Soak in the summer!  Community Services is offering recreation and enrichment programming throughout the summer and wants to help YOU soak in the many opportunities available.  Register today for swimming lessons, football, tennis, volleyball, tae kwon do, lacrosse, soccer, fly fishing, family programming, art classes, and more.

For registration and information on all of our summer programs, please view the link below, call our office at 507-664-3649, or visit our office located on the first floor of the Northfield Community Resource Center at 1651 Jefferson Parkway, Northfield.  Register soon, programs are filling fast!

Online registration adn information: https://ssl.dwebsite.com/secure2/ce_northfield/php/public.php

All of our summer opportunities are also located in our 2013 Summer Brochure. 

What a magnificent turn out for the first annual World's Largest Swimming Lesson put on by Community Services and held at Northfield's Old Memorial Pool.  Fifty-six partipants engaged in a half hour swim lesson in an attempt to help break the world record for the most people taking a swim lesson at once.  Northfield was one of more than seven hundred sites across five continents registered for the event.  WLSL is an event to help raise awareness that swimming lessons save lives.  I saw lots of shivers this morning, but everyone was engaged and was learning something.  Participants learned about water safety and took part in blowing bubbles, kicking, floating, submerging their bodies under water to look for dive toys, and worked on swimming strokes.  Parents and children proved hardy on this brisk morning and turned out for a most important swimming lesson!  Stay tuned to find out if the world record was broken!

Northfield Noontime Organ Recitals enter their seventh season this summer beginning July 10 and concluding on August 14.  All six recitals will be held on Wednesday noon hour from 12:15 to 12:45 p. m. with the following schedule:

Wed. July 10 -Phyllis Milbrandt and Richard Collman; 1812 Michigan Drive, Northfield, (in southeast Northfield off Jefferson Parkway, house pipe organ)

Wed. July 17- David Lim, student at Gustavus Adolphus College, St. Peter, MN; Music & Drama Center, Carleton College, 110 Winona St. N.

Wed., July 24 - Stephen May, Organist & Choir Director, Episcopal Cathedral of Our Merciful Saviour, Faribault; Skinner Chapel, Carleton College, 405 First St. E.,

Wed. July 31 -Rosalie Alcoser, Organist & Choir Director, St. Luke's Episcopal Church, Rochester, MN; First Congregational Church, 300 Union St.

Gospel and blues music, garden structures of welded steel, and fresh-baked goods from Crack of Dawn Artisan Bread are featured at Riverwalk Market Fair on Saturday June 15.  Riverwalk is located in Northfield’s historic downtown on Bridge Square along the scenic Cannon River. Hours are 9 am to 1 pm, rain or shine.

Seasonal Produce From Local Farmers, Artisan Foods, Art and Fine Craft

This Saturday look for rhubarb, eggs, and meat, along with bedding plants, fresh-picked lettuce and salad greens from local farmers. Artisan foods include a variety of fresh-baked breads, pastries, tarts and quiches from Martha’s Eats and Treats, Crack of Dawn Artisan Breads, and Archibald Mills, as well as honey from School House Apiary.

Watercolors, photographs, alpaca wool yarn, ceramics, glass art, hand crafted accessories, jewelry, and garden structures of welded steel are among the art and fine crafts for sale. In addition, an emerging artist and three young entrepreneurs from Northfield will have their creations for sale. (For a complete list of the vendors scheduled for this Saturday visit www.RiverwalkMarketFair.org.

It's a special TEEN PROGRAM!

Mehndi Moon creates distinctive, high quality temporary body art.  Each piece of body art is individual and unique. Come to the library’s meeting room Monday, June 17 from 6-8 pm to learn about and experience the art of Henna! 

Sponsored by TAB, the library's Teen Advisory Board. The program is free. Made possible by a grant from SELCO/SELS, Clean Water, Land & Legacy Amendment and Minnesota Library Legacy.

Must be going into 6th -12th grade to attend! Northfield Public Library 210 Washington St. http://northfieldpubliclibrary.blogspot.com/2013/06/teen-program-monday-june-17tth-at-6-pm.html

Thanks to the generosity of the Friends and Foundation of the Library we are thrilled to have one of Northfield kids FAVORITE performer- JUSTIN ROBERTS!  He returns at 7 pm Wed. July 12th.  Here are the details http://booksandstars2013.blogspot.com/2013/06/june-12-justin-roberts-at-central-park.html

It's officially too wet at Central Park for Books & Stars- so we'll join JUSTIN ROBERTS at Oddfellow's Park! Located at the intersection of Forest Avenue and Lincoln Street.

Booker opens at 6:30

Justin's show begins at 7.

Bring a lawn chair to sit on.

See you there!!!

Acclaimed author Scott Dominic Carpenter will appear Tuesday, June 25 at 7:30 p.m. at Monkey See Monkey Read Bookstore in downtown Northfield. Carpenter will read from and discuss his debut novel, “Theory Of Remainders.”

Carpenter will be the featured guest on KYMN Radio's "Art Zany!" on Friday, June 21 and will participate in an author event on Saturday, June 22 as part of Carleton's alumni reunion weekend activities. Additional upcoming readings and signings are scheduled at Common Good Books (St. Paul, Minn.) on Monday, June 24; the Minneapolis Women's Club on Wednesday, June 26; and the Laureate's Writer's Series in Winona on Tuesday, July 2.

“Theory Of Remainder” (Winter Goose Publishing) tells the tale of a father who seeks the truth about a traumatic past. Despite a career spent helping others, psychiatrist Philip Adler has never recovered from the loss of his own daughter fifteen years ago. When a funeral draws him back to his ex-wife’s homeland of France, the trip impels him to confront the past in a final search for answers, closure, and his daughter’s body.

As a flower bud holds within it so much potential and in time springs forth a fragrant floral display, so too is an artist’s paintbrush as it touches the canvas with dreams of what will come to be.

Established watercolorist and recent recipient of the prestigious “Best of Show” award from the Minnesota Watercolor Society’s Juried Spring Show, Kathy Miller will present her paintings in a new exhibit titled, “A Voyage of Discovery and Reflections” at the Northfield Arts Guild, June 12-July 21. An opening reception will be held on June 14 from 7 to 9 pm.

The artist, known for her sensory style that draws the viewer in with an alluring tactual appeal, depicts nature with curiosity and depth through her intricate study of light, reflections and shadows.  "It was a pleasure to award Kathy Miller's "White Peonies" Best of Show at the Minnesota Watercolor Society Spring Juried Exhibition,” said Megan Rye, the exhibit judge. “It is a well-established tradition to paint flowers, especially in the medium of watercolor.  Kathy's approach honors this tradition, but also springs forth with dazzling life, and a relevancy that is freshly observed. "White Peonies" grabbed my heart and wouldn't let go.”

The Tavern Lounge is pleased to present critically-acclaimed national recording artists, The Mother Banjo Band, on Friday, June 14 from 8 to 11:30 p.m. This rare appearance by these popular Americana and Gospel favorites is free and open to the public.

The Mother Banjo Band comes to Northfield in support of their critically acclaimed new album, “The Devil Hasn’t Won.” Featuring Ellen Stanley (aka “Mother Banjo”)on banjo and vocals, a New England-raised, Minneapolis-based songwriter. Stanley calls her lively originals and unique covers of songs “pub gospel,” and the new album shows why Mother Banjo has been hailed for her poetic songwriting and powerful vocals, winning the praise of such artists as Josh Ritter and John Gorka.

The Community Action Center of Northfield (CAC), a nonprofit committed to meeting the basic needs of families in transition throughout the Northfield area, has relocated its Clothes Closet storefront to downtown Northfield. The space, located at 600 Water Street South in the River Park Mall, is now open and features expanded donation and shopping hours: Monday–Saturday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Thursday 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. The Clothes Closet, which offers gently used clothing, shoes, household goods, linens, toys and books, provides clothing and other necessities free of charge to more than 400 families in need each year and offers value-priced goods to the entire Northfield community. One-hundred percent of sale proceeds benefit the programs of the CAC, which serve Northfield’s neighbors in need. 

A couple of Northfield stories have appeared in the statewide media this week. First, on Wednesday, June 5, the Star Tribune ran a story in the South Metro section about the downtown post office, noting that Northfield residents have been frustrated with the lack of communication from the U.S. Postal Service. You can read the story here. Then, on Thursday, June 6, KARE-11 featured Northfield High School's 2013 Latino Play Festival in its "Cool in School" segment. Find that story here.

The Arts can be fun, entertaining, and are a part of the vitality at the Northfield Senior Center.  On June 7, starting at 7pm, there will be a celebration of all art-related programming at the Center with an event called the Art-full Splash.  The event will start with a concert by the Seasoned Singers, the Senior Center’s own women’s chorus, followed by the official Opening Reception for the June exhibit in the NSC Gallery.  The reception will include tantalizing refreshments (some home-made), artist-talks, and a demonstration of chainsaw carving.  This event is open to the public, and will appeal to all ages.