By Griff Wigley, on September 24, 2012, 8:42 am
  
I was at a meeting of downtown office workers last week, hosted by the NDDC, when the discussion veered towards downtown amenities. NEC head honcho Megan Tsui brought up the issue of the lack of tables on Bridge Square that would be conducive for both meetings as well as eating. She said someone from the City once told her that they couldn’t put picnic tables on Bridge Square because pranksters would toss them in the Cannon River.
 This little tidbit made its way back to Northfield City Hall and a few days later, NDDC ED Ross Currier told me that two picnic tables magically appeared on Bridge Square, evidently via divine intervention an executive order from City Engineer/Public Works Director Joe Stapf.
Cool. And it makes me hopeful we’ll soon see even better table/bench amenities there that are conducive to meetings, games, socializing, and eating.
(With apologies to the author of the Book of Genesis for my blog post title.)
By Griff Wigley, on August 19, 2012, 11:31 pm
 
   
While strolling through New York City’s Central Park when we visited there in late July, we came upon a section of the park cordoned off for dance skating, run by the Central Park Dance Skaters Association:
Every Saturday, Sunday and Holiday from 2:30 to 6:30pm from mid-April through Halloween. The CPDSA sets up a sophisticated sound system and plays music for all dance skaters. The event is free and is supported by the membership of the CPDSA. Our Circle is attended by hundreds of skaters and enjoyed by thousands of spectators each weekend.
It not only drew a large group of dance skaters but an even larger crowd of onlookers because the skaters were pretty entertaining, if not for their skating ability, acrobatics and various antics then for their outfits.
It occurred to me that something similar could easily be done on and around Bridge Square in downtown Northfield. All it would take would be some local organization (YMCA? Community Ed and Rec? NDDC?) to take it on for a season.
See this 30-second video:
By Griff Wigley, on July 22, 2012, 8:02 am
By Griff Wigley, on June 26, 2012, 7:31 am
  
Back in 2008, Carleton College installed cement sidewalk pavers at the corner of 2nd and Division. The phallus design soon became controversial and plans to remove it were met with a ‘Save the Penis’ campaign that ultimately failed.
 The Northfield Arts and Culture Commission, together with the Northfield Historical Society and the Downtown Streetscape Task Force, have pooled their public art monies to fund the reinstallation of the phallus design on a section of Bridge Square.
Yesterday, workers began excavation. The bulbous shape of the excavated area will be reshaped into a phallus, designed by members of the Old Sculptors Project, the complementary group to the Young Sculptors Project that has installed a sculpture in front of the Northfield Library.
"We felt it was important to save a piece of Northfield history and to have it stick out right outside our door," said Hayes ‘Gabby’ Scriver, Northfield Historical Society board member.
"There was stiff opposition to the project for a while," wrote Ava Gina, Chair of the Northfield Arts and Culture Commission in an email to Locally Grown. "We went to great lengths to make our case. It was hard. In the end, we believed strongly that inserting this design into the most pubic [sic] space of Northfield was in the best interest of all."
By Griff Wigley, on June 3, 2012, 6:57 am
  
Yesterday was the opening Saturday for Riverwalk Market Fair. They’ve got a cool new poster, a new website with a hidden blog called ‘news,’ and a new location: they’re no longer on Riverwalk.
All the artists’ booths are now on Bridge Square instead of Riverwalk. Sesquicentennial Plaza and the adjacent parking lot remains the location for the food vendors/farmers’ market, although they had to squeeze onto the street surrounding Bridge Square yesterday because of the St. Olaf alum weekend beer tent.
It’s a more compact arrangement that centralizes the foot traffic and evidently is waaaaaaaay easier/faster for vendor-setup. I like it. Some panoramic photos:
  
By Griff Wigley, on July 18, 2011, 11:43 am
 I noticed workers cleaning out the Sheldahl anniversary fountain on Bridge Square this morning. (Yes, it’ll be ready for today’s 105+ heat index.)
It reminded me that Northfielder Brenton Balvin tweeted this question a couple of weeks ago:
#northfield friends, quick poll: is it ok for kids to wade / walk in downtown fountain?
I replied with an emphatic YES but Northfield.org board chair Nate White tweeted:
i’d say not okay on a typical day but I certainly wouldn’t fault anybody for taking a dip today!
 I’ve never known it to NOT be okay for anyone to wade in the fountain, kids or adults. I’ve taken more than a few photos of kids wading there, eg, this photo from my Taste of Northfield 2010 album.
But maybe TPTB just look the other way when it happens.
Is there any question on what Ray "Jake" Jacobson would say about folks wading in one of his public fountains?
By Griff Wigley, on July 8, 2011, 7:32 am
By Griff Wigley, on December 24, 2010, 4:42 pm
Santa Claus was in fine form on Bridge Square around noon today. Jim Rossow was nowhere to be found.
See the album of 10 photos, the large slideshow (recommended), or this small slideshow:
By Griff Wigley, on November 7, 2010, 1:12 pm
By Tracy Davis, on May 26, 2010, 7:06 pm
KYMN Radio and the Northfield Historical Society announced today via their respective blogs (here and here) that a webcam would now be streaming live video from Bridge Square. KYMN’s Tim Freeland and NHS’s Hayes Scriven are the geniuses behind this.
You may remember that Tim Freeland and Adam Gurno did a proof of concept last year with the time-lapse video of the December snowstorm which was picked up by MPR. (Nice work, everyone. Have some Google juice.)
However, the moniker “KYMN-NHS-Cam” is kind of lame. How about SquareStream? RiverStream? Should we have a “name-the-camera” contest here on LoGro? Continue reading The heart of downtown, now streaming live 24/7
By Griff Wigley, on May 21, 2010, 8:02 am
A downtown business owner grumbled to me this week about the condition of the grass on Bridge Square, wondering why, if the park is the crown jewel of downtown, the grass in such bad shape.
  
  
I took these photos last night. Yep, it’s pretty bad in many spots.
 The condition of the grass is mentioned twice in the Downtown Streetscape Framework Plan, created back in 2006:
P. 71: “Seed grass and repair lawn in Bridge Square.”
P. 73: “Bridge Square would have grass in the bald spots.”
I know, the grass takes a beating because the park is so popular and so many community events are held there. And there are probably issues with fertilizer and weed killer, both human and environmental.
With that in mind, is there anything that can be done that would also be cost-effective? And if so, what time of year would be best to do it?
By Griff Wigley, on May 19, 2010, 7:58 am
 The Sheldahl Anniversary Fountain on Bridge Square is back in action as of yesterday.
Is it just me, or does the height of water seem less than previous years (see photos here and here)?
I wonder if the fountain is having, um, trouble like some guys I know?
By Griff Wigley, on April 29, 2010, 8:51 am
By Griff Wigley, on March 24, 2010, 12:41 pm
 It’s nice to see the grass greening up around Santa’s house on Bridge Square, not to mention the Muni Xmas window that’s still on display. But I’m eager for the popcorn wagon to replace it.
Maybe tonight’s big meeting at City Hall with the community event organizers will resolve who has to pay to remove Santa’s house. Those pesky Winter Walk folks?
By Tim Freeland, on December 10, 2009, 10:15 pm
[show_avatar email=tim@kymnradio.net] After three days and 8,341 still shots from our KYMN camera on the historic Scriver Building in downtown Northfield, Adam Gurno and I put together a time-lapse version of this week’s 8-10″ of snow during blizzard conditions and a full-out snow day! Watch closely as there is a quiz at the end of this 3-minute video presentation. Grab some hot cocoa and enjoy!
By Griff Wigley, on December 7, 2009, 7:06 am
 Dynamic Design Landscaping has donated a lighted Xmas tree on Bridge Square. Evidently part of the deal allows the placement of a large sandwich board next to the tree that advertises their Xmas tree lot on South Highway 3. This seems a bit much to me and with its placement next to the big Northfield Area United Way thermometer, makes Bridge Square look cluttered.
Continue reading Is the sandwich board on Bridge Square kosher?
By Griff Wigley, on May 21, 2009, 7:55 am
 The Northfield Senior Citizens popcorn wagon is in place. Workers from the City of Northfield Streets, Parks & Facilities Division have given the Sheldahl anniversary fountain a fresh coat of interior paint. The Northfield Garden Club has flowers in the pots.
I love Bridge Square.
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This little tidbit made its way back to Northfield City Hall and a few days later, NDDC ED Ross Currier told me that two picnic tables magically appeared on Bridge Square, evidently via 
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