Locally Grown - Ross Currier, Tracy Davis, Griff Wigley

I drove past Northfield’s Municipal Liquor Store this morning and notice that their window display has snowmen, Xmas trees, presents under the trees, and snowflake wallpaper.

I’m guessing that in these days of budget cuts, the Happy Holidays ‘green’ is being repurposed for St. Patrick’s Day ‘green’ as a cost-saving measure.

Peter Seebach and my wife both alerted me to a massive ice jam on the Cannon River today. It apparently extended from the 5th St. bridge back to the Hwy 3 bridge by Babcock Park.  But by the time I got there at 5 pm to take a photo, it had broken up and mostly cleared. 

Fortunately, Carlson Capital Management’s Tim Jackson (who also has his own web design company, Computer Titan) captured the breakup with a photo and some video.

Do you love animals, but simply cannot bring any more home?  Try fostering a litter with the Prairie’s Edge Humane Society.

I had the wonderful opportunity to foster Valerie and her 5 kittens for 6 weeks.  It was so much fun!  We got to see their eyes open and ears pop up.   It was so sweet to watch them sleep all curled up in a little kitten pile and to watch them discover their toys.  What an awesome opportunity to provide a temporary home for these animals and get lots of unconditional love.

I was able to get some great photographs of the kittens and Valerie. Here’s one of them.

Despite the efforts of one of her bodyguards, I managed to get a photo this week of the 2010 St. Patrick’s Day Celebration grand marshal, Emily Monaghan.

The screenshot on the right is from the ad in the March Northfield Entertainment Guide.

See this 20-second video of the Folding Chair Precision Marching Unit from the 2007 parage which included Northfield City Councilors Jim Pokorney and Noah Cashman. I’m not sure if this will be in this year’s parade:

For more, see this Northfield News article by intern Emily Hartley titled Festivities will mark St. Patrick’s Day in town:

Residents will be rolling in the green Saturday at Northfield’s 10th annual St. Patrick’s Celebration. The all-ages event includes a parade and costume contests and will culminate with a get-together at the Contented Cow. Festivities begin with a pre-parade luncheon at Froggy Bottom’s and a get-together in the Econofoods parking lot before the parade up Division Street, which starts at 2 p.m. Leading the parade will be a piper from St. Paul, Northfield resident Jim Bohnhoff as St. Patrick and this year’s grand marshal, Emily Monaghan.

And here are my photo albums from the 2005 and 2007 events:

I noticed a ‘Riverwalk Market Fair’ sign on the door of Dean Kjerland’s Art On Water Gallery on Water Street, now home to the Riverwalk Arts Quarter (RAQ).

A Google search on the phrase ‘Riverwalk Market Fair’ brings up a single result, this week’s March 9 City Council packet:

The City has received a request from Riverwalk Market Fair to use public spaces between 2nd and 5th Street (Bridge Square and Riverwalk area) for a summer market. The event is proposed for Saturday’s 9:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. from May through October. The proposed market would feature local fine arts, fine crafts, cut flowers, local produce, artisan foods and other products as well as musicians and street performers. The Riverwalk Market Fair has filed to become a Minnesota nonprofit organization.

The RAQ web site and RAQ Facebook group make no mention of this exciting development. Anyone have details?

Gail Moll and Ed Kuhlman stopped by my corner office at the GBM this week.

They each had flyers about the Sarah Henson benefit concert on Friday night at the Grand Event Center.  Sarah, mother of 4 teens, has a grade four glioblastoma brain tumor.

Back in Nov. 2008, friends, family and the Northfield community held a big ‘house party’ for Sarah and enough money was raised to help pay her mortgage for a year. See the blog post with photo albums from the fundraiser. The photo on the left, with Sarah at the center doing a ‘thumbs up’,’ was from that event.

Sarah has a very informative CaringBridge site with her journal updates, photos, and information on how to donate.

The three bands playing at the benefit:

• Mark & Alec (anyone know who they are? website?)
• Sweet North
• Chance Meetings (band members Neal Rowley, Scott Friedow, Gail Moll, Chris Moen, John Hiscox, Steve Shroyer; the link goes to Chris Moen’s personal Facebook profile)

See Jessica Paxton’s blog post on Northfield.org and the PDF flyer for more details.

Sandy Vesledahl and Kathy Jasnoch met me at my morning GBM office early one morning last week to tell me about the American Cancer Society Relay for Life pancake breakfast fundraiser they’re hosting on Sunday morning, March 14, at the Eagles Club. (The actual relay, 2010 Relay For Life of Rice County, will be held on August 6, 2010 at the Rice County Fairgrounds.)

They each have their own Relay for Life web page with their personal fundraising goals where they explain their personal reasons for why they Relay:

On the Kathleen Jasnoch Relay for Life page, Kathy writes:

I relay because I have lost too many people to cancer and I want to eliminate this battle for future generations.

My husband Jeff Jasnoch, my dad Don Kuchinka, grandparents and dear friends and relatives whose lives were lost to this disease, I relay for all of them.

I honor my loved ones and fights this battle in their memory, as well as for all who struggle with cancer now.

Please help us to eliminate this disease.

Thank you for your support.

Kathy Jasnoch

On the Sandy Vesledahl Relay for Life page, Sandy writes:

I Relay because I want to eliminate cancer during my lifetime. Relay gives me the unique opportunity to celebrate the lives of those who have battled cancer, remember loved ones lost, and support the American Cancer Society’s lifesaving mission by fighting back against a disease that has already taken too much.

Our guest this week, Steve Engler, currently Vice President of the City of Northfield Economic Development Authority (EDA).

The conversation primarily dealt with the recent debate on the EDA about the role of the Economic Development Director, Jody Gunderson.

I’ve turned off comments here. Continue the discussion on the blog post titled EDA struggles with its by-laws, process, effectiveness, election of officers.

Click play to listen. 30 minutes.

You can also download the MP3 or subscribe to the podcast feed, or subscribe directly with iTunes. Our radio show/podcast, Locally Grown, usually airs Mondays at 6:00 PM and Sundays at 10 AM on KYMN 1080 AM.

The ‘Save the Depot’ committee held a public meeting last Monday, March 1 at the NCRC. Members include Steve Edwins, Lynn Vincent, Rob Martin, Pat Allen, Chip DeMann, Alice Thomas and Clark Webster.

I’ve turned off comments on this blog post. Continue the discussion that’s attached to the Oct. 8 blog post titled Is Northfield’s train depot worth saving?

See the album of 12 photos, the large slideshow, or this small slideshow:

I happened to drive by Northfield Photo and Memories on 111 West 6th St today and was surprised to see that they had closed. When did this happen? 

I don’t see any mention of the closing on their still-alive website, nor on the sites for the Nfld News or KYMN or Northfield.org or…

The building is for sale, listed with Wendy Thorpe at Edina Realty.

The Prairie’s Edge Humane Society, formerly the Rice County Humane Society, held its annual meeting on February 13th. New officers elected are: President, Kathy Jasnoch (that’s me!); Vice President/Treasurer Denise Budd; Secretary Priscilla Paton. Dr. Terri Derr will continue to serve as chief operating officer and LeeAnn Bestland is our newly minted Chief Executive Officer. All in attendance were pleased with the direction of the organization and the accomplishments of 2009.  There is a lot of excitement about the coming year, especially in regard to our new name, website, and some exciting ideas for the future. Soon we will reveal our revised mission statement.

CHECK OUT OUR NEW WEBSITE (with a blog):  More to come on our new look; the organization is full of fresh energy!

Think about joining us as volunteers, members, foster parents-there are many opportunities available. Check the new web site and give us a call!

We thank Community Resource Bank for the use of their meeting room for our facility and all of the Northfield businesses who give us their continued support.

The “Friday Memo,” written by Northfield City Administrator Joel Walinski and various department heads and other City staff, summarizes the staff and department activities for the week. The Friday memos are published and archived in PDF form at the bottom of the City Administrator’s web page.

This week’s memo contains the usual department reports, plus Joel’s thoughts on his long-range goals, and a link to the Minnesota State Auditor’s 2008 Analysis of Municipal Liquor Stores.

Since it’s the first week of the month, we also have the monthly Boards & Commissions report. I was amused to find that my contribution had been censored (or edited, depending upon your point of view).  My original phrase describing the Planning Commission’s weekly meetings as “grueling” and “brain-sucking” was, um, amended to “arduous”.

You can find both documents here on the  memo web page for the week.

There is a City Council work session this week. You can view all upcoming City meetings on the City calendar.

We received this email from Nathan Yaffe, Carleton College student:

As part of my Environmental Economics and Policy class, we’re conducting research on the different stakeholders relevant to the annexation issue.

Our end product will be a public poster presentation on Monday, March 15 from 8:30-11 in the Great Hall at Carleton… My group is conducting a survey to determine public attitudes about the annexation.

Our questions came from a Ward 3 exit poll conducted by Erica Zweifel, who graciously agreed to share her poll results with us, but we’re hoping to collect more data.

Ultimately, the hope is for this to benefit the community, because our presentation will be attended by individuals involved in the decision-making process concerning this annexation.

Take the Prawer-Gill annexation straw poll.

 
The Northfield Erbert and Gerbert’s sub sandwich shop on the west end of the footbridge is closing. The sign on the door of Larson’s Printing says “Commercial site available. Restaurant/Retail/Office.”

I noticed this sign in front of the CarTime Auto Center at the intersection Hwy 3 and Hester St. in Dundas.

It’s a little known fact that General Manager Jared Hubers is a member of the Ketchup Advisory Council (Facebook group).

Sisters Ugly, the contemporary clothing shop owned by the mother-daughter team, Diane Sinclair and Jenny Sinclair, is moving to the Nutting Block building at 3rd and Division, recently vacated by Sweet Pea’s Loft.

I blogged the Sisters Ugly Feb. 2007 grand opening party.

Today, Faribault’s Sage Electrochromics was cited in the Strib for winning “a $72 million federal loan guarantee for a major expansion of its manufacturing facility, where the company has developed ‘smart’ glass for windows and skylights that reduce energy use.”

Two weeks ago, Faribault’s McQuay plant was cited in the Strib for “using $1.3 million in new federal tax credits to revamp a manufacturing plant to make more energy efficient air-conditioners.”

In January, Northfield’s Cardinal Glass was cited in the Strib for receiving “$7.7 million of new federal funds to convert its residential-glass factory into a solar glass-coating plant.” (A tip of the blogger hat to Larry DeBoer for alerting me to it.)

I don’t know to what extent the people involved with Northfield’s economic development ecosystem (see organizations below) are pursuing green collar manufacturing jobs. I found a few mentions:

The June 2008 Northfield MN Energy Task Force Report included this recommendation (p. 4):

Develop local policies and initiatives that help create demand for green collar occupations through public sector investments and incentives and requirements that drive private sector investments.

The packet for the Tuesday April 21, 2009 Environmental Quality Commission Meeting had an item titled “Green” Jobs Discussion:

Peter Schmelzer reported. How to entice “green” businesses and businesses committed to “green” business practices to the newly annexed property in Northfield. There is a subcommittee being formed from EDA members, Suzie Nakasian will provide contact information to Schmelzer.

Reginaldo Haslett-Marroquin (Regi!), director of the Rural Enterprise Center, published a blog post in Oct, 2007 titled Northfield’s Latino/a Economic Development and Thinking Green

For my work in Latino communities, the vision of "green industries" has a specific appeal and carries a powerful argument with tools to create hope and invigorate local leaders to take action and become more active in exploring and launching green businesses.

The June 8, 2007 edition of the Minneapolis / St. Paul Business Journal featured an article titled Northfield striving to become tech town. I cited the article a month later in a blog post titled  Northfield becoming Silicon Valley and North Beach; but what about green collar manufacturing? in which I pointed to Tom Friedman’s (NY Times columnist) April 2007 article, The Power of Green, and his YouTube video, Green is the New Red, White, and Blue.

Northfield has an economic development ecosystem that includes the Economic Development Authority (EDA) , the Northfield Enterprise Center, the City of Northfield Economic Development Dept, the Northfield Enterprise Center, the Rural Enterprise Center, the Northfield Area Chamber of Commerce, the Northfield Downtown Development Corp (NDDC) , and venture capital folks like 3C Capital Partners and Granite Equity Partners. (Did I miss anyone?)

A multi-course, pay-to-play, disc golf complex called Castle Rock Disc Sports will open this spring in Castle Rock, about 10 minutes north of Northfield on Hwy 3.  It will

offer 72 holes, all designed in 9 hole loops, so a player can pick and choose which layout to play. Two of the 9 hole loops comprise one of the longest, hardest courses in the world, playing a “true par 72”. All the loops consist of rolling terrain with woods and open areas. Castle Rock will have camping on site with a full on pro shop.

The president of Castle Rock Disc Sports is Timmy Gill, professional disc golfer (profile here) and disc course designer (Par72DiscGolf). See the article in the 2004 issue of Forbes magazine that features him titled Spin Cup.

There is a Southern Minnesota Disc Golf Association social networking site (Ning platform) where Gill is discussing the development of the complex. He’s just started posting to Twitter, too.

Christopher Sawyer, President of College City Beverage, stopped by my morning office at Goodbye Blue Monday earlier this week to seek our help with finding a photo of their 1982-87 warehouse/headquarters. I then paid a visit to their current HQ in Dundas to see the photos they have of their other buildings.

Christopher later emailed me this:

We are looking for a picture of the building we moved into on the corner of Hwy 3 and 19 where the Movie Gallery, Caribou, Subway, Taco Bell and Country Inn are located.  We moved into that building in 1982 and moved out in 1987. We are putting together a showcase of all of the warehouses that CCB has been located and this is the only one we cannot find a picture of.  Thus far, we have talked with the City of Northfield, Northfield Library, Northfield Historical Society, the lending bank, realtor, and Rice County Historical Society.  

Here are my photos of the photos that they do have:

Above: my photos of the CCB warehouse photos

   
Above: my photos of CCB’s plaques of Tom Blaisdell and ‘The course called Life’

Above: my photos of (left) CCB’s location at 1720 Cannon Road, 1988-2006  (currently Upper Lakes Foods); (center) CCB’s current location at 700 Railway St S, in Dundas; (right) Christopher’s dad, Jim Sawyer, at the 2006 Chamber holiday party.

Christopher also emailed me this history of the company:

History of College City Beverage, Inc.

Jim Hubbard

Back in the early 1950s, Jim Hubbard was an Area Representative in southern Minnesota for the Canada Dry Products, and then an Area Rep for the G. Heileman Brewing Company. Jim and his wife, Maxine, purchased the distribution rights for those brands between 1952 and 1953 to begin their own business, College City Beverage. They also bought miscellaneous fountain syrups: Nesbitts, Squirt and Hires bottled pop. At that time Jim’s territory was in the Northfield area with the warehouse in a one-car garage at 701 College Street.

Hubbard continued to add other G. Heileman brands: Fox Delux, Fox Head, and Wisconsin Premium. The business continued to grow to where more space was needed. They moved their products to the Munk Festler’s Potato Warehouse and the Edelbrock Chicken buildings on the south edge of Northfield.

In 1965 they remodeled the Edelbrock Building and moved the operation there through 1969. They continued to use the Munk Festler’s Building as storage for the summer overflow.

College City Beverage, Inc. (CCB) became a sub-distributor for Anheuser-Busch via Capital City Beverage out of St. Paul, and Pepsi products from the Gillette family via the Rochester, LaCrosse and Mankato bottlers along with Gluek’s Brewery brands of  Gluek’s and Gluek’s Stite.

College City Beverage became a sub-distributorship out of the Twin Cities area for the imported brands: Lowenbrau, Hofbrau, Tecate, St. Pauli Girl, Anchor Steam, Carta Blanca, Kirin and Heineken. CCB added an expanded line of bar supplies: sip sticks, glassware, paper bags, olives, cherries, dance wax, and mixes. A new warehouse (presently occupied by Culligan Water), office, and home were built in 1970 along south Highway 3. Besides Glenwood Ingelwood water and dispensers, Amirimpo Wines were distributed with other wholesalers from Minnesota.

Blaisdell Family and Sawyer Family Purchase of CCB

When they met, Jim Sawyer and Tom Blaisdell were both employed at the Northwestern State Bank of Northfield. Jim, who had been transferred to Northfield from Mankato in 1973, had worked at Northwestern for five years. Tom, who had been transferred from Dodge Center in 1975, had worked at Northwestern for three years, when they had the opportunity to get into the beer business.

The warehouse was doubled in size just before the business was sold to Tom Blaisdell and Jim Sawyer in October 1978. At the time of the sale, the major suppliers for College City Beverage, Inc. were Anheuser-Busch Companies, Inc. and G. Heileman Brewing. The company had 10 employees.  CCB added Jacob Leinekugel products and many imports, with Heineken selling the largest volume of these imports. The Company added to the wine portfolio carrying Amirimpo wines, Cribari, and Vintner’s Choice. In the non-alcohol line CCB continued to sell Pepsi-Cola products, Nesbitts products, Glenwood bottled water along with the restaurant supplies.

By 1982 the Company had outgrown the warehouse and a new, larger warehouse was needed to accommodate the growth. The new warehouse was built at the intersection of highways 3 and 19. CCB moved into the new building in April of that year.  When the Company moved to this location, it stopped selling the restaurant supplies so it could focus on the beverage lines. The new warehouse allowed most of its trucks to be kept inside the building at night with a wash bay for keeping the vehicles cleaned.

In 1984 College City Beverage purchased Red Wing Distributing from Tom Ryan.  There were three employees in Red Wing and two of these employees continued working for College City Beverage after the purchase.  A computer system was established at that warehouse so they could communicate with the operation in Northfield.  College City Beverage hired a person to manage this satellite operation.

Also In 1984, CCB severed relationships with the soft drink suppliers. Jim and Tom didn’t want this separation but distributor-supplier relationships had become unworkable. This caused the elimination of all soft drink equipment and one employee.

The next several years brought College City Beverage continued growth and it was necessary to improve the warehouse situation in Red Wing because the facilities were not suitable for the operation of the satellite warehouse.  In 1987 College City Beverage made the decision to bring the entire Red Wing operation to Northfield.  This move would necessitate a much larger warehouse.  CCB purchased land in the industrial park on the south edge of Northfield to build a 42,000 square foot warehouse.  In June 1988 the Company moved into the new facility at 1720 Cannon Road. CCB expanded the facility three times — two additions to the office space and a 28,000 square foot addition to the warehouse in 1995, 1997, and 1999 respectively.

In 1995 Jacob Leinekugel products were sold to Alcorn Beverage, a distributor of Miller Brewing products. In 1997 CCB sold G Heileman products to Chisago Lakes Distributing. The G. Heileman brewery had been sold to the Stroh’s Brewery previously and CCB felt it would be in the company’s best interest to discontinue the sale of these portfolio of brands.  The rest of the G. Heileman brands were sold to Tri-County Beverage in New Prague in December 1998. CCB sold all of the imports, except Heineken, to Day Distributing in June 1998. Today the breweries that College City Beverage, Inc. represents are Anheuser-Busch, Heineken USA, Summit Brewery, Widmer Brewing Co., Redhook Brewing Co, Goose Island, Abita Beer, and US Beverage Imported Brands.  CCB also sells a variety of non-alcoholic brands such as Monster Energy drinks, Boylan’s Soda, Mountain Valley Spring Water, and several other flavored waters.

Sawyer Family

College City Beverage, Inc. had a major setback on November 6, 1997, when Tom Blaisdell suffered an aortic aneurysm that took his life at the age of 56.  Tom’s death required a change in ownership and Jim Sawyer purchased Tom’s interest in the business.

At the time of his death, Tom’s three children had been employed at CCB, but the three of them decided it would be best if they pursued other interests in July 1998. CCB has been a family-owned business and continues in this tradition with Jim’s two children, Christopher Sawyer and Natalie Fink, now leading the business.

College City Beverage, Inc. decided it needed its own maintenance facility; so on March 1, 1999, CCB hired a full time mechanic to maintain the entire fleet. This facility proved to be an asset to the company and improved the health and longevity of the fleet.

By 2004, the Cannon Road location had become inefficient with no room for expansion.  So the company began looking for property to build another new warehouse.  In 2006, the company purchased 20 acres from the DeMann family in Dundas and began construction of a 153,000 square foot facility.  On April 2, 2007 College City Beverage, Inc. moved into their new state of the art warehouse and offices located at 700 Railway St S in Dundas, Minnesota. 

College City Beverage, Inc. continues to increase sales and market share. CCB anticipates continued growth because the company has the finest group of employees, and the highest quality products brewed in the industry.  Today CCB has 95 employees.

In mid-January, Northfielder Mary Lewis Grow authored a commentary in the Star Tribune titled Security alert: Gun show loopholes. (Mary Lewis is co-founder and board member for Citizens for a Safer Minnesota.)

In today’s Strib, there’s an article titled Effort to tighten Minnesota’s gun law getting folks riled up.

[St. Paul Rep. Michael Paymar] said the proposal addresses a significant loophole: While many gun show dealers have federal licenses, which require them to run background checks on purchasers, nothing requires someone who simply shows up at a gun show to sell a gun to do the same. Gun shows, according to one gun control group, are "Tupperware parties for criminals."

I’m a middle-of-the-roader when it comes to gun control.  So it seems like a good time to learn more.