Events

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.

Carleton College’s Center for Community and Civic Engagement (CCCE) will host the annual Empty Bowls fundraiser on Friday, May 17 on the campus Bald Spot at 11:50 a.m., following the weekly convocation address. This popular event is open to the public.

At their April 2013 board meeting, the Northfield Healthy Community Initiative (HCI) Board approved grants to support four projects and activities designed to benefit Northfield youth and 11 Service Learning projects designed by Arcadia middle school students.  The projects are all funded through HCI’s Investing in Youth grant program.

Funded projects included:

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.

Get your tickets now for downtown Northfield’s 7th Annual Girls Nite Out, coming up Friday, May 10. 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 and advance tickets can be purchased at KYMN Radio, at participating retailers, and online at www.thegrandnorthfield.com.

The Northfield Hockey Association invites the community to attend our 17th Annual NHA Golf Open which will be held on Thursday, May 16, 2013 at the Northfield Golf Club. This event is a celebration of the organization and the youth and families involved. Over 200 Northfield-area youth, ages 4 – 15, participate in youth hockey through the NHA, and funds raised at this event support their efforts. Our youth and their families are grateful for the generous support they have received from area businesses and individuals.

This year’s event will be an 18-hole scramble with lunch, dinner, games and prizes, silent auction, raffles, and children’s activities.

Registration and lunch will begin at 11:30 a.m. with golf starting at 1 p.m. Stay for the evening and participate in children's activities, social hour, dinner & awards.

Rice County is very fortunate to be able to host a facilitator training for the “Strengthening Families: For Parents and Youth Ages 10-14” program.  The training will be June 11-13, 2013, at St. Olaf College.  It will be led by Dr. Virginia Molgaard, the program’s developer.

Strengthening Families is an evidence-based program recognized by the U.S. Department of Education, the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, and the National Institute on Drug Abuse.  In independent research, it has been shown to dramatically decrease substance use and abuse, reduce aggression, and strengthen academic success in teens.

Click HERE for the registration form.  CEUs are available.

The registration deadline is May 15, 2013.

The training is sponsored by the St. Olaf Social Work & Family Studies Department and the Rice County Chemical Health Coalition.

Ela Gandhi, a renowned peace activist and recipient of numerous awards for her work in promoting nonviolent political change, will appear at Carleton College on Wednesday, May 8 at 7:30 p.m. in the Concert Hall. Entitled “The Challenges Facing Post-Apartheid South Africa,” Gandhi’s presentation is free and open to the public.

Ela Gandhi is the granddaughter of Mahatma Gandhi. She was born in Durban, South Africa in 1940 and is the youngest daughter of Manilal and Sushila Gandhi.

The Vintage Band Festival, August 1-4, will be the highlight of the summer as it welcomes re-enactment bands from across the United States and abroad to dust off their horns and old sheet music and bring music to life — in all its glory — from days gone by.

The international festival boasts 100 concerts at outdoor parks, performance stages, dining establishments and pubs in the picturesque river town of Northfield and at a multitude of concert sites in nearby communities. Find a full schedule of “living history” performances, auxiliary events and attractions, plus a sample travel itinerary for discovering more treasures in southern Minnesota, at vintagebandfestival.org.

Participating in this year’s Festival, amid the vast collection of ensembles that accentuate cultural influences, genres and period-inspired repertoires, are several Midwest historic revival bands:

DEAD AT THE SCENE!

That will be the fate of two characters in the mock car crash planned for Friday, May 3, 1 p.m. at Northfield High School. The fatalities will be two school teachers, parents of a high school senior, fictional casualties of an under-aged drinking and driving episode.

The event, called “One For the Road,” is a reality-based portrayal of a car crash and the subsequent response by first responders, emergency medical personnel and law enforcement agencies. The audience will be some 600 juniors and seniors at Northfield High School and students at the Alternative Learning Center.

According to Brian Edwards, manager of Emergency Medical Services (EMS), Northfield Hospital & Clinics and a coordinator of the event, the purpose of the exercise is to impress upon students the serious consequences of drinking and driving.

Robert H. Grubbs, the Victor and Elizabeth Atkins Professor of Chemistry at the California Institute of Technology, whose many honors include the 2005 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, will deliver the annual Carleton College Jerry and Jean Mohrig Lecture in Chemistry at on Thursday, Apr. 25. Entitled “Olefin Metathesis Catalysts for the Preparation of Molecules and Materials,” Grubbs’ presentation will take place at 7:30 p.m. in Room 149 of Olin Hall, and is free and open to the public.

Carleton College’s Department of Latin American Studies is preparing for 2013’s installment of the Foro Latinoamericano, a series of events focusing on a single issue related to Latin America. This year’s Foro, entitled “Hugo Chávez’s Venezuela and Beyond,” takes place on Friday, Apr. 26 and Saturday, Apr. 27. The series will focus on the rule of former Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez and on Venezuela’s prospects in the wake of his death in March 2013. All Foro events will take place in the Gould Library Athenaeum and are free and open to the public; events that include lunch or dinner receptions will be reserved for affiliates of the Department of Latin American Studies.

While spring has yet to really arrive in Northfield, the Friends of Way Park are hoping the weather will improve in time for an exciting event planned for Sunday, May 5 in Northfield’s Way Park.

Together with the National Recreation and Park Association (NRPA) and PBS stations across the country, FWP is helping to promote PBS KIDS Explore the Outdoors. The program encourages children and families to get outdoors and spend more time at their local park.

Education policy expert Emily Schultz, Carleton Class of 2005, will present Carleton College’s weekly convocation on Friday, Apr. 26. Convocation is held from 10:50-11:50 a.m. in the Skinner Memorial Chapel, and it is free and open to the public. Convocations are also streamed live and can be viewed online at go.carleton.edu/convo/.

Harry McKinley Williams, the Laird Bell Professor of History at Carleton College, will deliver a multimedia retrospective chronicling his recent ten-month Fulbright Lectureship in China on Tuesday, Apr. 23. Williams’ presentation, entitled “10x6: Snapshots of a Fulbrighter’s Sojourn in the People’s Republic of China,” will feature ten selected samples of the tens of thousands of photographs he took during his time in China. This special evening begins with a Chinese green tea and cookies reception at 6:30 p.m., followed by Williams’ presentation at 7 p.m. in the Weitz Center for Creativity Cinema. This event is free and open to the public.