[4] Its unofficial population during summer months is much higher, estimated by citizens to peak at 13,000 midsummers, due to seasonal residents and tourists.

The nearest major metropolitan area with a population over 1 million is Minneapolis–Saint Paul, which is approximately 205 miles southeast of Detroit Lakes.

Detroit Lakes is a regional summer and winter recreation destination, attracting large numbers of tourists and seasonal residents each year.

[7] The sand bar was dredged and partially submerged to make the Pelican River watershed navigable by steamboat in the late 19th century.

The Becker County Museum, located near the Holmes Theater in Detroit Lakes, has information and exhibits on the history of the city and the surrounding area.

The Detroit Lakes campus, located on Minnesota Highway 34, enrolls approximately 650 students in 25 different degree programs.

The college offers both classroom and online distance education programs and grants AAS, AS, diploma, certificate, and AFA degrees.

Originally 4,142 square feet (384.8 m2) on two floors, the library was designed by the architectural firm of Claude and Starck of Madison, Wisconsin.

Most notably, the building features a Louis Sullivan exterior frieze, lead and stained glass windows and doors, and a completely open and unobstructed interior.

The building, designed in the Prairie School architectural style popularized by such architects as Louis Sullivan and Frank Lloyd Wright, is also noted for its orange clay-tiled hip roof that defies regional construction convention.

[22] Numerous works of architecture and engineering in Detroit Lakes have been added to the National Register of Historic Places.

The Detroit Lakes Carnegie Library of the Prairie School architectural style, by architects Claude and Starck and significant of the period from 1900 to 1924, was added to the Register in 1976.

The Homer E. Sargent House on Lake Avenue, currently a privately owned domestic dwelling of the Queen Anne architectural style and significant of the periods 1875–1899 and 1900–1924, was added to the Register in 1988.

Fairyland Cottages Historic District on W. Lake Shore Drive, significant of the period 1925–1949, were added to the National Register in 1989.

Most newer chain retail businesses, including discount and home centers, restaurants, and strip malls, are located along Highways 10 and 59.

The city is also home to a number of businesses servicing tourism ranging from sporting goods retailers to amusement parks and river tubing companies.

The area also features an amusement park, a paintball arena, two river tubing companies, and a horseback riding ranch.

In the winter off-season, the area remains a popular recreation destination for ice fishing, snowmobiling, cross country skiing and downhill skiing and snowboarding at the newly renovated Detroit Mountain Recreation Area.

The Historic Holmes Theatre, a physical and organizational branch of the Detroit Lakes Community and Cultural Center complex, is a recently renovated Art Deco theatre that hosts year-round music, drama and dance performances.

With seating for nearly 1,000, the theatre features a wide variety of professional national and international touring shows (including Arlo Guthrie, the Chinese Golden Acrobats, the New York Theatre Ballet, and the Guthrie Theater), local performing groups (Playhouse 412, Fargo/Moorhead Jazz Arts Group, Wadena Madhatters) and events (wedding receptions, business meetings, and Detroit Lakes' Annual Festival of the Birds).

Campgrounds packed with tents surround a large stage, and the three-day concert attracts around 50,000 music-lovers each summer.

The music festival is held annually at the Soo Pass Ranch on Highway 59 south of Detroit Lakes.

Formerly held in July each year at the Soo Pass Ranch venue, the 10,000 Lakes Festival was put on hiatus as of December 18, 2009.

The fitness and aquatic area features an 8-lane Olympic regulation pool, an indoor track, a fieldhouse featuring 2 basketball courts, a weight room, cardio fitness center, racquetball courts, and a golf driving/putting range.

The old 1931 school building houses the renovated 837-seat Historic Holmes Theatre featuring orchestra and balcony level seating, and conference rooms.

The Forum Communications Company of Fargo, North Dakota, owns and operates the Detroit Lakes Tribune (twice weekly publication) and also provides the regional daily newspaper, The Forum of Fargo-Moorhead, with coverage spanning the Fargo–Moorhead metropolitan area and much of northwest Minnesota and northeast North Dakota.

A fictional version of Detroit Lakes' courthouse and rural countryside is featured in Ali Selim's 2006 independent film Sweet Land, a love story revolving around a German immigrant's settlement in rural Becker County, Minnesota in the aftermath of World War I.