Obituary: Nick Cenaiko brought trade shows to region

Nick Cenaiko Sr., a gregarious promoter who founded several regional trade shows and served as an Anoka County commissioner, died Dec. 15 at 79.

Cenaiko died at his Ham Lake home after a fight with liver cancer. But he spent most of his adult life in Coon Rapids, where he founded the trade show company Cenaiko Productions and, nearly two decades later, became a naturalized U.S. citizen as a prelude to becoming an elected county official.

He was born in 1932 near Clair, Saskatchewan, Canada, one of eight children of Ukrainian immigrants, and grew up on a farm. After studying chemistry and psychology at the University of Manitoba, he found his calling as a salesman. He criss-crossed Canada, selling vacuum cleaners, sewing machines and nonstick cookware with his friend Philip Kives, who later founded K-tel International. Along the way Cenaiko met his wife, Deanna.

The couple moved to the Twin Cities in the early 1960s. After selling products in trade shows put on by others, he opened Cenaiko Productions in 1964, and its first project was the Red River Valley Sportsmen's Show in Fargo, N.D., in 1965. In 1971, Cenaiko held his first trade show in the Twin Cities, the Sportsmen's Boat, Camping and Vacation Show (later shortened to the Sportsmen's Show) in St. Paul. The firm added the Minnesota Home and Patio Show, also in St. Paul, in 1981.

Cenaiko Productions, now run by his sons, Nick Cenaiko Jr., president, and Barry, vice president, continues to operate the two St. Paul shows, as well as two trade shows in Fargo, one in St. Cloud and one in Sioux Falls, S.D. A related company, Cenaiko Expo, does convention decorating.

"Dad was funny, and he had a real magnetic personality," Nick Jr. said. "You'd only have to meet him once and you'd never forget him."

Enthusiastic about his ethnic background, Cenaiko gave away Ukrainian food at the company's offices over the Christmas holidays.

Cenaiko became a U.S. citizen in 1980, at the urging of friends who told him he should go into politics. He ran for a seat on the Anoka County Board of Commissioners in 1982, and, to the chagrin of his then-teenage sons, put lit-up campaign signs atop their cars.

"We were embarrassed to drive around with those things on the roof," Nick Jr. recalled.

But it worked. Cenaiko was a county commissioner for 10 years, and, as chairman of the county's parks and recreation department, was honored by having an artificial city lake named after him -- after he managed to get it built for free.

Dan Erhart, who served as Anoka County Commissioner at the same time, recalled how Cenaiko's negotiating skills helped build the lake, and the surrounding Coon Rapids Dam Regional Park, when the Hwy. 610 bridge was being built over the Mississippi River.

Aware that the construction firm was seeking landfill material for other projects, Cenaiko told the firm that if it would dredge out an artificial lake adjacent to the highway for free, it could keep the landfill material. The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources later agreed to stock the new lake with trout, and concurred with Erhart's wish to name the body of water Cenaiko Lake.

He is survived by his wife, two sons and a daughter, Stacy Semen.

Services have been held.