HARRISBURG THROUGH-AND-THROUGH

By Bob Fitch

Beginning on the family dairy farm near Lake Alvin, life’s journey has delivered him to the streets of Harrisburg.

“Dairy farming is never easy. It was my grandpa, my dad, two uncles, myself and, once in a while, a neighbor kid would help. We had probably just shy of 250 head we milked, plus we raised all our own calves and heifers. Now you can’t even go to the bank and get a loan for a herd that small.”

On any farm, there is always something to be fixed. “That’s one thing that always fascinated me, to figure out how stuff worked. I’d start tearing apart motorcycles or lawn mowers or golf carts on the farm just to see if I could figure out how things worked; then try to put them back together and have no parts leftover. Once in a while you’d end up with an extra screw or a bolt or a nut and you’d go, ‘All right, where’s that go?’ About a half hour or an hour later, after you got it running, ‘Oh, that’s where that piece goes.’”

He graduated from Harrisburg High School in 1998 in a class of about 65. His girlfriend’s son graduated in May 2023 – in a class of approximately 400. He’s always lived and worked close to Harrisburg, even when he was getting a degree in diesel technology at Lake Area Technical College in Watertown. (He graduated in 2000.)

“I turned wrenches for a couple companies in Sioux Falls; and worked for a couple of farmers around the Harrisburg area during harvest or planting season. Grandpa or Dad or I always knew somebody who needed help – especially the older farmers who didn’t have kids who stuck around. I was always glad to help,” Dave said. After getting his degree in diesel technology, he “tinkered on semi’s” at a number of local companies.

Then he was in construction for about seven-and-a-half years, running lots of heavy equipment building streets and highways. “I worked on a lot of airports and big highway jobs. I got to know my way around heavy equipment, the safety aspect of it, operations and what the equipment will actually do if you just let it.”

Building highways and airports plus turning wrenches on the farm and in a mechanic’s shop were perfect preparation for his current job working in the Public Works Department for the City of Harrisburg. For the last four years, he’s engaged in whatever needs to be done for the municipality’s water, sewer or streets. In addition to relying on his coworkers to improve his skills, he’s also taken advantage of opportunities for professional training and certifications – all with the goal of better serving the citizens of Harrisburg.

David Rennich is a 'double' first responder. He's on call both as a member of Harrisburg Volunteer & Rescue and also as an employee of the City of Harrisburg's Public Works Department.

“I grew up with most of my coworkers. So that makes the job easy and fun, when you can give each other a bunch of crap throughout the day.” Diagnosed as type one diabetic when he was six, having full health benefits through the city has been a gamechanger for him personally. “This is one of the first times I’ve had full health benefits. That’s a big deal,” he said.

Giving back to the community by serving on the Harrisburg Community Fire Department the past eight years is the realization of a childhood dream. “As a little kid, I used to run around on the golf cart with a little blue light on top. Grandpa would ask me what I was doing and I said, ‘I’m gonna go put out a fire.’ It’s something that I always wanted to do.” Roots in Harrisburg provided the chance to fulfill all his childhood ambitions – farm, run heavy equipment, be a mechanic and be a fire fighter.

“One of the things I’ve always liked, even before I got on the fire department, is when a sports team makes it to a state tournament, the fire department gets asked to escort the team out of town. That is still small-town Harrisburg. The kids, the parents, the coaches and the community love seeing Harrisburg Fire and Lincoln County Sheriff escort their kids to the state tournament, every season and every sport.”

Dave also volunteers as a member of the “chain gang” at HHS football games. “Watching a lot of those kids progress through high school and football, it’s amazing to see the talent come up from freshmen to seniors. It’s always fun standing on the sidelines looking up in the stands and seeing past football players. You might not remember their names, but you know they played football here at some time. Even though they might not have a kid playing on the field, they are still in the stands cheering on Tiger football or basketball or wrestling or volleyball.”

Looking back at some of the small towns HHS played when he was a football player, some of those towns are on the downswing, even moving from 11-man to 9-man football.

“The schools, population and game attendance in a lot of those towns has changed so much. Kids grew up and they’ve moved out of the area. There’s a lot of those small communities that are slowly starting to dissipate where they don’t retain families.”

David Rennich with his girlfriend, Kari Knaus, and her children, Austin, Connor and Savanah. Kari works at Fareway; Austin and Connor work at Combined Pool & Spa; and Savanah is a junior at HHS. Dave was shopping at Fareway where he met Kari while she was working.

Harrisburg’s increase in population has come with growing pains, but that’s a better alternative than what those other communities are going through, he said. “There’s still a lot of people in this community who have been here their whole life. And, even though the town has grown, it’s still small-town Harrisburg. There’s just a few more people in the family. New people have become our neighbors and we look out for them.”