Downtown

Reading for pleasure is one of the building blocks for young people to grow into healthy, productive adults.

Fourth grade students who read for fun every day score the highest on reading assessment tests.

When the act of reading extends beyond the schoolroom and becomes part of daily life, ongoing literacy is on its way to becoming a reality. Students who read for fun on their own and talk about their reading with family and friends on a weekly basis had higher average test scores than students who never or rarely read for fun and who talk about their books with family and friends less than once a month.

Public library programming and books for children make a difference.

Crews were out this morning (Wednesday, May 16) installing the first of Northfield's sidewalk poems in the vicinity of the Northfield Public Library. The poems are winners of the first Sidewalk Public Poetry Contest in 2011, which was sponsored by the Friends and Foundation of the Northfield Public Library and the Northfield Arts and Culture Commission. As of noon, two of the poems had been installed, one on the Third Street side of the library (pictured, right), and one on the Division Street side. Places have been prepared for two more poems, another in front of the library, and one across the street in front of the Archer House. According to a member of the Arts and Culture Commission, downtown business owners have been enthusiastic about having the poems in front of their businesses.

For more good photographs of the installation, see the story on Northfield Patch.

The school year's end is approaching fast!  The Northfield Public Library's summer reading program is just around the corner!  It's so important for children to read during the summer to help keep their skills fresh and help eliminate "summer reading loss" for the next school year. To help kick of the 2012 "DREAM BIG-READ! summer reading program- some crazy people will entertain us all on Saturday, May 19th at 11 am.  We will be outside on the Washington Street side of the library, or if the weather is not cooperating we will be in the meeting room.  "Mixed Nuts" has tickled funny bones throughout the region with its special blend of hilarious hijinks, guaranteed to produce side-splitting laughter! 

In 2010 the Save the Northfield Depot(STND) organized to coordinate and promote the effort to preserve Northfield’s 1888 rail depot.  The Northfield City Council advanced those preservation efforts significantly on March 20, 2012, when it approved an historic agreement to sell a parcel of City-owned land to Save the Northfield Depotfor $1. The agreement paves the way for moving the depot from its current location on railroad property to a new location on the “Q-Block,” where a restored depot will serve as an anchor for redevelopment.

“The depot now needs the public’s help to ensure its survival,” noted Lynn Vincent, co-chair of Save the Northfield Depot. 

With the completion of thepurchase agreement for the city land, STND will focus on raising the funds needed to renovate the depot and move it to its new location. A total of $500,000 will be needed to complete the project, but the first $300,000 must be raised within 18 months in order to demonstrate to the City that sufficient progress has been made toward that goal. Donors wishing to join the effort to meet this deadline and assure the depot’s survival can make a secure, tax-deductible donation via the STND website (www.northfielddepot.org) or send to STND, Treasurer, at 712 4th St. E., Northfield.

The second annual Latino Play Festival/Coffee House Gathering is happening this weekend with the play festival and coffee house gathering at 6pm in the high school auditorium on Friday, and the play festival only at the same time on Saturday.

The annual Girls Night Out is happening downtown on Friday, with shopping, giveaways, hors d'ouvres, refreshments, music, and more. Music on Friday includes New Moon Trio at the Cow 5-7pm, Sasha Mercedes at the Tavern Lounge 8-11:30pm, Ova Yonder at the Upstairs Rueb 10pm-1am, Whiskey Trick at Froggy Bottoms at 9:30pm, and Fred the Bear at the Cow 11pm-1am.

It's Girls' Day Away on Saturday at the Cannon River Winery with music by Michael Loonan in the afternoon. The Northfield Arts Guild's 2012 Spring Dance Concert is happening at 3pm at the high school. Saturday's music includes Jim Lenway at the Cow 5-7pm followed by Jon Larson 8-10:30pm, Keeley Susienka at Hogan Brothers 6-8pm, a Grieg and Norwegian Folk Music Concert at the First United Church of Christ at 7:30pm, Jon Manners at the Tavern Lounge 8-11:30pm, Willie Murphy at the Grand at 8:30pm, and Chad & Russell at the Frog at 9:30.

Get your tickets now for downtown Northfield’s 6th Annual Girls Nite Out, coming up this Friday, May 11, 2012! This very popular event brings hundreds of women to downtown Northfield for an evening of shopping and pampering, dining and socializing, dancing and fun. Proceeds for the event also go to support local charities. Tickets to Girls Nite Out are $10 in advance and $12 the day of the event. Advance tickets can be purchased at KYMN Radio, at participating retailers including Sisters Ugly, The Rare Pair, The Eclectic Goat, Monarch—and online at www.thegrandnorthfield.com.

The Great Northfield, Minnesota Book Raid is happening this weekend at the Northfield Ice Arena and is open on Friday 9am-9pm, and Saturday 8am-3pm.

In theater, ARTech's Oliver Twist has performances on Friday and Saturday at 7:30pm.

Also on Friday, Carey Langer is playing the Cow 5-7pm while Daniel Lohmann and Madelyn Hartke play Hogan Brothers 6-8pm. The Tavern Lounge is hosting Sasha Mercedes 8-11:30pm, and comedian C. Willi Myles is performing at the Paradise Center for the Arts in Faribault.

Northfield's Perennial Earth Day Celebration is happening 12-5pm on Saturday at the First United Church of Christ. Michael Loonan is playing Cannon River Winery 2-5pm, and the Tavern Lounge is hosting Norwegian Cowboy 8-11:30pm.

Jim Reiley will be at the Northfield Public Library on Thursday, May 3rd at 7:00 p.m. and will talk about his new book. 

It’s not often you run across a person like Jim Reiley.  For this 92-year-old Northfield man, age is more than a way to count passing years. Ninety-two is the number of minutes he swims at the local senior center each day. It is the approximate amount of time he spends writing most days. And if you subtract the two from the nine, it is the number of books he has written over the past seven years including his most recent novel, City Hall: A Casino or a Chapel.

City Hall is not the recollections of a man who has lived through nine decades of history, nor lessons from a former history and political science teacher at the University of New Mexico – Los Alamos. A stray in genre from the majority of his books, this fast-paced, modern-day novel is the story of two former All-American college football stars making their way in the cutting edge corporate industry of liquefied natural gas.

Local author Steven Henry began writing his medieval fantasy Ember of Dreams in 2005, a year after his graduation from Carleton College.  He spent three years writing the novel and another year editing.  After about three dozen rejections from agents and publishers, he put the novel away  for a year.  He then considered publishing the novel as an ebook.  His novel went live in July, 2011.  Steven will talk about his novel and the process he used to publish an ebook on Thursday, April 26, at 7:00 in the Northfield Public Library.

Steven was born in Northfield, attended Northfield schools, graduated from Northfield High School in 2000, and Carleton College in 2004.  He was an English major at Carleton, where he also took some creative writing classes.   He now lives with his wife in Burnsville and works in Eagan.

The Arts and Culture Commission (ACC) of Northfield, in partnership with the Friends and Foundation of the Library, is pleased to announce the winners of the city’s second annual Sidewalk Poetry Contest.  Chosen from among 82 poems submitted for judging, ten poems have been selected for imprinting in city sidewalks.  

The Arts and Culture Commission applauds and thanks the many local poets who submitted their poetry to the competition.  We are pleased to announce the following winners, in alphabetical order, of Northfield’s second annual Sidewalk Poetry Contest:

The Northfield Convention and Visitors Bureau (CVB) is currently collecting travel packages & promotions starting with the months of May and June.

Accommodations, restaurants, area attractions & retail shops are encouraged to collectively, or independently, develop their own enticing travel packages and/or share deals for spring and early summer promotion. 

General theme suggestions for the upcoming tourism season are around music, recreation, history and the arts tied with lodging, dining and shopping. See a list of upcoming events here. Please send submissions to info@northfieldchamber.com by Friday, April 20th.

This listing will be promoted through the Northfield CVB’s website at no cost to participants.

The League of Minnesota Cities (LMC) met with people from Northfield and across the state to look at the future of Minnesota cities.   People shared their preferences, ideas and concerns about what city services and funding should look like. This is an opportunity for you to hear what our friends and neighbors had to say about this important topic, weigh-in on what was learned, and give input on the issues affecting our city.

The meeting will be held at the NCRC at 7pm on April 19th.  Space is limited – please RSVP directly todreeder@lmc.org or 651-215-4031. 

You can check them out (literally) at the Northfield Public Library!

The Friends of the Library are celebrating National Library Week by rolling out their newest donation to library users. Nook Color e-reader’s loaded with popular titles are now available to check out, just like a regular book, for 3 weeks. Four readers are currently available with 4 more in process. Nook 1 & 2 are loaded with Bestsellers, Nook 3 contains Mysteries, and Nook 4 has new, Non-Fiction titles.

Want to see what titles are available? Type “Northfield Nook” in the search box of our online catalog: www.northfield.mn.info. Interested in taking home a Nook?  You’ll need a library card, a photo ID, and be 18 years of age or older.

In theater this weekend, the Paradise Center for the Arts has performances of The Last 5 Years and the Northfield Arts Guild Theater is hosting Paper Daddy. Performances are Friday and Saturday at 7:30pm and Sunday at 2pm.

Also on Friday is a full lineup of great music. The Cannon River Winery is hosting Michael Loonan 5-8pm. Ellen Fullman is concluding her feature at the Flaten Art Museum with a performance at 7pm. Bonnie and the Clydes are playing the Tavern Lounge 8-11:30pm and the Rueb is hosting a special Twin Cities Showcase featuring Brianna Lane, Martin Devaney, and The Mad Ripple. Alluvion is playing the Cow 11pm-1am.

Saturday's monthly AAUW program at 11:30am features Dr. Jane Nofer Poskanzer and is at the Northfield Golf Club. Cannon River Winery is hosting David Severson 1-4pm and later a relaxing (and sold out) Wine and Yoga event 6-8pm. The Healthfinders Collaborative 10th Anniversary Gala is happening at 6pm at the Vintage Ballroom in Faribault. Ole and Lena Joke Night is happening at the Grand this year 7-10pm. There will be a talk titled "Nightmarish Havoc - Israeli-Palestinian Conflict" at 7pm in Tomson 280 at St. Olaf. Midnight Collision is playing the Tavern Lounge 8-11:30pm, and the Cow is hosting Brothers Burn Mountain 9-11pm.