Downtown

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.

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. 

Friends of the Northfield Public Library and library staff volunteered on Saturday, June 1, to spruce up the grounds around the library.  Armed with rakes and pruners they weeded, pruned, deadheaded, swept, raked and generally cleaned up the lawn and gardens surrounding the library.

The Friends support the library and its programs and services in many ways.  Cleaning up the grounds in June and again in August is another form of support, this one using elbow grease.  Our new Director of Library and Information Technology Services Teresa Jensen joined the Friends for the morning.  Being still relatively new to town, she was impressed with the steady traffic of library users including children, youth, adults, and even a film crew using the library's reading room as a backdrop for a documentary. 

The Northfield Downtown Development Corporation (NDDC) is proud to present the 8th Annual Taste of Northfield, Thursday, May 30th, from 5:00 to 10:00 p.m.

This year the event will be in and around Bridge Square, including the Sesquicentennial Legacy Plaza along the Cannon River.  Featuring delicious food and beverages, a beer and wine garden, and live entertainment, the Taste of Northfield promises fun for everyone.

The event takes place rain or shine. Along with tasty treats being served up by a baker’s dozen of local food vendors and a beer and wine tent, this year’s Taste of Northfield will feature a special bank raid re-enactment by the infamous James-Younger Gang and performances by a variety of local musicians. Please visit www.nddc.org for a list of the food vendors and the entertainment schedule.

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.

Executive Director Hayes Scriven announces that the Northfield Historical Society will be hosting two events May 16. Beginning at 6 p.m. the society will honor its 2012 volunteers of the year: Ian Iverson and Barbara Rippley. During the two-hour event the public also will have the opportunity to tour the collection storage rooms of the newly named Joan Olson Research Center.

Running a restaurant is hard work. Fortunately, Northfield has had a long history of places to eat meals carefully prepared and served by people of vision, energy, creativity and determination. Many of these places, in addition to providing food, serve as gathering spots, adding to the character of the community. Some have had short lives, while others have been in business for decades.

The current Northfield Historical Society exhibit provides a glimpse of the long history of eating-places in our town.  NHS Director Hayes Scriven says the exhibit features those places still open and which have been in business the longest.  Others, including some that have passed into history, are also documented. The exhibit will be on display through the summer.

Northfield Rails will be held this Thursday, May 9, from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the Northfield Historical Society, 408 Division St., as the kick-off to several spring and summer fundraising events for Save the Northfield Depot. Chip DeMann will be the keynote speaker, sharing some of the lesser known background about Northfielders and others who were key in the development and growth of the railroads in Northfield.

Historical images and photos about Northfield railroads will be on display.  Save the Northfield Depot will also provide a progress report on the overall project to save, rehabilitate and reuse the 1888 depot. The public is invited and encouraged to join others who share an interest in the history of Northfield, railroads, the Northfield depot, and the progress and future fundraising events of Save the Northfield Depot.

The Northfield Skateboard Coalition has received the Healthy Community Initiative’s “Making a Difference” Award for March/April 2013. The award celebrates those groups and individuals in the community who have a positive influence on Northfield youth.

Rob Hardy, an adult adviser to the group, and filmmaker Cecilia Cornejo nominated the coalition members for the award, citing the dedication and resolve the youth demonstrated throughout the lengthy civic process of working to bring a permanent skate park to Northfield.

“There have been times when the adults have gotten frustrated, angry, or rude, and the kids have never done that. They’ve been models of good behavior and civility,” Hardy said.

Northfield citizens will look back thirty years to the early 1980’s expansion of Northfield’s Carnegie Public Library building.  The program will begin with a 15 minute power point presentation by local library historian Bruce Colwell (author of the booklet Everlasting Influences: The Centennial History of the Northfield Carnegie Public Library 1910-2010 and the pamphlet A Century of Service: the Northfield Public Library, 1898-1998, Northfield Public Library) providing an historical overview of the library expansion discussions in the early 1980’s. The discussion will conclude with Northfield citizens Eve Webster; former library board member and Robert Bonner; Friends of the Library officer,  who participated in those early 1980’s community conversations.

Have you heard this one? Ole and Sven are out deer hunting. Ole bags a buck. After they dress the deer and tag it, they grab it by its hind legs and start dragging it through the woods back to the car. A game warden happens on the pair and, after checking their tags and admiring the buck, tells them that they are dragging the deer out all wrong. By dragging it by the rear legs, the snow, leaves and dirt are getting caught by the animals fur, and the horns are getting all tangled in the brush. The warden suggests that they drag it by the front legs. They agree to try it and much to their surprise, it is much easier dragging the deer this way. After a half hour of this Sven turns to Ole and says, “Boy dat game warden was right, it sure is easier dragging de deer dis way, but ya know, we are getting further away from de car.”

Tuesday, March 26 12-2 pm

STORIGAMI Learn origami skills by listening to stories. For school age beginners! This is an easy, painless way to learn the basics of origami. For school age kids 6 and up.

Wednesday, March 27 12-2 pm

OPEN LEGO TIME! Come create something with the library’s Legos! Or use this time  and Legos to create an entry in the LEGO CONTEST on Thursday!  For school age kids 6 and up.

Thursday, March 28, 12-2 pm

OPEN LEGO TIME! Come create something with the library’s Legos! Or use this time and Legos to create an entry in the LEGO CONTEST at 2!

Library Creative Lego Contest! 2 pm. 2:30 VOTING BEGINS. RESULTS@ 3 pm. Cash prizes! (Donated by the Friends & Foundation of the Library!)

The Northfield Public Library is pleased to host a reading by local author and Carleton professor Gregory Blake Smith, as part of the Minnesota Book Awards Author tour, presented by Selco (Southeastern Libraries Cooperating).  The talk will be on Thursday, April 11 at 7:00 p.m. in the Northfield Public Library meeting room.   Greg Smith won a Minnesota Book Award for the novel  and short story category in 2012 for his book The Law of Miracles.  He has written three novels, The Devil in the Dooryard, The Divine Comedy of John Venner, which was named a Notable Book of the Year by the New York Times, and The Madonna of Los Vegas. His short fiction has appeared in various literary journals, including The Kenyon Review, the Antioch Review, and StoryQuarterly.

The Defeat of Jesse James Days Committee announces the  2013 board members. Wayne Eddy serves as chairman, and the newly elected members are:  Hayes Scriven, General Chairman; Deb Anthony, Treasurer;, Margaret Haugen, Secretary; Danny Ayotte, Director; Mel Miller, Director and T. J. Heinricy, Director.

This year’s events are planned for September 5th-8th. After the Minneapolis Aquatennial and St. Paul Winter Carnival, the Defeat of Jesse James celebration is largest volunteer celebration in the state.  It is also the largest all volunteer in Minnesota and is always looking for new volunteers. If interested and for more information about DJJD, go to: http://www.djjd.org/ 

Northfield Historical Society Director Hayes Scriven announces that on March 14th at 6:00 p.m. the society will continue the series on the Civil War as part of the sesquicentennial  observance of the that important period our history.  There will be a presentation by Civil War enthusiast and amateur historian Jim Stark entitled, Murfreesboro to Chancellorsville. Following the horrific defeat at Fredricksburg, Lincoln was facing new pressure from both his own Republican Party and the Peace Democrats.  Within his own party and cabinet political intrigue was at work while the Democrats began to push for a peaceful solution to the war.  Lincoln also faced a near mutiny within the Army of the Potomac and General Burnside’s leadership came into question from many fronts. Both England and France questioned if the union could be held together as one nation.  Early 1863 would challenge Lincoln’s leadership on all fronts.