We want our readers to continue a proactive discussion about people who have made a difference in Austin, so they can nominate key people to be a Pillars of the City selection next year.

A Herald reporter was covering the Freedom Fest parade Tuesday when a member of the public approached him with an eager question: Do you know this year’s Pillars of the City selections?

The reporter did, but he played it cool because we promised to keep them a secret until the unveiling, which happened a few hours after this conversation during Freedom Fest at Bandshell Community Park.

That’s the Pillars of the City program at its best: People excited to see if an Austin resident that’s made a difference to them made the cut.

The program aims to recognize key Austin residents for their accomplishments and impact. They’re then enshrined with a plaque placed on one of the pillars of the North Main Street flood wall.

But each year, we’ve posted our story on the Pillars selections on Facebook and found some critical comments, with people arguing that too few women were enshrined and about the number of business people, specifically those tied to Hormel Foods Corp., getting the nod.

First, the Pillars of the City Committee, all volunteers, deserves a lot of credit for their work; it’s hard — if not impossible — to argue against any of the initial eight selections: Jon Erichson, George Hormel, Jay Hormel, Richard Knowlton, Dr. Richard Schindler, Gary Ray, Ira James Holton and Esther Morse.

And by all means, keep discussing the selections, whether on Facebook or over coffee; however, we urge you to go online and nominate someone at www.ci.austin.mn.us/PillarsApplication.pdf.

It’s easy to nominate someone. The nomination period is now open no until Dec. 31 for next year’s Pillars.

The selections come entirely through community nominations. So if someone you care about hasn’t been selected yet, the only way may be for you to nominate them.

We have 67 more Pillars of the City selections to go. Get involved and nominate.

Possible nominees

To help spur the discussion, here are some people who came to mind when we discussed worthy people in the Herald office:

•Bonnie Rietz: What program hasn’t Bonnie Rietz been involved with around Austin? She’s helped lead a number of projects, like the Austin ArtWorks Festival, the Austin Page Turners, the Flower Basket Program, and she’s served as vice chair of The Hormel Foundation and on the Southeast Minnesota Drug Task Force. Oh yeah, and she’s a former mayor and former Riverland Community College professor. And we barely feel like we scratched the surface here.

•Sheriff Terese Amazi: Not only is she the first female sheriff in Minnesota, but she also led her office through the transition to the Mower County Jail and Justice Center. Plus, she served on Gov. Mark Dayton’s task force on child protection, which led to changes in the child protection system, and she was also involved with legislation that put pseudoephedrine, a key methamphetamine ingredient, behind the counter.

•Bev Nordby: You could put Bev in the category of unsung heroes, but those who worked close to her raved about her when she retired a few years ago. She led the Mower County Soil & Water District for many years and was the first head of the Cedar River Watershed District, helping form a proactive and positive response to flood mitigation and water quality that looks to continue for many years to come.

•Frances Baxter: Another largely unsung hero, Baxter was the principal at Neveln Elementary School and is the new namesake of the “Baxter Learning Studio,” an innovative educational space dedicated earlier this year. Along with being principal, she taught for many years and was known as an innovator in education.

•John O’Rourke: Along with being a former mayor, O’Rourke was a longtime broadcasting instructor at Riverland Community College and was a news director at KAAL-TV and KAUS Radio. He was inducted into the Minnesota Broadcasting Hall of Fame and emceed several area events.

•Ralph T. Holman: This former director of The Hormel Institute was a respected scientist who is regarded as the father of research into Omega-3 fatty acids.   

•Larry Dolphin: For 28 years, almost every student to pass through Austin Public Schools likely spent at least a day learning from Dolphin during a field trip to the Jay C. Hormel Nature Center. The former director shared his knowledge and love of the natural world with countless students from Austin and surrounding communities, and he helped lead the center into new programming and the project to build the new interpretive center.

•Frank W. Bridges: The Riverland Community College theater is named for its longtime director who passed away this year. Bridges is also credited as the founder of Summerset Theatre, now in its 50th year, and was a pillar of Austin’s theater community for decades.

•Chauncey Leverich: We can’t take credit for this one; it came from a commenter. But he bought out Austin Nichols in 1854 to own 160 acres of property that became the center of the village eventually known as Austin — a name he reportedly suggested.

•Maria Vaughn: Vaughn — full name Hepzibeth Maria Vaughn Wilder — was the teacher at the first school to open in Mower County in 1855 at age 15.

•Richard Eberhart: The poet is the only Austin native to win the Pulitzer Prize, he’s the focus of a recently dedicated literary landmark at Austin High School, and he’s the namesake of a long-running poetry contest for Austin students. However, he’s an interesting case because he spent much of his latter life outside of Austin and taught at Dartmouth College.