I phoned Gunnar Swanson this morning and yes, he’s in Faribault this morning and is finishing his 1000-mile Soldier’s March for Peace walk from Texas to Minnesota today. His ASM4P blog tells the whole story of his walk, but here are the details of his arrival today for DJJD Townie Night and the weekend:
9/10, Thursday – Northfield: 5pm Gunnar will meet Northfield high school students in parking lot of NF HS and walk the last mile with him to Bridge Square in center of Northfield for Townie Night. Northfield always throws this and there will be food and fun stuff to do. Very family oriented. Actually EVERYONE is invited to participate in this…not just highschoolers. Looks like the DJJD royalty and the James Gang will be coming too! There will be a reception in Bridge Square at 6:00pm.
9/11, Friday – Cannon Falls: 8am Gunnar and Dina will be at Cannon Falls Elementary to meet with all the students This will be amazing…don’t miss it! The entire Cannon Falls student body (pre-school through 12th graders) will gather to hear Gunnar’s and my final presentation (the one we have give to YMCA kids over the past 10 weeks) and then write letters for kids in Iraq and Afghanistan. They will also make a human tunnel from the elementary school to the high school for Gunnar to walk through..all wearing red, white and blue and holding flags. How cute! KARE-11 is coming to do a story on this as well.
9/12, Saturday – Northfield: 4:30pm Gunnar will give "the" speech near Bridge Square where the big bank robbery showdown was and will be presented with a check from VFW. Yes, this will be before the 5:00 bank raid reinactment. The VFW and American Legion Honor Guard will be holding the flags to honor Gunnar as he makes a short speech and thanks all who supported/donated. Also, the VFW will be making a donation at that time, and any other local businesses who want to make a public donation can do it then as well.
… encouraging EVERY kid in Northfield to come down to central park at 2 o’clock tomorrow in order to raise money for ASM4P and that there will be a grill out, tie-dying, a dunk tank, henna tattoos, bracelets, break dancing, music, a rally march, and then a concert at The Key at 5 o’clock. All the money we raise goes directly to Gunnar. News and media will be there and we want 1000 kids to show up so invite/kidnap all of your friends and bring them with!
They hired me to help them get set up with a WordPress-based website and to think about how social media could be used for the variety of initiatives they were planning. They then began working with Northfield-based Neuger Communications Group who, along with various marketing and communications work, took on the design of the website… now waaaaay cooler than I could have ever done.
… will march 1000+ miles from Texas to Minnesota, starting July 4, 2009. With the help of kids across the nation, he is raising funds and awareness for programs that help kids who have been traumatized by war to realize new possibilities for their lives.
During the Taste of Northfield festivities tomorrow, there will be an informal reception at the Archer House from 5:00 – 8:00. People can stop by to meet Dina and Gunnar and other volunteers and hear more about A Soldier’s March for Peace.
They’re also hosting a kick-off event on Bridge Square next Thursday afternoon, June 25th, 2-5 PM. More to come on that.
David Beimers: The Northfield News has a story saying that Suzie Nakasian is also planning to run for mayor.
Peter Seebach (Seebs): WOO! Go Betsey! As the Ward 2 rep, she has indeed worked for exactly these sorts of things, and was extremely helpful when I was trying to get a bit of paperwork untangled. So, yeah, looks like my vote is clear.
Griff Wigley: Councilor Betsey Buckheit just filed to run for mayor. She sent out this email: Good morning, media folks! I just returned from City Hall where I filed to run for Mayor. Here’s a little information, but there’s much more...
Tom Kotula: Despite rumors you may have heard to the contrary, I have not thrown my hat into the ring.
Sean Hayford Oleary: I was glad to hear Erica Zweifel is running again. She’s done an excellent job and has advocated well for her ward. I’m eager to see some filings for mayor.
George Kinney: As someone who has cracked a helmet when pushed off the street by a driver with issues (in Green Bay, not here) I do think wearing a helmet is a very good idea. So — get your bike club to be the coolest thing going, and helmet...
Patrick Enders: Griff, I grew up well before bike helmets became the norm, and still, when I went to high school, almost no one rode a bike, because driving a car was already seen as “the only socially acceptable form of local...
Gabe Meerts: By the way, Griff. I think you do a great job promoting biking (even if I disagree with this particular post).
Gabe Meerts: You must have added the wrong link because the PRI story quotes: “There’s no question that wearing a helmet is a good idea.” There’s a big leap from promoting bike helmets to mandatory helmet laws. I...
Barry Cipra: Hayes, thanks (I think). Just to be clear, I penned (actually keyboarded) those lines in all due affection, not to mention affectation.
Hayes Scriven: Where is the like button! Griff you know I love ya!!
Barry Cipra: With apologies to poetic sensibilities everywhere (and partial blame ascribed to Paul Zorn for his scholarly consultations): A blockheaded blogger named Griff With cement twixt his ears caused a tiff. He showed himself shallow By...
john george: Rob- I guess it doesn’t take much to get Griff agregated.
john george: Griff- Are you sure you don’t have me mixed up with someone else?
Griff Wigley: Today’s Strib: A sobering era for municipal booze The forces that create winner and loser cities in the metro are complex, and they involve clashes with other “muni” cities as well as private operators. Farmington,...
kiffi summa: Curt: obviously I thought there was more in the article that was less than fully informative: see above… But as far as the city paying overtime etc, i.e., all the issues you mention above.. the question is why the city was doing...
Curt Benson: Kiffi, I agree that the $75/hour ambulance time section was incomplete and confusing. However, I wouldn’t negate the whole article because of one weak section. What do you think about the city paying overtime for rescue squad...
kiffi summa: Griff: here’s why I used the word “vendetta”: there has been discord between the firefighters since the Dept of Public Safety was created with one Dept Head, i.e. Police Chief Taylor. That’s close to two years...
kiffi summa: Curt: Once again the NFNews article has left a confusion instead of a clarification, because it says that Elko paid $75 dollars an hour to have a rescue squad presence (and that seems very low to me), and then it says the city was...
Curt Benson: Griff and Kiffi–is this a reasonable recap? The city was paying city employees overtime to be on site at Elko’s events, using the Rescue Squad’s truck. Elko didn’t reimburse the city for it’s overtime...
Kathie Galotti: I’m glad the kids will have this for this summer. I recognize it’s not ideal. Unfortunately, there seems to be NO ideal place.
rob hardy: The PRAB met on Thursday, and the subcommittee on siting a permanent skatepark was on the agenda. Does anyone know what was discussed, and whether the process is moving forward in a timely manner?
Brenton Balvin: Wish I could attend this and listen to the tunes Blowing in the Wind. Unfortunately I’ll be dealing with a Hurricane of issues at work.
john george: Peter- I’ll be glad to do that, if I can figure out how. I’m technologically challenged, to say the least.
Peter Seebach (Seebs): John, that sounds lovely. I will try to remember to call. If I don’t, ping me (email is usually good for reaching me) to remind me, because I have a really bad memory for things I was going to do.
john george: Peter- I was just thinking that I would enjoy a cup of coffee with you sometime. You can ask Grifff- I don’t bite! My days off are Monday & Tuesday. I’ve bee a little tied up recently with new grandchildren being born...
Peter Seebach (Seebs): I think we are probably pretty close to agreement on that one. One of my hobbies is nudging things along to get people out of some of the various poverty loops. It is amazing how little money it takes to move someone from...
Peter Seebach (Seebs): A clarifying note: Consequences of Gay Marriage. No one is proposing making homosexuality a civil right. Marriage is already a civil right, and gays are already a protected class for discrimination purposes in most cases....
Curt Benson: Hvistendahl’s strange request for omerta from the Rescue Squad’s auditors doesn’t seem so strange today, after Suzy Rook’s NFN article: http://www.southernminn.com/no rthfield_news/news/article_...
Griff Wigley: Props to the newspaper and Suzy Rook for mentioning LoGro twice in the story: Fire Department officials, including Fire Chief Gerry Franek, did not respond to several requests from the News for association financial records or...
Griff Wigley: Posted to Northfield News at 1pm: Ethical questions arise over Northfield Fire Relief Association expenses Donations made to Northfield Fire Relief Association aren’t public dollars, but that hasn’t extinguished city...
Griff Wigley: Curt/Robert, There’s a summary of the Rescue Squad on Page 21 of the 2009 NFD report to the City. It doesn’t mention that there’s a Rescue Squad Association. The last paragraph states: The Northfield Rescue Squad is...
Robert Palmquist: If Hvistendahl’s motivation was to keep the financials from getting known, his submitting a memo like that just really backfired. I agree, why would these financials be such a secret??? And why did the NRSA hire a lawyer to...
Griff Wigley: Good turnout last night for the Cannon Valley Mountain Bike Team meeting at the high school. I’ve blogged a summary with the ppt presentations.
Griff Wigley: Jordan Osterman, the new Sports Editor for the Northfield News, scooped me on Saturday. I’m glad! Northfield high school mountain bike team forming As a club sport, mountain biking would have no official affiliation with either...
john george: Living where we do, it is only a few blocks walk to North Street and a grand view of the sunsets. Also, with our neighbors’ mature white pines & spruce, our covered deck affords outdoor enjoyment with a fair amount of...
Jim Haas: Happens to me a lot. So much that my lovely wife had to coin a term for it: she says I have datelexia.
norman butler: Since coming to my adopted country 16 years ago I have observed, amongst other things, that not putting the day with the date is both common and peculiar to Northfield (MN? USA?).
John Thomas: Just a reminder, advance tickets for Girls Night Out 2012 can be purchased on The Grand’s website at http://www.thegrandnorthfield. com/public-events. Your tickets will then be available at a special “Will Call” at...
Liz Reppe: This is a great place to buy plants! Jeni is very knowledgeable and they are both really helpful. You get great service and plant expertise, but the prices are not higher than other places in town.
bill metz: While most of how Jake is being remembered revolves around, and rightly so, his great and wonderful talent as an artist and teacher and the works of sculpture he has left for our and the next generations enjoyment, I have had the...
kiffi summa: Come on, Griff… you say you’re “more than a little clueless about about investments” but you “just happened to notice”… and from what you said, were reading analytically, etc etc… Once...
Griff Wigley: I’m more than a little clueless about investments but I noticed on page 14 in the April 24 Council packet that the Fire Relief Association has 85% of its pension portfolio in stocks. Isn’t that a bit risky/aggressive for...
Griff Wigley: Has there been any media reporting on the intergovernmental meeting in Bridgewater Township that was held on April 25 re: the Rural Fire Protection District and the City of Northfield?
The other graphic on the First National Bank Northfield’s window is the Soldier’s March for Peace, part of the War Kids Relief project. There will be a reception in Bridge Square at 6:00pm.
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