Now is the time for CEO Dave Shumway, who knows how to screw in a light bulb one-handed at the top of a step ladder in front of handicap-access entrance/exit door, to grab his ladder and remove the graffiti that’s been on the upper level of the building since March of 2008.

Carbone’s Pizza & Sports Bar in Northfield, MN is a full-service, pizza-themed, casual dining restaurant and sports bar offering incredible gourmet pizzas, along with a wide variety of other great dishes, such as wings, ribs, burgers, pasta, sandwiches and wraps. Carbone’s Pizza & Sports Bar offers a contemporary, sit-down family dining atmosphere with a separate sports bar featuring a large outdoor patio. With close to 20 large flat screen TV’s, you can’t miss the action. The result is a fun, high-energy setting for families and sports enthusiasts alike.

Two different sources tell me that two Planning Commission members are, well, behaving badly. One, it seems, took it on him or herself to remove signs they felt were illegally placed. Come to find out, the signs were completely legal and placed in the right-of-way by city workers… The second commissioner cranked things up a few dozens notches, apparently dislodging a bench cemented into a Division Street sidewalk and moving to another location down the street.

Members of the City of Northfield Planning Commission-Zoning Board of Appeals (PC-ZBA):

• Thomas Bisel
• James Herreid
• Alice Thomas
• Steve Rholl
• Richard Schulte
• Jay Jasnoch
• Joey Robison

Um, anyone know what is going on?

“A  massive  brain  trauma  robbed  fashionable  young  Louise  of  the  shallow  currency  she’d   banked  on  all  her  life,  and  the  resulting  struggle  is  a  page?turner  in  which  a  person’s  very   soul  deepens  before  your  eyes.  Louise:  Amended rewards  a  reader’s  time-­?a  must  read.” —Mary  Karr, New York Times bestselling author of The Liars’ Club

A  beautiful  young  woman  from  Kansas  is  about  to  embark  on  the  life  of  her  dreams (California! Glossy  journalism! French boyfriend!) only  to  suffer  a  brain  bleed  that  collapses   the  right  side  of  her  body,  leaving  her  with  double  vision,  facial  paralysis,  and  a  dragging   foot.  An  unflinching,  wise,  and  darkly  funny  portrait  of  sudden  disability  and  painstaking   recovery,  the  memoir  presents  not  only  Louise’s  perspective,  but  also  the  reaction  of  her   loved  ones–we  see,  in  fictional  interludes,  what  it  must  have  been  like  for  Louise’s   boyfriend  to  bathe  her,  or  for  her  mother  to  apply  lipstick  to  her  nearly  immobile  mouth. Now,  six  years   later,  Louise  has  astounded  doctors  and  loved  ones  by  recovering  not  only  much  of  her   vision  and  mobility,  but  a  ferocious  spirit  and  enviable  grace.

At age twenty-two, Louise Krug suffered a brain bleed and underwent an emergency craniotomy that disrupted her ability to walk, see, and move half her face. Now, six years later, Louise has astounded doctors and loved ones by recovering not only much of her vision and mobility, but a ferocious spirit and enviable grace. She currently lives with her husband Nick and daughter Olive in Lawrence, Kansas, where she’s a PhD candidate and teacher.

The book is available at Monkey See Monkey Read in downtown Northfield.

See Griff’s photo album from Dylanfest ’11 and let me know if you have questions.

The Contented Cow announced today that they will once again host Dylanfest on Thursday, May 24^th at 6 pm on their outdoor Riverside Stage. More than two dozen different performers will play songs written by and associated with Bob Dylan in a celebration of his 71^st birthday, which is also the 24^th.

“We’re really looking forward to Dylanfest again this year,” said Contented Cow owner Norman Butler. “It’s going to kick off both Memorial Day Weekend and our annual Mayfly Music Festival. Dylanfest is a special event because it brings so many different people from the community together to celebrate some fantastic music. When we did this last year the response was overwhelmingly positive. So many people have asked if we planned to make it an annual event, that we really had no choice. And, of course, we’re thrilled to be doing it.”

The show will feature performers from all around Southern Minnesota, as well as the Twin Cities. “The thing that really gets me excited about the bill this year is the diversity,” says show producer Rich Larson of Left-Handed Entertainment. “We have more women playing this year, and we have more participation from the student population. There’s an all women a cappella group from Carleton called the Knightengales who will be singing. The styles that will be presented – from bluegrass to rock to electronic – are going to make this a fascinating show.”

This year, a portion of the proceeds will be donated to the Northfield youth center The Key. “There is no cover charge for the show. It’s free to attend, but there are some avenues that give us a good opportunity to help out the community,” said Larson. “We’re all big fans of The Key and what it represents. (Local artist) Nick Sinclair has designed a commemorative poster for the night. We’ll be selling limited edition prints at the show and donating the proceeds. Folks will be able to make a direct donation to The Key as well. “

Bob Dylan was born Robert Zimmerman on My 24^th, 1941 in Duluth, MN and grew up in Hibbing. His music earned him such popularity in the 1960’s that he earned the name “The Voice of a Generation.” He has won numerous awards, including multiple Grammies, a Kennedy Center honor, and a Pulitzer Prize. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1988, and just last month was named one of thirteen honorees to receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom. For more information on Dylanfest, please contact Rich Larson at rich@left-handedentertainment.com.

I’ve done four fire department/association-related blog posts since January (here, here, here, and here) as well as a three more on attorney David Hvistendahl (here, here, and here) who’s representing the fire and rescue squad associations. It’s a complex and constantly evolving issue.

So it’s really helpful to have a someone else, in this case, Northfield News reporter Suzy Rook, digging into the story, too.   And for the first time, the paper cited Locally Grown (twice) in a story:

Fire Department officials, including Fire Chief Gerry Franek, did not respond to several requests from the News for association financial records or comment. Assistant Fire Chief Tom Nelson at an April 24 City Council meeting said documents posted on the blog Locally Grown are 2010 and 2011 relief association check registers. But those registers don’t clearly state how and where monies were spent, and are likely a listing of transactions from several accounts compiled into a single document…

The association had a net revenue of $14,263 in 2011, according to a Gambling Control Board report to the Legislature. Of that, $4,110 was used for what’s termed lawful purpose expenditures. In 2010, its net receipts were $17,730. Of that, $8,354 was used for lawful expenditures. Figures provided to the state Gambling Control Board don’t match the association’s 2010 tax return, a document Assistant Fire Chief Tom Nelson says he provided Locally Grown. According to that document, the association lost $2,209 in 2010.

I appreciate that. Follow Suzy Rook on Twitter @rooksuzy.

Northfield News reporter Jordan Osterman: Northfield high school mountain bike team forming

KYMN News Morning Show host Jeff Johnson: Griff Wigley and Peter Behm on C.V. Mountain Bike Racing (blog post with streaming audio). Alternate: download/listen to MP3.  (Peter Behm is a student at ARTech.)

Northfield Patch reporter Michael Garlitz: Cannon Valley Biking Team Pedaling Toward Starting Line

One point Wigley stresses when talking about forming the team is that the activity is open to girls, as well as boys.

“The big push nationally is to get girls involved,” he said. “And, there is an incentive for having girls on your team. Points earned by girls are worth more, which helps in recruiting.

Can’t make the May 15 meeting? Area student-athletes who are interested can now fill out a form on the CVMTBT website to be kept informed on next steps on the team’s formation.

I could empathize. Last week when I blogged the flyer for the mountain bike racing team information night at the high school, I put ‘Wednesday’ instead of ‘Tuesday.’  Judy Becker, Facilities Scheduler at Community Ed, alerted me to the error.  I fixed the flyer and the blog entry and thanked her.  A few minutes later, she alerted me again. "Tuesday is the 15th, not the 17th. Are you looking at an April calendar?" Um, no, I wasn’t.  I thought I heard her say, "Well then, what are you smoking?"

For all the GNO details, see Jessica Paxton’s blog post on Northfield.org:  Don’t Miss the 6th Annual Girls Nite Out — this Friday, May 11! You can also follow Girls Nite Out on Facebook.

See my 2009, 2008, and 2007 photo albums for a bit of GNO flavor.

 
That location has been transformed since Tires Plus moved out, first by Lee Lansing and his Garden Center and now by the Holts, with a little help from a matching grant from the Streetscape Task Force.

Ben has class participants do some hands-on learning: changing a flat tire, lubing cables, and how to handle the rear derailleur to make it easy to take the rear wheel off and put it back on. Cool.

See the large slideshow of 17 photos (recommended) or this small slideshow:

I’m not sure of the connection between coffee, wine, and sealcoating but I’m sure Jim can tell you.

Last year, the Northfield Garden Club’s President – Mrs. EdDee Imm, helped the City secure a MnDOT grant for $10,000 to be used to  beautify the City.  It was determined that one of the areas that needed “help” the most was along the Hwy 3 corridor from the Cannon River to Jefferson Parkway.

EdDee approached us regarding the trees.  The City of Northfield and the Northfield Garden Club, in a cooperative effort,  purchased the 64 trees from us and we donated all of the labor and other materials used to plant the trees.  Each year we give back to the City of Northfield with  donations and this year, it is the Hwy 3 beautification project.  This donation amounted to $4,000 in labor, equipment costs and materials.

The Garden Club also has received funds to be used to cover the costs of watering these trees for two years which is a commitment under the grant.  We will be working with the Garden Club on keeping these trees well watered for the next two years!

Our crew – Jim Westlund, Todd Marnie & Ben Danielson planted these trees which consisted of Elms, Maple, Hackberry, Birch, Crabapples and Oak trees.  Once again we are very pleased to have the opportunity to give something back to the community that supports our business each and every year.

Hmmm. Is this a case of LoGro trademark infringement?

I stopped by to chat with co-owner Jim Spaulding earlier today and I asked him why others had not tried it. The ordinance has been on the books since 2008. He didn’t  know and neither do I.

See all the sidewalk dining-related blog posts going back to 2006.

While I was taking photos, another grinning proprietor announced to me that he just leased the south side, most recently occupied by Tea Creations but most often referred to as the old Bagel Bros space.

It’ll be an art gallery in the front and a tattoo parlor in the back.

If you’re downtown-savvy, I bet you can guess who the proprietor is.

Kelly Hubbard (pictured above with her mother Neva and daughter Brooklyn) will be opening Pink Posh Boutique on May 1. She’ll soon have a Facebook page up.

More background in last week’s Nfld News.

Why do I say "no bullshit" in my blog post title?

She was featured on the front page of the Strib’s Variety section last week:

• Hey, soil sister: Atina Diffley
• Portrait of author Atina Diffley
• Author Atina Diffley tells a farming tale rooted in history

and the last paragraph of the main article:

The book deserves a wide audience, Dooley said. "I pray it doesn’t get pegged to a category. This is literature. It’s every woman’s story, about land use and food but also about resilience and being yourself." And even though Diffley finally caved to using cosmetics, she’s still very much herself, Dooley said. "There couldn’t be anyone more genuine. There isn’t a lick of bullshit in her."

I guess cuss words are aok in a family newspaper if someone is quoted using them.

Atina has at least one connection to Northfield that I know of. Her kids went to Prairie Creek Community School.

You can buy her book from Jerry Bilek at Monkey See Monkey Read bookstore in downtown Northfield.

Follow Atina on Twitter and read her blog here.

I have no problem with this change on the face of it.

Currently, none of the old articles are available. Presumably—hopefully–they will be restored in some type of online archive. But just like in Feb. 2011, the URL’s for those articles will change and the old ones will evidently not redirect.  Last year, I wrote to Publisher Sam Gett:

At Locally Grown, we have linked to hundreds of your articles over the years and now, none of the those links work any longer. As you know, we drive a lot of traffic to your site. (And likewise, our discussions benefit from your content.) So it seems like you’d want to continue to maintain the old URL’s, if for no other reason than to continue generating pageviews.

I never heard back.  So I again wrote to him early last week, resending that paragraph. He said he’d look into it, but I’ve not heard back.

And this morning, if you go to NorthfieldNews.com, you don’t even get redirected to the new site. Instead, you end up at a GoDaddy.com page that says:

Want to buy this domain? Our Domain Buy Service can help you get it. This page is parked free, courtesy of GoDaddy.com

See the above screenshot. This may be a temporary situation, an oversight on someone’s part, but it’s certainly startling.

Lastly, the changeover also removed all previous usernames and comments. People are being asked to re-register.  I’ve never like the paper’s policy of allowing anonymous comments so I don’t consider this a great loss. But it’s indicative that they don’t value their readers’ comments either.

“Author of the Pulitzer Prize–winning novel Gilead, Robinson weighs in with a series of tightly developed essays, some personal but mostly more general, on the Big Themes: social fragmentation in modern America, human frailty, faith. Her project is a hard-edged liberalism, sustained by a Calvinist ethic of generosity . . . In these times of the ever-ascending religious right, in the aftermath of what she sees as the ideologically secularist-driven cold war, Robinson bravely explores the corrosive potion of ‘Christian anti-Judaism’ and what it really ought to mean to be ‘a Christian nation.’”—Publisher’s Weekly (starred review)

“The indomitable Marilynne Robinson radiates genius in her collection of essays.” —Vanity Fair

Ever since the 1981 publication of her stunning debut,Housekeeping, Marilynne Robinson has built a sterling reputation as a writer of sharp, subtly moving prose, not only as a major American novelist, but also a rigorous thinker and incisive essayist. Her compelling and demanding collection The Death of Adam—in which she reflected on her Presbyterian upbringing, investigated the roots of Midwestern abolitionism, and mounted a memorable defense of Calvinism—is respected as a classic of the genre. In When I Was a Child I Read Booksshe returns to and expands upon the themes which have preoccupied her work with renewed vigor.

Clear-eyed and forceful as ever, Robinson demonstrates once again why she is regarded as one of our essential writers.

Marilynne Robinson is the author of the novels Housekeeping(FSG, 1981), Gilead (FSG, 2004), winner of the Pulitzer Prize, and Home (FSG, 2008), and three books of nonfiction, Mother Country (FSG, 1989), The Death of Adam (1998) and Absence of Mind (2010). She teaches at the University of Iowa Writers’ Workshop.

See Ross Currier’s posts on his NDDC blog:

• Northfield to Host University of Minnesota Extension Workshop Series 
• U of M Extension Service Advises, “Leverage Bricks with Clicks”

Carbone’s Pizzeria, a chain based in Minnesota, will soon be moving into 620 River Park Mall, most recently the home of 620 Grill. (Source: Norman Butler, leaseholder of the space.) When I was in high school, Carbone’s Pizza on Randolph Ave. in the Highland Park neighborhood of St. Paul was one of my main hangouts. It’s not part of this chain, however. History here.

Their WordPress-based website looks like it’s done well. I mostly like how they’re using their blog and their Twitter feed, too.

Question #1: What are the names of Northfield’s  other pizza ‘operations?’

Question #2: What are the names of the Northfield pizza places that have closed over the years?

Question #3: What other businesses in Northfield serve pizza?

Question #4: What are the names of the other restaurants that have been at the 620 River Park Mall location?

Saturday March 31st, 2012
10:00 Bunny Crafts
10:30 Easter Egg Hunt (inside if inclement weather)

This is a free event, so please join us!!

Premier Bank
112 E 5th St
Northfield, MN 55057

Gooter’s opens today in the strip mall next to the Subway in Dundas.  According to the Feb. 28 Dundas Messenger:

Owner, Terry Gutowski, decided to expand his ‘dough to go’ operations and start a store in Dundas. The new store will be inclusive of their huge inventory of frozen dough items, including over 50 Flavors of cookie dough, holiday cut out cookies for EVERY occasion, 40+ types of frozen bread and bun doughs, turnovers and puff pastries, natural fruit pies, pot pies, calzones, pasties, and frozen pizza dough.

For those cake decorators and bakers from scratch the store will offer a full line of cake decorating supplies, baking ingredients & over 100 bulk spices. Gooter’s buys most of their products locally, will have an Amish dry food, candy and snacks selection along with featuring one of Minnesota’s largest Gluten Free selections.

Looking for the Gooter’s website? A Google search on the words [Gooter's Dundas] has a not-so-helpful suggestion.

Update 4/7: Gooter’s Dough to Go website is now up. Nfld News article: Dundas store to offer variety of foods

Update 4/11: Robbie and I stopped by last Saturday to shop and met the owner, Terry Gutowski, and his parents, Pete and Jeanie Gutowski.  Pete told me that the name ‘Gooter’s’ is one of the nicknames that Terry’s had over the years, variations of ‘Gutowski:’  Gute, Guter, Goot, Gooter. He and his wife Jeanie have owned the mall where Gooter’s is located for several years.

I checked the City of Northfield’s municipal code on Signage, Section 3.7 and found this:

3.7.9 Design Guidelines. The following standards are intended to direct the design elements of signage outside the downtown historic district. Each guideline shall be applied for each sign application based upon review by the city planner:

(A) Neon lights are permitted for messages and symbols, but shall not flash.

While the neon isn’t flashing, it’s not being used for messages and symbols either, like the coffee cup neon sign in the window of Goodbye Blue Monday.

Is this a problem or much ado about nothing?

Update 7 am 3/28:

Sean Hayford O’Leary’s comment below prompted me to take photos of signs for Northfield businesses that appear to be out of compliance with Northfield’s ordinance that prohibits flashing neon lights:  Tobacco Field on Hwy 3; Downtown Tobacco on Division; and the HideAway Coffeehouse & Winebar on Division:

So I’ve changed the blog post title from:

Is the Holiday gas station sign outlined in blue neon in compliance?

to:

Are some of the neon signs by Northfield’s businesses out of compliance?

Here’s a 27-second video clip of the flashing/animated neons signs:

I met the owner, Joshua Klauck, and the general manager, Ben Rogowski, who graciously posed for a photo with the poster for the event.

You can see some of the artwork that’s been donated by the artists on the event’s Facebook page where Bill has been busy posting updates and photos.