Photo by Jim Tate David Blees has been the city administrator in Hendricks for 21 years and coordinates the community’s Summerfest celebration each year.

HENDRICKS — There was a learning curve for Hendricks City Administrator David Blees when he accepted the job 21 years ago.

“It took me about five years (to get acclimated),” he joked when talking about his position and the many hats he wears in the community of 630.

Blees is from St. Paul and earned a degree in communications from the University of Minnesota. He worked for several Twin Cities corporations in the area of compensation before finding his way to Hendricks, less than a mile from the South Dakota border.

He was all set to start a job with a large regional employer when a hiring freeze left him looking for a Plan B. Local citizens urged him to apply for the city administrator’s position which came open due to a retirement, and he’s been a fixture ever since.

Blees is in tune with his community, which grows considerably in the spring and summer months. Lake Hendricks, on the edge of town, is a border lake, “and a third of it is in Minnesota, and two-thirds in South Dakota,” he said.

“During the summer months the area population, which includes campers and homes around the lake, grows to about 1,500,” he said.

The town’s summer celebration is called Summerfest, and is coordinated annually by the Hendricks Community Club. It will be held July 3-6.

As you’d guess, Blees is a member of the Community Club, along with being a member of the local fire department and the Hendricks Foundation, and keeps his fingers involved with most everything going on in town.

“You wear about every hat imaginable,” said Blees. “We have a part-time employee here, and that’s it. I deal with the utilities, garbage, streets, elections. It’s a wide variety of responsibilities and I really enjoy the town and its people.”

Blees and his wife, Jen, have a blended family of seven children.

While the Community Club is the coordinator of the celebration, there’s other groups that are responsible for particular events, such as the Lake Hendricks Improvement Association, Hendricks Ambulance, Kiwanis, and Hendricks Fire Department, to name a few.

There’s many events that are staples for Summerfest, such as the pancake feed, talent show, inflatables, bingo, Fun Run, 3-on-3 basketball, parade, burger feed, duck race, street dance and pickleball.

A newer activity introduced two years ago is the Pizza, Pints and Puzzles event, which consists of four-person teams who must eat a pizza, drink “x” amount of beer, and complete a puzzle.

“We had 20 teams last year,” said Blees. “It’s a different event.”

This year marks the town’s 125th anniversary and there will be an all-school reunion to mark that milestone.

The summer months is when the area really comes alive, said Blees. Lake Hendricks draws vacationers from all over, and there’s plenty of things to do in Hendricks.

“It’s got everything, really,” said Blees.

The Hendricks Community Hospital is the largest employer in town, and NB Golf Cars is known throughout the region. A thriving downtown has plenty of interesting shops, and dining opportunities abound.

The Hendricks Campground is a popular place and features 27 sites at the original Trailside site, and nine new sites at the Lakeside location. The city received grant money and built four camping cabins right next to the lake, and Blees said it’s his hope to have two more built in the future.

“They’ve really proven to be popular,” he said.

The town continues to grow and currently, a housing shortage has become an area he’d like to see addressed.

Summer is a good time for families to enjoy all the area has to offer, and Blees said Summerfest is a big part of the community’s focus over the Fourth of July.