Summer classes will be starting soon at the Northfield Arts Guild.  We've added eight new instructors and 18 new classes to our summer schedule, including many for adults.

You can go on-line to see our new lineup including advanced oil painting, precious metal clay jewelry, natural history writing, and an acting dialects workshop.

As always, we have lots of fun classes for kids including puppetry, summer art camps and the Young Peoples Theater Workshop.  REGISTER NOW!  Northfieldartsguild.org or 507 645-8877 or stop by 304 Division Street.

     The Community Action Center has received a College Ready grant for $126,345 from the Great Lakes Higher Education Guaranty Corporation to support the TORCH (Tackling Obstacles and Raising College Hopes) project.  This grant will benefit 455 Northfield students by helping to prepare them for academic success when they arrive at college.

     The Community Action Center, part of the collaborative group supporting TORCH, was one of 34 recipients to receive grants totalling more than $4,000,000 in College Ready funds from Great Lakes.  TORCH will use the funding to provide academic-focused services during the 2013-14 academic year to students to improve the academic preparedness of students in grades 6-12 who are low-income, students of color and/or potential first-generation college attendees.

At their meeting on Tuesday evening, Northfield City Council member Suzie Nakasian reported that the language to lift the ban on the Dan Patch Rail Line was not included in the legislature’s 2013 transportation bill. Although Senator Kevin Dahle succeeded in getting approval from the full senate for his proposal, Representative David Bly’s companion bill never got a hearing in the House Transportation Committee.

The late Dan Freeman, commonly known around town as “Mr. Northfield,” will have a tree dedicated in his memory Friday, May 24, at 5 p.m. on Bridge Square. Freeman died earlier this month after a long illness. The public is invited to attend.

The tree, a New Harmony elm, was donated by Knecht’s Nursery and Landscaping in Northfield. Owners Leif and Deb Knecht picked the tree because, says Leif, “When I think of Dan Freeman, I think of Dan as a goodwill ambassador for Northfield. Goodwill is like harmony, and that’s why we picked that tree.” He adds that the tree will be resistant to Dutch Elm disease and will grow quickly. “It will be a long-term reminder of the goodwill Dan always tried to bring to our community.”

A plaque, donated by the Defeat of Jesse James Days Committee and the Northfield Historical Society, will read “Dan Freeman, ‘Mr. Northfield,’ 2013.”

 The Community Action Center is working with the USDA to provide summer lunches to children.  Lunches will be provided to all children without charge under standards established by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. 

Lunches will be available at two Northfield sites.  At Jefferson Square Apartments, 1356 Jefferson Road, lunches will be served from 11:15 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.  At Emmaus Church, 712 Linden Street, lunches will be served from 11:30 a.m. - 12:15 p.m.

The summer lunch program will begin at both sites on Monday, June 10.  Lunches will be served on Monday - Friday until August 30, 2013, except for July 4th and 5th.  The meal is available to all children under 18.  All children may participate regardless of race, color, national origin, gender or disability.  Complaints of discrimination can be addressed to the USDA at 866-632-9992.

For more information, call the Community Action Center at 507-664-3550.

Three local women who led an after-school sewing group at Northfield Middle School have received the Healthy Community Initiative “Making a Difference” Award for May 2013. The award celebrates those groups and individuals in the community who have a positive influence on Northfield youth.

Joyce Schlossin started the group and recruited Beth Endert and Emily Schmitz to assist her. Over a 12-week period, they taught a group of about a dozen girls to make items such as scarves, mittens, headbands, placemats, potholders, pillows and cell phone holders.

“They were pleased – they couldn’t believe they could do it,” Endert said. “We’re already getting ideas for next time.”

Susan Sanderson, coordinator of the middle school TORCH program, said the women also taught the girls about the economics of sewing, how to save money and make the most out of every scrap of fabric.

“Joyce and her partners have great energy, and we are so fortunate to have them sharing their skills and love of sewing,” Sanderson said.

- Written by Joy Riggs, HCI Board member and freelance journalist

**********************************************************************
The Healthy Community Initiative and the Northfield News present the Making a Difference Award cooperatively. If you know an individual or group that you would like to nominate for this award, click HERE for nomination guidelines and the easy-to-complete application or find HCI on Facebook.  Applications are accepted on an ongoing basis and are selected by a review team of HCI board members and local youth.

This year's group of retiring St. Olaf College faculty and staff includes (front row, l–r, including year hired in parentheses): Phyllis Larson '69 (1993), Dean of the College's Office and Asian Studies; David Schodt (1977), Economics; Jill Ewald '87 (1998), Art and Art History; and Ruth Block (2006), Bookstore. Back row: Alan Norton (1996), Treasurer's Office; Bob Jacobel (1976), Physics; Kathy Schuurman (1999), Alumni and Parent Relations; Susan Jorgensen (1985), World Languages Center; Duane Schlobohm (1985), Facilities; Diane Thompson (1990), Facilities; Wendell Thompson (1990), Facilities; Cathy Draves (1984), Facilities; and — not retiring — President David R. Anderson '74.

The Friends of the Northfield Public Library welcomed Teresa Jensen, our new Director of the library and IT, with a gathering at the library. Teresa shared her story of earning her MLS at the University of Minnesota and working in the Hennepin County Library System for a number of years. Could it have been our winters? -- she decided to stretch her professional legs in the warm sun that shines on the San Antonio TX Public Library. But her family in the Twin Cities and the position at our library beckoned. Now she is getting to know Northfield, whose riverwalk was inspired by San Antonio's Paseo del Rio riverwalk (thanks to former Northfield News editor Maggie Lee). You'll find Teresa in the Director's office or out and about in the library. Introduce yourself! Or you can welcome her via email at Teresa.jensen@ci.northfield.mn.us.

In a new installation celebrating 25 years of the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden, the work of Carleton College art professors David Lefkowitz and Stephen Mohring is featured in “Walker on the Green: Artist-Designed Mini Golf.” On Thursday, May 23, The Walker Art Center will open two eight-hole courses, featuring individual holes created by various architects, artists, engineers, machinists, and mini-golf aficionados. The new interactive installation features everything from garden gnomes masquerading as foosball players to a scale model of a French chateau, along with mazes, gopher holes, and contours mapped from the course of the legendary Augusta National Golf Club. The result is a delight for both serious golf purists and lovers of outdoor kitsch.

Lefkowitz and Mohrig contributed Hole 3, entitled “18 Holes in One.” The hole is a physical manifestation of an overlay of all 18 legendary greens at the Augusta National Golf Course, home of the Masters Tournament. The result will thrill and challenge both the novice and seasoned mini-golfer alike. With 18 potential targets in their sites as they approach the undulating surface of the composition structure, golfers will encounter a nonlinear spatiotemporal golfing experience like no other.

Michigan based historian Bill Jamerson will perform a program of songs and stories about Michigan's Upper Peninsula at the Northfield Senior Center on Wednesday June 12  at 3 pm.  The program is presented by the Northfield Public Library and co-sponsored by the Northfield Senior Center, and is free and open to the public.

When Doug Bratland and Ann Mosey sat down for a beer at The Contented Cow a couple of years back, the conversation circled around how to create an arts-focused event calendar for local artists. They had heard time and time again that there was a void of immediate access to when, who, what, and where things were going on in Northfield.

Fast forward a bit: Amy Smith joins the group, and the three of them develop Northfield ArtsTown, a comprehensive website for artists, venues, and fans in which everyone and everything is connected.

The new website, online now at ArtsTown.us, offers not only a comprehensive calendar of local events for dance, film, literary arts, music, theater, and visual arts, the site also features membership-based portfolios of local artists and arts-related businesses.

The Cannon Valley Regional Orchestra (CVRO) will complete its 34th season with two concerts playing music to celebrate the coming of spring. Under the theme ”Voices of Spring”, mezzo soprano soloist Deesa Staats will join the CVRO on Thursday, May 16, at 7:00 P.M. at the Paradise Center for the Arts in Faribault and on Friday, May 17, at 7:00 P.M. at St. Ansgar’s Lutheran Church in Cannon Falls.

Volunteers are needed for two events happening this Saturday, May 18 in the Cowling Arboretum. From 6 to 9 a.m., the College will host its Annual Spring Bird Count and from 9 a.m. until noon, participants are invited to help with an Arboretum Spring Clean Up.

Thursday, May 16: Back by popular demand, Billy Johnson confirms his status as one of the Twin Cities’ best feel-good, blue-collar, barroom-rousing tunesmiths. Billy has opened for the BoDeans, Five For Fighting, Train, Poco, Paul Thorn, Van Hunt, Lowen and Navarro, Old 97s, and many many more. Learn more at www.billyjohnsonmusic.com.
 

Friday, May 17: Northfield native Jon Manners has charmed audiences locally and throughout the Twin Cities with his passionate brand of bluesy folk-rock. The Lounge is pleased to bring this engaging artist back to the Tavern stage. More at www.jonmanners.com.

St. Olaf College Writer in Residence Benjamin Percy recently released his second novel, Red Moon, to widespread critical acclaim.