200 Volunteers Spend Year Planning Scandia's Taco Daze

Before the first taco gets served at Scandia's Taco Daze, 200 volunteers have already spent months making sure every tent, table, and garbage can is exactly where it needs to be.

Janelle Kendrick has chaired the annual festival for four years, but her connection runs deeper. She remembers making hand-drawn posters as a teenager, long before QR codes and websites became the norm.

Today, the planning starts almost as soon as the previous year's event wraps up. By January, the Scandia-Marine Lions Club begins securing permits from the city, county, and local schools while mapping out detailed site plans.

As September approaches, the to-do list grows. Volunteers coordinate with food vendors, reserve trolleys, arrange hundreds of garbage cans across the grounds, and put up signs throughout town. The day before the festival becomes a whirlwind of chairs, tables, cooking equipment, and last-minute details.

This year, Kendrick arranged help from a Sentence to Serve crew, a Minnesota Department of Corrections program that connects supervised work crews with community projects. They'll handle the heavy lifting the Friday before the event.

But Taco Daze isn't just a Lions Club production. The Boy Scouts prepare the tacos, Parks and Rec organizes pickleball, 4H sets up kids' games and bouncy houses, local businesses like Meister's host bingo, and the fire department pitches in too.

Sunny's Take

For Kendrick, the real payoff comes on event day when she walks around watching families enjoy themselves. No managing, no crisis mode, just seeing her community come together after months of preparation.

"It's the people, the time and the loyalty," she said. "When I'm walking around and seeing all the people enjoying themselves and just being a part of the community again, that's what makes it all worthwhile."

She's spent four years chairing an event that requires year-round attention, countless volunteer hours, and coordination with multiple organizations. Yet she keeps coming back because Taco Daze represents something bigger than food and games.

This year's festival happens September 12 starting at 9 a.m., celebrating America's 250th anniversary with Uncle Sam as Grand Marshal. The Lions Club welcomes anyone interested in volunteering to email Kendrick at prez@smlions.com.

Small towns across America run on volunteers like these, proving that community celebrations don't just happen—they're built by neighbors who care enough to show up.