Events

Saturday, April 20 Is Earth Day 2013 and will be celebrated here in Northfield with a variety of events, including a Friday evening contradance at Carleton's West Gym, and on Saturday,  a rain barrel workshop, tree planting, and a showing the the documentary movie "Bidder 70." These and many more events are cosponsored by over a dozen local organizations.  To see a schedule of events and their locations, go to:  http://transitionnorthfield.org/earthday/ or contact:  northfieldearthday@gmail.com. or call 651-208-8301.

Arcadia Charter School Presents The Laramie Project by Moises Kaufman and Members of the Tectonic Theater Project

Friday and Saturday, May 3, 4, 10, 11, 7:30 PM

Arcadia Charter School (formerly ARTech), 1719 Cannon Road, Northfield

Tickets: $6 Adults, $4 Students. For ticket information call 663-8806.

At their February and March 2013 board meetings, the Northfield Healthy Community Initiative (HCI) Board approved grants to support eight projects and activities designed to benefit Northfield youth.  The projects are funded through HCI’s Investing in Youth grant program.

Funded projects included:

Grab your binoculars and come to River Bend Nature Center on Saturday, April 13th from 1:00-2:30 p.m. for a bird walk!

Seven of Minnesota's nine species of woodpeckers can be found at River Bend. At this public program you'll find out more about this interesting group of birds. The program will start inside, discussing identification, calls/sounds, and basic life history. Then we will head outside to look for woodpeckers and signs they have made.

This program is geared for adult audiences, but all ages are welcome.  The program is free for members, $2.00 for non-members. River Bend is located at 1000 Rustad Road in Faribault. Questions? Call 507/332-7151

Zalmay Khalilzad, a foreign policy expert and former diplomat who has served as the ambassador of the United States to Afghanistan, Iraq and the United Nations, will deliver Carleton College’s convocation address on Friday, Apr. 12. Khalilzad’s address, entitled “U.S. Global Leadership,” will take a worldwide look at the challenges faced by the U.S. in the world, their implications for the American people and what effective American strategy in the future could look like. 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/.

A SPECIAL “K” EVENT! The transition into Kindergarten can be difficult for children and their caregivers, this event aimed to help make the process go smoother. All incoming Kindergarten students and a parent!  You are invited to the school your child will attend Kindergarten: Sibley,  Bridgewater or Greenvale!

Due to the crazy, late snow storm the new date is Tuesday, April 30 from 6:30-7:30 p.m. 

You will be able to do an activity in a classroom, take a school tour and learn about bus safety. School district staff and community early childhood professionals will be there to help you and your child transition into Kindergarten . Each child will get to take home a book. 

Sponsored by the Northfield Early Childhood Initiative Coalition, the Northfield Public Schools and SMIF.

Please call 507.645.1232 or email Sara.Line@nfld.k12.mn.us with questions. 

Carleton College will host “5K for Hope,” a fun run/walk on Saturday, May 11 through the Carleton Cowling Arboretum with proceeds to benefit The Hope Center, whose mission is to create zero tolerance for sexual and domestic violence through Healing, Outreach, Prevention and Education. The Hope Center is located in Faribault MN and serves all of Rice County. The 5K for Hope is open to all!

Participants can register online at: https://apps.carleton.edu/campus/gsc/signup/5kforhope/.

April is National Poetry Month and in its honor Northfield is taking part in “Poem in Your Pocket” Day on April 18.  This project was launched in 2008 by the American Academy of Poets as a simple means of giving away printed poems to anyone who would like one.

Poems will be available at eight local businesses (the Northfield Public Library; the Northfield Arts Guild; Monkey See, Monkey Read Book Store; the James Gang Coffee House; Goodbye, Blue Monday; Bittersweet Eatery; the Hideaway; and Quality Bakery).  Just look for a red box with the “Poem in Your Pocket” sign and choose from among dozens of poems

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.

The City of Northfield is offering two informational meetings in regard to a new Veteran’s Park Neighborhood Revitalization Program on Tuesday, April 2 at City Hall. The first meeting will be held at 10 a.m. and another at 6:30 p.m. The Northfield Housing and Redevelopment Authority (HRA) in cooperation with Three Rivers Community Action has made funding available for the purpose of improving house exteriors and/or garages, energy efficiency improvements and to address health and safety concerns in the neighborhood.
 

K. David Harrison, a professor of linguistics at Swarthmore College and a leading authority on dying and little-documented languages, will present Carleton College’s first weekly convocation of the spring term on Friday, Apr. 5. His presentation, “Endangered Languages,” will discuss his work on language death and language preservation, as well as the connection between the survival of languages and the survival of cultures. Convocation is held from 10:50-11:50 a.m. in the Skinner Memorial Chapel, and is free and open to the public. Convocations are also streamed live and can be viewed online at go.carleton.edu/convo/.

A booksigning follows Harrison’s presentation. Copies of The Last Speakers: The Quest to Save the World’s Most Endangered Languages and When Languages Die: The Extinction of the World’s Languages and the Erosion of Human Knowledge will be available for purchase at the event at a 15% discount.

Genesis: The Art of Creation, featuring the creation of a painting by Fred Somers, Northfield's own nationally acclaimed artist, 

will be shown on Thursday, April 11 at the Viking Theater, Buntrock Center, St. Olaf College. Doors open at 6:30pm and the show

starts at 7pm. The film was made by Paul Krause of Northfield. For more information visit the film's website

www.Dancingsun.biz/genesis/genesis-home.html.

The Vintage Band Festival is once again proud to present performances from a wide variety of brass bands. The British-style brass band has a rich history. Two Minnesota-based bands in this tradition will appear at the Vintage Band Festival in August -- the Lake Wobegon® Brass Band and the Sheldon Theatre Brass Band.

This band style began during Britain’s industrial era, when newly invented brass valves were being mass-produced. The resulting cultural change took “playing in a band” to a new level, inspiring challenging contests that enlivened the working communities, heightening spirits and creating a category of band music all its own. Today the North American Brass Band Association embodies this tradition passed down through the centuries, while many heritages continue to embrace British-style music throughout the world.

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!)

Carleton College’s Political Science Department will present James C. Scott, the Sterling Professor of Political Science and Anthropology at Yale, and Director of the Program in Agrarian Studies, on Monday, April 15. His lecture is entitled, “Two Cheers for Anarchism.”  It will begin at 4:30 p.m. in Leighton Hall, Room 305, and is free and open to the public.