Locally Grown

With the American in Bloom judges come to town next week, the Northfield Garden Club has decided to quadruple the size of its flower garden on Bridge Square, adjacent to the Ames Mill dam.

Yesterday morning, they brought in the heavy equipment.

“We decided we needed an edge,” said club president Trudy Coade. “A monster flower garden, installed at the last minute, should be impressive to the judges.”

When informed of this development, Spence Jonas, a member of the City of Northfield Park & Recreation Advisory Board (PRAB), was not pleased. “Bridge Square is a city park, so this should have gone through the PRAB for approval. Downtown residents, especially those living on Bridge Square, should also have been consulted.”

Bardwell deMalicenon, downtown resident and building owner, agreed. “More flower gardens tend to attract more citizens who just loiter more in what is essentially my front yard.  The city should be enforcing its loitering ordinance, not allowing fringe groups like the Garden Club to undermine it.”

Coade also wanted to convert the Council chambers to a flower garden hothouse but “the CIP Nazis wouldn’t let us get on their list at this late date.”

After having his A Play A Day & Lysteria blog featured in the January 2008 “Best of the Twin Cities” edition of Minneapolis/St. Paul Magazine (The best blogs by locals–from near and far),  Brendon Etter, textbook manager of the Carleton Bookstore, earlier this week announced his candidacy for Mayor in a comment here on Locally Grown.

He now has a Brendon for Mayor web site. See how this grass roots campaign has become a juggernaut by reviewing these recent blog posts:

• Brendon Etter Bestows New Campaign Slogans Upon Northfield  
• Brendon Etter Announces His First Lawsuit against the City of Northfield  
• Brendon Etter Releases Schedule for Future Successes, Failures of Mayoral Campaign  
• Brendon Etter for Mayor Website Webbed! Plus More Slogans!  
• Brendon Etter Unsuspends His Mayoral Campaign  
• Brendon Etter Suspends His Mayoral Campaign 
• Brendon Etter Is Running for Mayor of Northfield

Tracy and Griff, widely recognized throughout the community for having too much time on their hands, have been whiling away the hours letting the world know about their coffee consumption, personal errands, and bathroom habits, using a “must-have” technology known as Twitter. Alas, with RepJ Star Bonnie Obremski in town for less than a week, they’ve already dragged her into this slough of respond.

In yesterday’s podcast, my too old for snowboards colleagues talked about using Twitter to “twit” each other. At the risk of suggesting that all I ever learned was from Monty Python, I must say that my definition of twit is somewhat less than positive.

Tracy, Griff, and Bonnie (while there is still time), perhaps you should do a little research about twits. Hopefully, you will be sufficiently motivated to trade your twitter for a saxophone.

Taking a page from the Defeat of Jesse James Days committee’s marketing plan, I figured I’d just take my promotional efforts on the road with me. Here I am with my JuneBug t-shirt at the Winnipeg Folk Festival.

When I spoke to some Canadian music lovers about JuneBug, I realized there’s a bit of work to be done. “Northfield, is that east of Crookston?” Well, yes, east of Crookston, and south of the Twin Cities. “South of the Twin Cities, you drove that far?”

The Canadians are always so nice, except maybe on a hockey rink, and the Festival is always so enjoyable, though maybe a little less so in the rain. It was well worth the drive.

Maybe not my absolute first favorite for music but without question my biggest cultural thrill was watching David Grisman perform with his Bluegrass Experience while standing next to none other than Spider John Koerner. Mr. Koerner was dressed more appropriately for the weather with his bright yellow Souwester.

He is, after all, a more experienced bluesman.

The Northfield Garden Club held a lemonade and cookies party yesterday morning in Riverside Park for residents of Millstream Commons. In another sign of how the recession is hitting all aspects of life in Northfield, however, there were not enough cookies for all the residents who showed up. Club members quickly improvised and substituted cookie-like rocks on the plates of several residents. “We knew we might run short because of the skyrocketing cost of cookie dough but we thought that those residents with failing eyesight and marginal tastebuds might not notice the substitutions,” said club member Millie Whirlland. 

Residents who got the rocks on their plates instead of the cookies saw through the scheme, however. “I’m used to eating cookies that taste like crap,” said Lynn Seebeck. “My children and grandchildren bring me their month-old cast-off cookies all the time. But these were over-the-top bad. Who do they take us for?”

See the album of a baker’s dozen photos or this slideshow:

While visiting the bathroom at the Northfield Public Library last week, I noticed literacy signs and stickers scattered about.

Left: the use of car stickers with engaging signs
Center: urinal target practice. Hit that Early Literacy Spot!
Right: bladder control tactics. Red=stop. Green=go. Yellow=wait.

Susan Hvistendahl alerted me last night with this email:

Just saw Jay Leno holding up a headline from Northfield, Mn., which was “Northfield plans to plan strategic plan.”

I wondered if it was my blog post title from Feb: A plan to improve the planning for the Capital Improvement Plan.

Might those Planning Commissioner colleagues of mine, Ross and Tracy, know about this?

Anyone know where to find a videoclip of Monday’s show?

5pm update: The episode is currently available here. The segment is at the 11:50 mark. Here are two screencaptures (click to enlarge):

It appears to be from a late 90s edition of the Northfield News.

Okeh, this post has nothing to do with the lecture that I got from my Locally Grown cohorts yesterday at the Cow for being a little too quiet lately. This is all about Griff.

Apparently he’s having surgery today. I can’t remember what it’s all about, maybe breast augmentation for a new wardrobe of sleazewear or something along those lines.

Whatever he’s having cut, stapled, or enhanced, there’s a real fear among the local media mavens that he won’t be able to do his usual coverage of the 4th of July Celebration. Therefore, we need all active and potential citizen journalists to step up to the plate and take a swing at capturing this important community event on film…or, uh, I guess…pixels.

There will be a lot of photo opportunities. There’s a Flea Market in Ames Park at 9 am, Vintage Baseball in Old Main Field at St. Olaf at 1 pm, a Yankee Doodle Kiddie Parade along Division Street at 1 pm, the Northfield Knights and Dundas Dukes in Sechler Park at 2 pm, a Presentation of the Colors at 7:30 pm and, thanks to Dan Freeman and the rest of the community, Fireworks at Dusk. From 1:30 to 9:30 pm, or most of the day, there will be all sorts of entertaining performances on the Showmobile in Bridge Square.

So join the fun on the 4th. And help Griff save Northfield.

The First National Bank of Northfield’s drive-up facility at 529 Division has a new paint job to go along with their new sign/logo/corporate makeover at the hands of Dave Neuger and staff at Neuger Communications Group.

You can compare this new drive-up look to the old look by looking at our Sept. 7, 2007 blog post when the Northfield Historical Society (NHS) filed a protest against the bank.

The rift has been healed, I’m happy to report. An agreement was reached for the bank to keep the historically-valuable previous photo of the drive-up facility on the bank’s locations web page until Dave Shumway retires. I checked this afternoon and the bank is keeping its word thus far.

As a blogger bound by a code of ethics, I’m not at liberty to identify the men in this photo.

However, according to my sources, the babes accompanying them are named Suzette and Michelle, so marginally clueless readers might be able to figure it out.

And while researching this story, I was reminded of the difference in the clothing worn by plainclothes officers vs. undercover officers.

Regardless, somebody puuuuhlease buy those guys makeover gift certificates at Rare Pair.

Griff just called me on the phone. He was racing down the highway in response to a Fluff Alert. I told him to slow down and I’d step up to the plate.

Here’s my swing at some fluff. US Senate candidate Al Franken (and SNL alum) was hanging at Goodbye Blue Monday this (Thursday) afternoon.

Yo Griff, if Tina Fey shows up in Downtown Northfield to campaign for Al, please give me another call.

Update 5:45 pm: More photos, submitted by Jane McWilliams, who wrote:

Ross, I caught Franken in conversations about the schools, Hager for mayor, and health care before he and his entourage walked over to The Sketchy Artist where, when I left, he was doing a sketchy candidate bit. (I couldn’t get close, but I think he was drawing blue states.) His aide said they were going next to OoLaLa and Rare Pair: Franken wanted to visit local businesses run by women! All that in beautiful downtown Northfield.

Update 9:30 PM by Griff: Robbie and I stopped by The Sketchy Artist to buy a sympathy card tonight and store owner April Ripka was nowhere to be found. However…

April’s mom, Linda Ripka and sister, Sarah Ripka were tending the store, and were quite happy to display the drawing of the United States sketched earlier in the day by Al Franken.

In keeping with the Locally-Grown-as-Gossip-Blog theme:

A friend who moved to Silicon Valley [from New York] in the late 90s said the worst thing about living there was the low quality of the eavesdropping. At the time I thought she was being deliberately eccentric. Sure, it can be interesting to eavesdrop on people, but is good quality eavesdropping so important that it would affect where you chose to live? Now I understand what she meant. The conversations you overhear tell you what sort of people you’re among.

(Actually, this is from an excellent and insightful article about the personality of certain cities, and how they affect the people who live there. But being small-minded, my excerpt of the article does not reflect the greater thoughts therein. I encourage you to take the hyperlink side trip and read the whole article.)

I always find that coffee at the Goodbye Blue Monday or lunch at Chapati are great resources for quality eavesdropping, due in part to the fact that both places attract college students and out-of-towners passing through. If anyone else has great snippets of overheard conversations they’d like to share, please comment here.

I’m all ears.

The AP has this story posted this aft: Gasoline prices hit national average of $4 for the first time, expected to go higher.

Rather than a straw poll, let’s have a contest for guessing the day that a gallon of regular gas hits $4 right here in river city.

Attach a comment with the date of your guess. Use the format of month/day, eg: June 8.

Contest closes at 6:15 am on Tuesday, June. 10, which is about the time that I boot up my computer at a local coffeeshop. Only one entry per person, please. You may guess the same day as someone else.

Winner(s) will have their name and photo blogged on LG and mentioned on our podcast.  If you’re cute a nice person, I might invite you to coffee.

Blogger Bruce Morlan sent us this:

Beautiful Ytterboe Memorial Dog Park (at left) is now open in the bucolic village of Dundas. Just south of the bobo-infested town of Northfield, Ytterboe Park takes its name from the beloved one-time informal mascot of St. Olaf College who was gunned down during the unpleasantries of the spring of 1957, when the terrorized students at St Olaf found themselves in open street rebellion over an incident in which Ytterboe was hunted down and killed after he had allegedly bitten a small boy.

The beautiful park lies next to the wetlands that drain and filter street runoff before it reaches the Cannon River. Long and sculptured, the park features three large trees near the entrance (critical for a successful dog park) and a two-level grass scheme that provides a clear run but also leaves lots of luxurious long grasses for pretend bird hunting and real tick gathering. Dogs can romp the full length of the park, and an “airlock” like gated entrance permits easy and safe entrance to this beautiful addition to the amenities in Dundas.

The sign on the gate memorializes the park’s namesake, reminding us of Ytterboe’s short but beloved life (facts gleaned from a recent documentary filmed on the St. Olaf campus):

Ytterboe Memorial Park.
19 Oct 1951 - 24 May 1957.
Born out-of-wedlock in Dundas,
beloved mascot of St Olaf
students until his untimely death
at the hands of the NPD in 1957.

Directly across from a promising new business park (left, with an attractive sign just waiting for a business), the dog park is convenient to the Dundas Post Office (motto: “seldom a line“) and varied shopping opportunities. Simply drop off a dog (with a human guardian), and the rest of the family can load up on necessities, then swing by later and pick up the now exhausted dog and dog watcher, and enjoy the rest of the day with the dog resting quietly, its excess energy (but nothing else, please pick up after your friends) left behind in this attractive grassy park in Dundas.

Quick, while Griff and Tracy are looking the other way…

…I’ll do a post that has nothing to do with Northfield.

Boston Red Sox Left Fielder Manny Ramirez hit his five hundredth home run last night. He joins a very exclusive club in major league baseball.

As some of you know, I went to high school in Wellesley, Massachusetts. I still feel the pain of the 1975 World Series.

I’ve been a Twin Fan since 1981, so I haven’t followed the Red Sox quite so closely in recent years. However, I’ve always admired Manny. He may march to his own drummer, but the guy has always worked hard to achieve his goals. That’s something I respect in anyone.

So, here’s to Manny…

…and may the Twins take today’s game from them Damn Yankees.

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