Hendricks PTO holds carnival

Puppies, ducklings, chicks and rabbits inside, and a cow, sheep, goat, miniature horse, camel and alpaca outside the school, were part of the petting zoo during the Hendricks PTO Carnival.

By Tammy Mathison

Hendrickspioneer@gmail.com

The PTO Carnival held on Fri­day, April 20 drew an unexpect­edly large crowd.

“I was so impressed with the turnout,” said Hendricks School Board Member Lisa Schmidt. “It was just amazing. We actually ran out of hamburgers.”

Nick’s Hamburgers of Brook­ings, S.D. has a reputation for delicious hamburgers and word gets around. If the line stretch­ing out of the cafeteria and down the hallway was any indication, word got around to a lot of peo­ple. Schmidt said that 600 burg­ers were sold on Friday night.

Trace Vierhuf is pictured giving the Wheel of Fortune a spin at the Hendricks PTO Carnival.

The carnival and silent auction were a hit also, with the petting zoo being a popular place. Peo­ple of all ages enjoyed handling the rabbits, chicks, ducklings and puppies inside then headed out the door to pet the larger animals, which included a camel. Not usually found in Hendricks, people were drawn to the large dromedary. In fact, later in the evening Chad Olson gave the creature a smack on the kisser. This was due to a fun little fund­raising contest, however.

Jars were set out with names, including Olson’s, on them, to have one of these people kiss an animal. Olson’s name was on the camel jar and, as the most tick­ets were deposited in his jar, at the end of the evening Olson, followed by a laughing crowd, cheerfully headed outside to plant a smooch on the unsus­pecting animal.

Throughout the evening, bingo was available in the mini-gym. This was also where the silent auction was set up. Many dona­tions were received from busi­nesses and community mem­bers. Parents and students also contributed items, with several of the younger grades having class and individual items up for bid.

Hendricks may have cell service by fall

The site for the cell tower was completed last Thursday, April 19. The existing tower by the school will be replaced with a cell pole by Verizon that will contain cellular antennas and the equipment necessary to the school.

By Tammy Mathison

hendrickspioneer@gmail.com

For the past few years, the Hendricks School District and City of Hendricks have been in talks with Verizon in regard to erecting a tower to improve cell service in Hendricks.

At the April 17 meeting of the Hendricks School Board, Su­perintendent Bruce Houck an­nounced to the board that he had been in contact with SBA, a company that puts up cell tow­ers, and pending the finaliza­tion of contracts, a tower fitted with multiple antennas and the school’s equipment will be erected next to the school. Ac­cording to Houck, Verizon will be the company providing cell service to Hendricks.

Houck told the board that the site for the tower would be sur­veyed on April 19 and that the tower that is currently in place will be removed and the new one erected in its place. “It should be in by the end of summer,” said Houck.

Attending the Masters, a thrill of a lifetime

Travis Olsen and his mother, Janet Olsen, attended the practice round for the Masters in Augusta, Ga. on Tuesday, April 3. Pictured is the famous Amen Corner.

By Violet Nelson

vanelson@yahoo.com

The Masters Tournament, also known as The Masters, is one of the four major championships in professional golf. Scheduled for the first full week of April, it is the first of the majors to be played each year at the same location, Augusta National Golf Club, a private golf club in the city of Augusta, Ga.

Every year thousands of peo­ple come toAugusta,Ga.for the Masters. It not only gives them a chance to experience the mystic of the course, but gives them the privelege to reflect on the histo­ry, tradition and beauty of it all.

This year Travis Olsen and his mother Janet Olsen attended the event. The pair flew to Augusta Tuesday, April 2, attended the practice round on Wednesday, April 3 and returned back to Hendricks the next day.

Only the luckiest people get to attend. Tickets aren’t impos­sible to find, but they are among the toughest in all sports to get. After applying for tickets online, Travis got lucky and was chosen to win two tickets in the lottery at a reduced price. “I was pretty excited when he asked me to go along with him,” Janet said.

“All the professional players are there practicing,” Janet said, “the best golfers in the world.” Janet said they pretty much got to see all of these professionals including Arnold Palmer and this year’s Masters champion, Bubba Watson. “We were al­lowed to take pictures during practice round but not during the tournament,” she said. They got to sit on bleachers.

“It was a wonderful experi­ence, unreal history and beauty,” Janet said. “It defi­nitely added to our plea­sure later as we watched the tournament rounds. It meant so much more to us.”

Travis said it was a golf experience that cannot be beaten. The day they were there he said an estimated 50,000 were in attendance. The gate opened at 8 a.m. and closed at 6:30 p.m. Before walking the course, they were handed an entry to the course, an excellent map of the course and each hole. “Walking along, each hole was unique,” Travis said. There was Rea’s Creek in front of a green, the depth of a fairway bunker, the multitude of flowers blooming around a green or rolling hills of a fairway. They got to read the hole-by-hole descrip­tion to get a true feel for the hole. “There were cer­tain areas we were not al­lowed to walk,” Travis said. “We could not get near the greens or the tee-boxes.”

Walking the Augusta Na­tional Golf Club, watching the world’s best golfers, was a thrill of a lifetime for the Olsens.

Syttende Mai celebration set for May 11 and 12

Excitement is building for the 2012 celebration of Syttende Mai in Hendricks. With just a few weeks left until the big weekend, it’s time to circle May 11 and 12 on your calendar.

City-wide rummage sales will once again be a part of the festiv­ities. Persons interested in being on the “tour” of rummage sales should contact Violet Nelson at 275-3130. Violet will assemble a list of the May 12 rummage sales, which will be publicized around town. Check your clos­ets and garages today. Turn your odds and ends into someone else’s treasure.

The highlight of the weekend comes at 7 p.m. Friday, May 11 at the school auditorium when “Auntie Kreamsaugen” (Darlene Rolle fromDetroitLakes) pays a visit to Hendricks.

For years, Auntie Kreamsau­gen’s special blend of Scandina­vian comedy and music has been part of the repertoire at Jasper’s Theater in Park Rapids (www. jasperstheater.com). In March 2011 she was voted Favorite Co­medienne by readers of the Win­ter Texan Times newspaper.

Local performers will also be featured at the evening event. The Syttende Mai Singers will entertain, along with the antics of The Church Ladies. A new Ole and Lenawill also be crowned to reign over Hendricks. Food, fun and other activities will be part of the community’s annual eth­nic celebration.

Admission for the entire Fri­day evening program is with a $5 Syttende Mai button. You can buy your buttons now at the bank, Irene’s, the drug store, the bakery, the Local, the hospital, the thrift shop, Olson Consign­ment or City Hall.

Hospice receives donation

The Hendricks Community Foundation donated $1,000 to the Hendricks Hospital Good Shepherd Hospice program last week. Russell Smith, left, is pictured presenting the $1,000 check to Hospice Volunteer Coordinator Gwen Meyer and Dawn Popowski of HCHA Social Services. Other recent donations made by the Hendricks Community Foundation include $1,000 to the Parade of Flags and $1,000 to the Hendricks Public School.

Hendricks City Council met April 2

By Tammy Mathison

hendrickspioneer@gmail.com

A Board of Review hearing was held prior to the April 2 meeting of the City Council, with three property owners disputing the increase to their property taxes.

Following the property own­ers’ discussion with Lincoln County Assessor Bruce Nielsen and Dean Nielsen of Nielsen Inspection, adjustments were proposed by Bruce Nielsen and Dean Nielsen. The council ap­proved two of the adjustments and denied the third.

During the April 2 meeting of the Hendricks City Council, Jona­thon Lengkeek approached the council for permission to put up baskets in the park for Frisbee golf. Lengkeek told the council that the baskets would be porta­ble to avoid muddy spots. Leng­keek said that he was not look­ing for money from the council, just permission to proceed as he and others would sponsor the Frisbee golf. The council granted Lengkeek permission to pro­ceed.

Also during the meeting, sev­eral local citizens appealed to the council to support the local school, resulting in the council passing a resolution that gener­ally states that the Hendricks City Council supports having a school in Hendricks.

There has been a request from a citizen to leave their camper in the campground throughout the winter. “That is unreasonable for a lot of reasons,” said City Attor­ney Tom Reeves. There would be a liability to the city if damage oc­curred to the camper and Reeves pointed out that there are local storage buildings available.

Easter Egg Hunt in Hendricks draws a crowd

For the first time in years, much to the delight of the children, the Easter Bunny showed himself during the Community Easter Egg Hunt in Hendricks on Saturday, April 7.

By Tammy Mathison

hendrickspioneer@gmail.com

Hendricks saw a record turn­out for the annual Community Easter Egg Hunt on Saturday, April 7.

The annual event is sponsored by the Hendricks Community Club, with members Lori and Jenna Olson of Main Street Floral taking care of the planning and preparation.

Prior to the hunt, volunteers assisted the Olsons with filling the eggs and met early Satur­day morning to help with hid­ing them inVeteransMemorial Park.

One-year-old Hunter Anderson examines an Easter egg he picked up during the Community Easter Egg Hunt in Hendricks. Hunter is the son of Kasey and Jillian Anderson of Hendricks.

For the first time in recent memory, the Easter Bunny showed up to oversee the Easter egg hunt and was available for photo opportunities.

Over 100 children and their parents took part in the hunt, af­ter which several of the children won prizes in the drawing as their numbers were drawn.

Extreme Makeover: Room Edition

A couple weeks ago, eight-year-old Katana Schmidt opened the door to her “new” princess-themed bedroom.

By Violet Nelson

vanelson@yahoo.com

A couple weeks ago, an ex­treme makeover team of two headed to Hendricks to redo the bedroom of eight-year-old Ka­tana Schmidt, daughter of Fred and Lisa Schmidt.

Katana’s bed was moved into her little brother Wyatt’s room while the change was taking place. She was told not to enter the room until it was completely finished. “I didn’t cheat,” she said. “I stayed out of there.” The trans­formation took from Thursday until Sunday.

It all started when Fred’s Aunt Rose and his sister Stephanie wanted to do something special for the little princess. The bed­room, which once was used by big sister Brittany, was decorated in forest colors, dark green and dark brown. “A princess-themed bedroom is every little girl’s dream,” the team said. “Creating it can be fun and rewarding and decoration choices are nearly unlimited.”

While pastel colors are very popular, the team focused on matching a quilt of Katana’s that hangs on her wall. The bedding they chose was ideal for “her royal highness.”

Don’t forget the walls and fur­niture. Once they were painted to match the comforter, it was time to pick a few select pieces of princess wall decor to really accentuate the room. The west wall of her upstairs bedroom be­came the inspiration wall. Here you find numerous inspirational messages that Katana enjoys sharing with all the people she knows and loves.

Her new bedroom was all she had ever hoped for and more. What a wonderful idea these two very special women had.

Katana loves her new sweet retreat. “It’s like a fairy garden,” she said.

Many gather to volunteer for the hungry and for mission fellowship

 

People of all ages gathered at the Hendricks Fire Hall on Sunday, April 1 to prepare and bag dehydrated meals for the Food for Kidz program to send to starving children and their families around the world.

By Tammy Mathison

hendrickspioneer@gmail.com

On Sunday, April 1, 164 volun­teers—94 adults and 70 youth— gathered at the Hendricks Fire Hall to pack nutritious dehy­drated meals made up of rice, soy protein and vitamins for the Food for Kidz program.

A total of 43,200 meals were packed by volunteers from Hen­dricks, Rochester, Buffalo Lake, Arco, Fulda, Marshall ,Astoria, Brookings, White, Ivanhoe, Ar­lington, Lake Benton, Clear Lake, Brandt, yler and Sioux Falls, S.D.The packing party and the Mission Fair held later in the day at Christ Lutheran Churchwere planned by the Buller family in honor of their daughter Sarah, who lost her life while doing missionary work in Africa.

Each of the packages volun­teers filled will feed six people. Each of the boxes filled holds 216 meals. At 15 cents a meal, a donation of $32.40 will feed a child for seven months.

According to a Food for Kidz staff member, the food packed on Sunday will go to eitherIsrael, El Salvador, Cambodiaor to the Horn of Africa to a refugee camp nearKenya. These are the next scheduled destination points.

When the food reaches its destination, it gets distributed in different ways. Some goes to hospitals and clinics. Some will go to orphanages and to schools to be used each day as the school lunch. The food is also distrib­uted to refugee camps.

The Food for Kidz program, based out of Stewart, got its start just a few years ago. Accordingto the staff member in­terviewed, the first year Food for Kidz shipped one million meals. Now, collec­tively with other organiza­tions, 125 million meals are shipped each year.

“I think Sarah would be proud,” said Rachel Buller, one of Sarah’s younger sis­ters, in regard to her opin­ion of what Sarah would have thought of the Food for Kidz packing party. “She was a good founda­tion so we could do more in our hometown.”

Peggy Buller provided information on the Mis­sion Fair. “The day con­tinued at 4 p.m. at Christ Lutheran Churchwith the Hendricks Bible School kids singing. Josh Brewer, Lifelight Missions Direc­tor, spoke about Lifelight’s recent mission trip toHai­ti. Sara Baughman fromCedar Rapidsshared via skype. Sara was the first winner of the Sarah Buller Mission Scholarship Trip given in 2011. Sara joined others on the Lifelight trip toHaiti,” said Peggy.

“Rachelle Hope blessed the crowd with a time of worship. Josh challenged people to ask God what He would want them to be doing about ‘going’ or ‘sending’ in their own lives in the area of missions,” said Peggy. “Our daughter Sarah was doing what God had called her to do when her life on earth was end­ed,” she added.

Peggy went on to say that $534.13 was raised during the freewill donation meal held following the Mission Fair. The money raised will go to support the ongoing ministry of the area Hen­dricks Bible School. An im­mediate goal is to be able to purchase Bible covers for the children’s Bibles.

“It was a beautiful day where people came to­gether for fellowship, serving others, yummy food, worship and teach­ing,” said Peggy. “We were challenged to remember what the Lord has done, is doing and will do.”

Hendricks EDA awarded grant to redevelop creamery building

By Tammy Mathison

hendrickspioneer@gmail.com

Out of 27 applicants, the Hen­dricks Economic Development Authority (EDA) has been ap­proved for a MN Department of Employment and Economic De­velopment (DEED) grant in the amount of $55,753 to be used for the redevelopment of the Hendricks Creamery site.

Keith Johnson, who is part of the Hendricks Historic Cream­ery LLC, said that an estimated $350,000-$375,000 is needed to clean up and restore the cream­ery, which has been an eyesore for many years. The creamery building was recently purchased by Jason Markkula, who will use his own funds to convert the creamery into a micro-brewery once it is restored. The grant, along with the sale of bricks and shares in the LLC, will help cover the cost of the cleanup and res­toration.

“The county commissioners have agreed to help with the cost of cleanup. That was a huge plus,” said Johnson. “If we can come up with 50-70 percent, they will pick up the rest of the cost.”

Cleanup of the creamery, which will involve not only re­moving the items that have been stored in the creamery for many years, but also the removal of the asbestos. Johnson said that the cleanup will begin in April.