her dad who worked on the railroad his whole life

-gardening represents the passion of her mother

-the church for the strength it has brought her

-the cat for her 11-pound “son,” Baxter

-the girls represent her friends

-the City of La Crosse seal for her commitment to La Crosse and her well-being

Former Torchlight Parade Marshals