Ross Currier, Northfield Downtown Development Corporation (NDDC)

There’s a lot of great music in downtown Northfield this weekend.  The performers are local bands…musicians from the Northfield area…and local bands…musicians from Southern Minnesota…and local bands…musicians from Minnesota.  So come on down(t0wn) and listen to the (local) music…this weekend in (downtown) Northfield, MN.

Friday, May 25th: Carey Langer, 5:00 to 7:00 p.m., Contented Cow; Spruce Top Review, 8:00 to 10:30 p.m., Contented Cow; Art Vandalay, 8:00 to 1:30 p.m., Tavern Lounge; Carleton Orchestra Concert, 8:00 p.m., Concert Hall on the Carleton College campus; The Wreckless Band, 9:00 p.m. to 12:00 a.m., Upstairs Rueb; and Fred the Bear, 11:00 p.m. to 1:00 a.m., Contented Cow.

Saturday, May 26th: Joe Kroc and Nate Johnson, 5:00 to 7:00 p.m., Contented Cow; Pot Luck and the Hot Dishes, 8:00 to 10:30 p.m., Contented Cow; Bonnie & the Clydes, 8:00 to 11:30 p.m., Tavern Lounge; and D J Music, 9:00 p.m., Rueb’N'Stein.

Sunday, May 27th: Politics and a Pint, 6:00 to 8:00 p.m., and Quiz Night, 8:00 to 10:00 p.m., Contented Cow.

Sounds like a great start to the weekend…the Carleton College Jazz Piano Studio.  Pianist, composer, and teacher Laura Caviani will be hosting a performance by her Carleton jazz students at the Contented Cow, 5:00 to 7:00 this Friday.  A terrific combo and several solo pianists will perform a variety of standards, blues, and even some original tunes.  It’s always great to hear and support emerging artists who are keeping the jazz tradition alive, and this is your chance, in downtown Northfield.

Friday, May 18th: Carleton Jazz Piano Studio, 5:00 to 7:00 p.m., Contented Cow; Barb Piper, 6:00 to 8:00 p.m., Hogan Brothers Acoustic Cafe; Why Not?, 8:00 to 11:00 p.m., Contented Cow; Matthew Griswold, 8:00 to 11:30 p.m., Tavern Lounge; Carleton Choir and Carleton Singers Concert, 8:00 p.m., Concert Hall on the Carleton College campus; and Karaoke, 9:00 p.m., Rueb’N'Stein.

Saturday, May 19th: Wake-Robin, 12:00 to 1:00 p.m., Bittersweet; Steve Parry, 6:00 to 7:30 p.m., Contented Cow; Tuition Daddies, 6:00 to 8:00 p.m., Hogan Brothers Acoustic Cafe; High School Choir Concert, 7:30 p.m., Middle School Auditorium; Relativity, 8:00 to 11:30 p.m., Tavern Lounge; and D J Music, 9:00 p.m., Rueb’N'Stein.

Sunday, May 20th: Politics and a Pint, 6:00 to 8:00 p.m., and Quiz Night, 8:00 to 10:00 p.m., both at The Cow.

Carleton College has invested in downtown Northfield for many years.  The college has supported groups and events that contribute to the downtown’s vitality, college staff and students have given of their time and talent through volunteering for organizations and initiatives that work for the downtown’s vibrancy, and the entire college community has significantly and positively impacted the downtown economy since its founding in 1866.  Now the college is taking their investment to a new level.

On May 8, Carleton announced that it had purchased the building at 200 Division Street, formerly known as the Medical Arts Building.  The College has been a major tenant in the building since 2005 when the Science Education Resource Center (SERC) relocated there.  The acquisition will allow Carleton to use a portion of the building to expand much-needed space for SERC operations, as well as relocate some additional administrative functions out of core academic buildings on campus.

SERC’s presence in downtown generates its own excitement.  The Science Education Resource Center of Carleton College, founded in 2002,  works to improve science education through projects that support educators.  The office has special expertise in effective pedagogies, geoscience education, science community organization, workshop leadership, digital libraries, website development, and program and website evaluation.

On August 10, 2011, the National Science Foundation awarded SERC a $10 million, five-year grant in support of the project InTeGrate: Interdisciplinary Teaching of Geoscience for a Sustainable Future.  The grant is one of two funded that year through NSF’s Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics Talent Expansion Program (STEP);  the other at Stanford Universitywith an engineering focus.  The STEP initiative aims to create a unique opportunity for faculty in a science discipline to address a national challenge or opportunity in undergraduate Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) education through a comprehensive and coordinated set of activities.

There are some people in our community who believe the future of our economy will be built on knowledge workers, workers who create economic value with their minds.  Scientists, educators, and web-crafters are all important segments of the knowledge worker labor force.  The presence of these workers in downtown Northfield, particularly with their commitment to an interdisciplinary approach, generates the type of knowledge spillovers that can not only nurture existing knowledge-based businesses but attract new knowledge-based businesses.  In fact, the type of interdisciplinary knowledge spillovers that such an enterprise generates can have an impact on the local economy that is not merely incremental but truly transformational.

Carleton intends to honor leases currently in place with non-College tenants, and to keep the building on the tax rolls at this time.  The three-story, 20,400-square foot building was constructed in 1948. The building lot is about a third of an acre and includes 15 parking spaces.  The College expects renovation work at the building to begin early this summer and be concluded before the end of the year.

Girls Nite Out kicks off a really big weekend in downtown Northfield.   It’s the 6th Annual, from 4:30 p.m. ’til 1:00 a.m., with shopping specials at participating businesses from 4:30 to 9:00 p.m., appetizers, dancing, and prizes at The Grand from 9:00 p.m. to 12:00 a.m., and specials at participating restaurants and bars from 12:00 to 1:00 a.m.  So come on down(town) for Girls Nite Out.

Friday, May 11th: Girls Nite Out, 4:30 p.m. to 1:00 a.m., downtown Northfield, New Moon Trio, 5:00 to 7:00 p.m., Contented Cow; 2nd Annual Latino Play Festival, 6:00 p.m., Northfield High School Auditorium; Sasha Mercedes, 8:00 to 11:30 p.m., Tavern Lounge; Fred the Bear, 8:00 to 10:30 p.m., Contented Cow; Ova Yonder, 10:00 p.m. to 1:00 a.m., Upstairs Rueb; and Whiskey Trick, 9:30 p.m., Froggy Bottoms.

Saturday, May 12th: Northfield Arts Guild Spring Dance Concert, 3:00 p.m., Northfield High School; Jim Lenway, 5:00 to 7:00 p.m., Contented Cow; 2nd Annual Latin Play Festival, 6:00 p.m., Northfield High School Auditorium; Keeley Susienka & Georgia Greene, 6:00 to 8:00 p.m., Hogan Brothers Acoustic Cafe; Andrea Een, 7:30 p.m., First United Church of Christ; Jon Larson, 8:00 to 10:30 p.m., Contented Cow; Jon Manners, 8:00 to 11:30 p.m., Tavern Lounge; Willie Murphy, 8:30 p.m., Grand Event Center; D. J. Music, 9:00 p.m., Rueb’N'Stein; and Chad & Russell, 9:30 p.m., Froggy Bottoms.

Sunday, May 13th: Politics and a Pint, 6:00 to 8:00 p.m., and Quiz Night, 8:00 to 10:00 p.m., both at The Cow.

The Northfield Downtown Development Corp. (NDDC), in collaboration with its economic development partners the Northfield Area Chamber of Commerce (Chamber), the Economic Development Authority (EDA), and the Northfield Enterprise Center (NEC), will host the second in a series of University of Minnesota Extension’s workshops. This one will focus on making sense of social media as part of a marketing and sales strategy.

The workshop will be Tuesday, May 15th at the Northfield High School Computer Lab from 7:00 to 9:00 pm. This workshop, titled simply “Making Sense of Social Media”, is a broad strategic review of how businesses can and are using “social media” on the Internet. Social media, FaceBook and Twitter for example, are being used by more and more people, especially young people. Understanding how to use social media is critical for businesses wanting to reach these new customers and leverage their Internet presence using the many available tools, such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, Flicker, blogs, and Google Places.

With nearly 5,000 college students and their visiting parents, plus residents, Northfield businesses have many opportunities to use social media to reach these customers. Join us for a presentation by Hans Muessig, Program Director with the Extension’s Minnesota Intelligent Rural Communities program, about how you can truly use social media to reach these customers.

This workshop will help you make informed decisions about how to use the social media most effectively for your business. It will provide both an overview and a detailed set of Internet strategies; you will walk away with some new ideas and online tools to help you have a successful 2012 and beyond.

For more information, contact Executive Director Ross Currier at (507) 663-0319 or rcurrier@nddc.org.

There’s visual art, dance, musical art, film, and theatrical art…this weekend in downtown Northfield.  In particular, the visual arts will be strong with exhibit openings at Northfield High School, St. Olaf College, and the Northfield Arts Guild.  This weekend looks like it’s going to be a rainy one, so let the arts shine…and light up your life.  …ah, you know where I’ll be on Friday night.

Friday, May 4th: 12th Annual Arts a la Carte, 5:00 to 8:00 p.m., Northfield High School; Occasional Jazz & Fang Tango Band, 5:00 to 8:00 p.m., Contented Cow; Tim Fast, 6:00 to 8:00 p.m., Hogan Brothers Acoustic Cafe; Opening Reception: Five Years Here, 7:00 to 9:00 p.m., Northfield Arts Guild; Oliver Twist, 7:30 p.m., ARTech; Ann Sawyer, 8:00 to 11:30 p.m., Tavern Lounge; Jet W. Lee, 9:00 to 11:00 p.m., Contented Cow;  and Kinda Kinky!, 9:00 p.m. to 12:00 a.m., Upstairs Rueb.

Saturday, May 5th: Zoo is Gospel, 5:00 to 11:30 p.m., Contented Cow; Werckmeister Harmonies, 7:00 p.m., Weitz Cinema on the Carleton College downtown campus; Companydance Spring Concert, 7:30 p.m., Theater Building on the St. Olaf College campus; Alison Rae, 8:00 to 11:30 p.m., Tavern Lounge; The 8th Street Duo, 9:00 p.m. to 1:00 a.m., Upstairs Rueb.

Sunday, May 6th: Exhibit Opening Reception: Senior Show, 2:00 to 4:00 p.m., Flaten Art Gallery on the St. Olaf College campus; Northern Roots Session, 7:30 to 9:00 p.m., Contented Cow; and Study Hall, 9:30 p.m. to 12:00 a.m.,  Contented Cow.