The Northfield Poet Laureate invites writers to submit poetry or prose to Writers Night: Cultivate Your Garden, which will be held on Thursday, April 27, at 7pm, in the Northfield Public Library.

How do you “cultivate your garden”? Do you work to make the world or your community a better place? Do you practice self-care? Do you cultivate your own talents, interests, or hobbies? Do you care for your family and friends? Are you an actual gardener? Interpret the theme as broadly or narrowly as you wish.

Writers are invited to submit up to three poems (no more than three pages) or up to 750 words of prose. Please email your submission in a single Word (.doc or .docx) file, or in the text of an email. Include your name on the submission; it will be removed for blind judging. If you are a student, please include your age and grade.

Submission period: March 1-31, 2017

Steve Kelly, Professor Emeritus of Music from Carleton College, will present a program on jazz age culture of the 1920s as told by New Yorker columnist Lois Long on Monday March 6 at 7:00 p.m. at the Northfield Public Library.  Writing under the name "Lipstick", she produced over one hundred columns, which provided a richly textured description of the entertainment and social world of the Roaring Twenties.  Kelly examines "Lipstick's" columns and attempts to place them in the wider history of "jazz age" culture.  This program is free and open to the public.  For more information please call the library at 507-645-6606.

Northfield Reads is a community initiative to encourage people from across the Northfield area to come together to talk, share ideas, connect, and to open themselves to diverse perspectives.  The hope is that through shared readings and conversations, we will create more and broader connections and understandings within the community.  This year, Northfield Reads is focusing on mental illness, with a goal of destigmatizing mental illness.  We will discuss the book Unholy Ghost: writers on depression edited by Nell Casey.  The book will be a springboard for discussions.  Participants need not read the entire book, but by reading several selections, they will be prepared to discuss the book and topic.  Mental illness is very prevalent in our society.  Most people have either experienced a mental illness themselves or have a family member or friend who suffers from mental illness.  The goals of

Northfield - On February 21, 2017, the Northfield City Council approved the 2017 City Council Meeting schedule and 6pm as the new start time for meetings effective March 7, 2017. 

 Parkinson’s Support Group meets February 22

The Northfield Parkinson’s Support Group will meet on Wednesday, February 22 at Northfield Hospital. Individuals who have Parkinson’s, or those with a loved one who has Parkinson’s, are invited to attend. 

Northfield Parkinson’s Support Group

Wednesday, February 22

2:00 - 3:30 pm

Northfield Hospital, Conference Center

2000 North Avenue

Guest speakerNancy Haight of the Northfield Hospital Pharmacy department will give an overview of FDA-approved Parkinson’s medications: how to take them, possible side effects, and drug interactions.

Northfield's Arts & Culture Commission reminds local poets of the February 28th Sidewalk Poetry Contest submission deadline (8 pm at the Northfield Library). Contestants must reside in the Northfield School District or be enrolled in a Northfield school (including the colleges).  Important contest rules—including maximum length and width—can be found on the Arts and Culture Commission page of the City of Northfield website or on the attached brochure. En Español. 

This is the seventh year of the contest and the Commission is looking forward to another significant response from local poets of all ages.  Of the fifty-five poems selected over the first six years of the contest, over 200 impressions appear in concrete in downtown and neighborhood locations. Previous winners have included poets of all levels of experience and a wide range of ages.  The selections are made through a blind judging process, in that the judges have no identifying information regarding the poets.  Let this be the year you enter the contest!   Encourage your friends and family members to participate!  Winners will be announced at the start of National Poetry Month in April.  

The Northfield Public Library is hosting a community scanning event from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 25, 2017. In partnership with the Minnesota Digital Library and the Northfield Historical Society, the Northfield Library encourages people to bring materials of historical interest to be scanned.  Acceptable items include photos, letter sized documents, photographic slides or negatives and even 3D objects no bigger than a basketball.  Event staff will gather information about the materials and use high quality digital scanners to scan the materials.  Participants will receive digital copies.  Digital copies can be offered, if desired, to the Northfield Historical Society for inclusion in the Northfield History Collaborative, an online digital repository of Northfield History.  Scanning is free but may be limited to 3-5 items per person.  Please note that if you have items related especially to Northfield and/or Northfield and WWI please bring those as the Northfield Historical Society prepares for the centennial of WWI in 2017-2018. 

Sara Ring from Minitex will give a special presentation at 11:00-11:45 a.m. on preserving your digital memories.  Digital family photographs, home movies and other digital content have deep personal value and if lost, are irreplaceable.  Learn more about practical steps you can take now to organize, protect, and preserve your digital memories for future generations. 

Events are free and open to the public.  If you have any questions call the library at 507-645-6606.

Northfield Healthy Community Initiative (HCI) recently recognized Chris Matek and Brian Kramer, advisors of Northfield Public Safety Explorer Post 3300, with the January 2017 “Making a Difference” Award.

The award is given out to community members or organizations that help to make Northfield an even better place for young people.

The Northfield Public Safety Explorer Post is dedicated to providing youth (ages 14 to 20) with training and information about the public safety career fields of Emergency Medical Service (EMS), Law Enforcement and Fire Fighting. This post is the first in the state to combine all three emergency service disciplines into one program.

Come enjoy music at the Northfield Public Library at noon on Feb. 3, 10, 17 and 24 in the new library atrium!

Feb. 3 - Greg Smith - Guitar

Feb. 10 - Elinor Niemisto - Harp

Feb. 17 - Randy Ferguson - Classical guitar, flamenco guitar and ukulele

Feb. 24 - Andrea Een - Hardanger fiddle

Questions? Call the library at 507-645-6606.

Content Bookstore and the Northfield Poet Laureate invite you to a poetry reading by Kathleen Roberts (Carleton '12) on Thursday, February 2, starting at 7pm. The reading is part of the Poetry Night series at Content.

Kathleen graduated from Carleton and went on to become the literary director of the Prøve Collective (a contemporary gallery and artists' collective in Duluth), the founding editor of Prøof Magazine, and a board member of the Duluth-based Spirit Lake Poetry Series.

Adults are discovering coloring as a way to relax, de-stress and tap into their creativity.  The Northfield Public Library will offer a cozy space (upstairs) and fun coloring supplies for adults and teens (16 and up) on Sundays in February beginning February 5 from 2-4 pm.  Coloring books, pencils and gel pens will be provided but feel free to bring your own supplies.  Questions? Call the library at 507-645-6606. 

     Come to the Northfield Public Library on Thursday, January 26, at 7:00 pm and hear Taha Muhammad talk about his experience coming to the United States after escaping Iraq, and read from his book We Survived Iraq and Turkey; Long Road to Freedom.  His book provides a compelling account of one family's quest for freedom, escaping the brutal Saddam Hussein regime and the search for a better life in America.  The recounts Taha Muhammad's early life in Kirkuk, Iraq, and his experience in leading his wife and four sons through treacherous mountain country into Turkey, where the family encountered more oppression and discrimination at the hands of Turkish military and security forces.  After surviving several life threatening events, and moving from one refugee camp to another, the family finally reached a U.S.