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By Griff Wigley, on November 18, 2011, 7:29 am
  
Jessica Paxton, promoter of all-things downtown Northfield, is teaming up with Mr. music promoter Rich Larson to bring Trailer Trash, Minnesota’s premier honky-tonk band, to the Grand Event Center on Dec. 15 for the Northfield version of their annual holiday show, A Trashy Little Christmas. The evening will include an opening set by Matt Arthur and the Bratlanders.
I caught up with Jessica and Rich last night at the Contented Cow and coaxed Plum St. resident Angie Ekern to pose for a photo with them, holding up an article in the StarTribune from earlier this week that announced the details on the Trailer Trash series of Xmas shows:
Like the classic country songs they purvey year-round, Trailer Trash’s annual "Trashy Little X-Mas" marathon never seems to grow old. The Twin Cities honky-tonk kings have a stocking full of original novelty songs ("I’ve Shopped Everywhere," "Santa’s a Spy") to go with a bulging bag of covers and traditional holiday tunes, played in not-so-traditional and often rowdy ways. [See this StarTribune 2008 profile of Trailer Trash.]
Advance tickets for Northfield’s ‘Trashy Little Christmas’ show are available online via credit card or PayPal here for an amazingly cheap $8 (less than half the price for their show in Rochester). Don’t wait, however. This show could sell out and then you’ll have to confess to your grandchildren someday that you could have been there for the inaugural show but sat around on your fat ass until it was too late.
And yes, trashy old Locally Grown Northfield has signed on to be one of the financial sponsors of the show, along with the NDDC, KYMN, and possibly others. This could be an annual event that’s both great fun for locals and effective at bringing people from around the region to visit our fair city. Thanks to those of you who are LoGro members, LoGro advertisers, and who click on the Google ads. Your financial support is paying for our sponsorship of the show.
So what are you waiting for?
CLICK HERE TO BUY YOUR TICKETS NOW!
By Griff Wigley, on October 13, 2011, 11:55 pm
 
When I was up at St. Olaf’s Buntrock Commons a couple weeks ago for the Eat Local Challenge, I noticed a big NDDC poster outside of The Lion’s Pause with the headline: Locate your business in downtown Northfield.
NDDC Executive Director Ross Currier published an Oct. 3 blog post that explains. An excerpt:
One of the new initiatives that this group developed was alumni entrepreneur recruitment. In addition to promoting downtown Northfield as a marketplace, we wanted to promote it as a business location, particularly to the graduates of Carleton and St. Olaf Colleges. We introduced the concept for the first time at this year’s Homecoming Weekends.
I knew this poster was in the works because back in early August, Ross had asked me to contribute photos for it and they needed one additional: a photo of creative class types working in a coffeehouse.
 All month long, I kept watching for a good photo op from my early morning corner office at GBM but it never quite came together.
So on Aug. 29, noticing that I had the raw material for a photo, I asked the laptop users to switch tables. I then asked Nancy Amerman who was sitting with a group of runners to sit at my laptop for the photo. Perfecto.
It should be noted that Nancy felt no shame over helping to perpetuate this fraud, whereas at least I felt conflicted. And yet she calls herself a Christian. Go figure.
By Griff Wigley, on July 28, 2011, 6:42 am
Ross Currier’s NDDC blog has the announcement about Crazy Daze today: Alaskan Doughnuts…er…uh…Crazy Daze, this Thursday!
 But, yes, this Thursday (July 28th) is Crazy Daze in downtown Northfield. Starting at 8 a.m. with activities until 8 p.m., it’s a whole lot of fun brought to you by the Retail Committee of the Northfield Area Chamber of Commerce.
This year’s events include a Watermelon Seed Spittting Contest, 11:00 a.m., Just Food; Bean Bag Toss, 1:30 p.m., Fine Threads; Hula Hoop Contest, 2:00 p.m., Rare Pair; and Classic Cars, 5 p.m., on Division Street between 5th and 6th Streets.
But a glance at the home pages of Northfield.org, the Northfield News, Northfield Patch, and KYMN at 6:15 am this morning reveals a complete lack of information about Crazy Daze.
The Northfield Area Chamber of Commerce (the main sponsor of Crazy Daze) lists the event on its community calendar page but with this feeble, generic paragraph:
Don’t miss this crazy shopping spree in downtown Northfield every July. Fantastic bargains are provided by local retailers. Call for details and times for special events taking place all day! (507) 645 5604 or (800) 658 2548.
The featured event page on the Chamber’s Convention and Bureau’s site is even more cryptic:
Don’t miss this crazy shopping spree in downtown Northfield every July. Fantastic bargains are provided by local retailers.
nor is there any mention of the event on the Visiting Northfield Facebook page, nor on the Be Local Northfield Facebook page.
Last year, the Chamber had a Crazy Daze poster/flyer. Was there one this year? I’ve not seen it in store windows, but maybe I’ve just missed it.
Something has failed.
By Griff Wigley, on June 15, 2011, 9:07 am
 
NDDC‘s Ross Currier has taken a cue from Governor Rick Perry’s Proclamation for Days of Prayer for Rain in Texas to issue a similar but opposite proclamation for Northfield this week. I took the photo of him on his knees this morning at the Church of the Blue Monday where we both attend religiously.
He wants sunny skies for the Sixth Annual Taste of Northfield (blog post here, full event info/schedule here), held tomorrow and Friday in downtown Northfield on Bridge Square.
Last year’s Taste was memorable; Day 1/Thursday night was a bust (photos) in part because of a botched triggering of severe weather sirens; Day 2/Friday night was spectacular (photos).
See all Locally Grown’s archived Taste of Northfield blog posts and photos for more.
Here’s the transcript of Ross’ adapted prayer for fair weather:
Almighty Lord God, who for the sin of man didst once drown all the world, except eight persons, and afterward of thy great mercy didst promise never to destroy it so again; We humbly beseech thee, that although we for our iniquities have worthily deserved a plague of rain and waters, yet upon our true repentance thou wilt send us such weather for the Taste of Northfield, that we may receive the fruits of the earth in due season; and learn both by thy punishment to amend our lives, and for thy clemency to give thee praise and glory; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
By Dan Bergeson, on June 8, 2011, 9:14 am
 June in Northfield means graduation and summer vacation. It also means that one of the best-loved community events of the year, The Taste of Northfield, is almost upon us. This year will be the 6th Annual Taste and the event is scheduled for Thursday, June 16th and Friday June 17th from 5-10 p.m. both evenings. All of the festivities happen in or near Bridge Square in Downtown Northfield. What a fantastic location for fun!
There will be a dozen or more food vendors (we’re still working on the lineup) surrounding the Square serving up their own special menus. There will be entertainment on the Showmobile both nights and a Beer and Wine Tent on the 4th Street bridge. The James Gang will do a Bank Raid re-enactment on Thursday night and Friday will bring the return of both a Silent Auction and a Live Auction. Both nights will feature a Street Dance from 8-10.
If you’re feeling up to it, this event also brings a great opportunity to volunteer. We need folks to sell tickets, police the waste stream, control admittance to the Beer Tent, tally up the silent and live auction bids, you name it! If this possibility speaks to you, contact rcurrier@nddc.org.
Did I mention that The Taste of Northfield is an official Northfield Downtown Development Corporation (NDDC) event? It is. And we couldn’t do it without the incredible financial sponsorship given to us by:
MALT’O’MEAL
COLLEGE CITY BEVERAGE
CARLETON COLLEGE
TAYLOR TRUCK LINE
I hope to see all of you next week at The Taste of Northfield! And no tornado this year. Promise! For up-to-the-minute details, visit Taste of Northfield 2011.
By Griff Wigley, on May 11, 2011, 12:18 pm
 Someone from the NDDC put up this sandwich board in front of the Northfield Post Office this morning. I’m not saying who it was.
See the NDDC’s Keep the Northfield Post Office Downtown page for the latest news.
FYI, the municipal code for sidewalk signs reads:
Sidewalk signs in C-1 and C-2 zones. The use of sidewalk signs shall only be allowed in the central business zones (C-1 and C-2). All sidewalk signs shall be limited to two feet in width and 3½ feet in height, including the support members. No sign shall have more than two faces. Changeable copy is permitted except for plastic letters. The sign shall be placed only in front of the business without significantly limiting the normal pedestrian use of the sidewalk. One sign is permitted for each building/land frontage, and it shall be removed from the sidewalk at the end of each business day. No sidewalk sign shall be lighted. No sign permit is required.
That sign looks to be at least a half inch taller than allowed. Someone should report this.
By Griff Wigley, on April 13, 2011, 2:39 pm
   
Last June, I whined about all the ugly recycling bins and newspaper vending racks downtown. There were plans to do something about it.
After being removed for the winter, all 20 recycling bins are now back. And with more than two dozen newspaper vending racks currently downtown (most between 2nd and 5th on Division), it’s pretty ugly. Here’s my count:
- Northfield News: 9
- Star Tribune: 5
- Pioneer Press: 4
- Northfield News Home & Real Estate: 3
- Northfield Entertainment Guide: 3
- Signs of the Times: 1
- AutoMart: 1
Any chance that the City of Northfield Streets, Parks & Facilities Division, the Streetscape Task Force (website still out-of-date), the NDDC, Northfield in Bloom (website dead), 1st Ward Councilor Suzie Nakasian, and whoever else could get together and address this problem this year?
By Griff Wigley, on April 6, 2011, 9:39 am
By Griff Wigley, on February 11, 2011, 11:30 pm
 Alas, I wasn’t able to stick around and take photos tonight at the Winter Dance Party at the Grand Event Center, sponsored by the Rotary Club of Northfield and the Northfield Downtown Development Corporation (NDDC).
If you have photos or know of any posted online anywhere, let us know.
By Griff Wigley, on February 5, 2011, 8:03 am
By James Grabau, on February 4, 2011, 6:56 am
 Join the Rotary Club of Northfield and the Northfield Downtown Development Corporation (NDDC) for a Winter Dance Party at the Grand Event Center with Trailer Trash, Minnesota’s premier Honky-Tonk Band!
- Swing Dance Instruction begins at 8pm
- Music starts at 8:30
- ONLY $10 at the door
- Be Local – Dance Local!
For more, see Ross Currier’s NDDC blog post: NDDC and Rotary Celebrate Our Community at The Grand.
The theme is “We (Heart) Northfield”. We (Heart) our authentic downtown, our historic architecture, our wild and scenic river, our quality businesses and cultural institutions, and our fine schools and medical facilities. The list could go on…and will go on, at our upcoming event at the Grand.
We’ll start it off by thanking our partners and members, and then we’ll open the doors to the entire community to celebrate Northfield. It’ll be an opportunity to recognize the accomplishments of the NDDC, the Rotary, and all of the community-based organizations in Northfield…and have a whole lot of fun in the process.
By Griff Wigley, on December 18, 2010, 6:38 am
I weaseled my way into the Upstairs Rueb on Thursday eve to sneak some photos of some Northfield Downtown Development Corp (NDDC) board members doing a little socializing after their monthly meeting.
  
 
Ross Currier has a post on the NDDC blog titled NDDC Conducts Annual Planning for 2011 which summarizes NDDC’s major accomplishments for 2010. Jeesh!
You can follow the NDDC on Facebook, subscribe to the NDDC blog via RSS or email, and subscribe to the NDDC e-newsletter.
Update 12/20 - I’ve added this photo that Ross took of the NDDC board:
Back row: Jeff Hasse, Keith Covey, Jeff Johnson, Mark Quinnell, Julie Bixby, Dan Bergeson
Next row: Sam Gett, Joe Grundhoefer, Anastasia Balfany, Suzy Taggert, Joey Robison
Front row: Greg Kneser, Dave Shumway, Jessica Paxton
Missing: Robert Bierman.
By Griff Wigley, on December 11, 2010, 8:26 am
 Be Local … Buy Local (BLBL), the campaign by the Northfield Area Chamber of Commerce and the Northfield Downtown Development Corporation "that promotes the importance of shopping locally for products and services in the Northfield area," has a new initiative.
They’re selling these ‘buy more’ cards and putting up similar posters in store windows around town.
Roscoe Curry, VP of Public Relations for the Northfield Area Chamber of Commerce, had some reservations about the initiative when it was first discussed at a staff meeting with Executive Director Katarina Fellbore. "I thought some of the merchants might think it a little too doomsdayish," said Curry. He did an informal straw poll, going door-to-door with the merchants along Hwy 3, and all were in favor.
"I like that it’s direct," said Hugh G. Wreckshun, proprietor of Northfield Kwik Kondom (‘Kows, Kolleges, Kondoms, Kontentment’) near the intersection of Hwy 3 and Heritage Drive. "No sense pussyfooting around."
By Griff Wigley, on November 28, 2010, 4:06 pm
  
It’s been two and a half years since Highland Bank foreclosed on the Northfield Crossing development and a sizeable portion of the surrounding property is still a mess. I took these photos last week.
I first complained about the mess in 2007. In June, 2008, I blogged: Banks foreclose on The Crossing; now the City should clean up the surrounding property. A year later, June 2009, I added a comment containing the text of an email from Brian O’Connell, Northfield community development director, on the status of the clean-up.
The relationship is that the clean up items are essentially the same items. Piper wants to renegotiate the TIF note, Council is saying they would consider renegotiating the note if the site clean up issues are completed. Highland is now the owner of the residential condominium to which the clean up items are related. So Highland is now determining the cost to complete the items to see if they can complete in time which will assist in unit sales efforts. Everyone wants the same thing; the issue is determining cost and identifying sources of money to pay the expense.
WTF is taking so long to clean up this ‘gateway to downtown Northfield’?
  
This portion of the property doesn’t look that much better than it did in 2005 when NDDC‘s Dan Bergeson and Ross Currier took matters into their own hands and personally demolished seven buildings when it was known as the Riverfront Development Site. I think we need them again to take charge, this time to haul all the construction shit out of there.
Dan? Ross? How about it?
There is some good news, however. There have been some improvements to other (city-owned?) parts of the property in recent weeks: streetscape-style decorative fencing along Hwy. 3, with many new trees planted.
By Griff Wigley, on July 13, 2010, 11:55 am
 I saw this Fourth Street reconstruction chart in the downtown lobby of the First National Bank of Northfield this morning. (See the PDF of the top half of the chart on the City’s site titled Fourth Street Improvements 2010 – Project Phases.)
I asked EDA member and bank VP Rick Estenson what the delay was since the chart indicates (in yellow) that the Phase 1B was to be completed by July 2 and [sigh] there’s no explanation on the City’s 1999-style web page for the project. "Rick, the weather’s gorgeous. Why aren’t they at least pouring sidewalks this week?”
Rick suggested that the delay might be due to the fact that the NDDC, which agreed to contribute labor to help reduce project costs in front of its office on 4th St., might be hampered by its unskilled workforce.
 
Sure enough.
Update 7/16, 8 am: Ross continues to do his part, however inadequate it might be. He poured the sidewalk outside the NDDC office yesterday.
By Griff Wigley, on June 30, 2010, 6:54 am
  
With the departure of Community Resource Bank from its downtown location, there’s now an empty parking lot in the heart of downtown—at least until the owner of the building, First National Bank of Northfield (across the street), leases the building.
Last week’s City Council work session discussion of the Streetscape Taskforce Recommendations (P. 15 of the packet) had this item on the list:
Purchase of property to address perceived needs of Downtown Parking issues and potentially assist with increased parking need by future Library project.
The NDDC provides a Guide to Parking in Downtown Northfield. Ross has blogged about parking issues for years (example, here). There have been several studies of downtown parking (eg. the Walker Study, the Stolley Report, others? links?).
Here are some low-hanging fruit questions of an uninformed blogger:
- How often are the diagonal and parallel parking spots on Division completely full?
- Do downtown business owners and their employees too often park in these spots or is that a myth?
- How rigorously do the police enforce downtown parking ordinances?
- What do we know that has worked and not worked in other downtowns of our size/type?
Regardless of the strange wording (“perceived needs of Downtown Parking issues” – do issues have needs?) and regardless of what happens with the Library expansion, downtown parking is an issue that should be fun to argue about.
In the meantime, the now-empty Community Resource Bank parking lot is a perfect spot for a temporary skateboard plaza!
By Griff Wigley, on June 19, 2010, 2:30 pm
The weather was spectacular for Day 2 of the Taste of Northfield. The NDDC organizers’ decision to host the Taste for two days instead of one this year was prescient, as Thursday’s threatening weather wiped out Day 1.
  
The cookie-decorating, face-painting, and balloon-making activities were huge hits with kids young and old. For an amateur photographer like me, it’s like shooting fish in a barrel. These photos are three of my favorites.
See the album of 100 photos, the large slideshow, or this small slideshow:
By Griff Wigley, on June 17, 2010, 8:26 am
I’ve nagged Ross for over a year to register a domain name and set up a webpage for the Taste of Northfield and he completely ignored me, hurting my feelings.
But last week, he got enough pressure from his task force that he finally caved and hired me to do what needed to be done.
tasteofnorthfield.org is now working and the page is up, complete with the two-day schedule of activities and performers, the list of vendors, the list of sponsors, and photo albums from previous events.
I’m pretty much over it now, Ross. No need to kiss and make up, however.
By Griff Wigley, on June 15, 2010, 11:45 am
 Emily Northey, Minnesota Main Street Program Coordinator with Preservation Alliance of Minnesota, joined us this week for a chat about historic commercial districts like we have in downtown Northfield. She and the board were in town Monday afternoon for a long-range planning retreat at the Archer House.
Ross has written about the program here and here on the NDDC blog:
Continue reading Podcast: Emily Northey, Minnesota Main Street
By Griff Wigley, on June 7, 2010, 1:40 pm
NDDC Board Chair Keith Covey’s letter to the Mayor and City Council last week (Nfld News here; NDDC blog here) notes that
 …given the size of our financial challenge and the pursuit of cost reduction-driven solutions, we all realize that cuts will not be painless. To that end, the values and priorities of the citizens of Northfield should be the guiding factors in determining recommendations for which services should be maintained and which services could be eliminated.
The NDDC requests that a formal, open, two-way process be conducted to provide citizens the opportunity to share their values and priorities for funding decisions that will impact their municipal services.
The reaction by two councilors to the layoff of Marj Evans-de-Carpio (Nfld News story, Interpreter layoff criticized) indicates there’s some support for Covey’s position:
At a council meeting in May, both Zweifel and Buckheit voted for to approve “general direction” of the city’s budget reduction plan, but said they felt discouraged from pulling single items out of the overall plan for discussion.
Both councilors also voiced frustration about how the city has approached planning for the cuts. “I realize the need to make short-term cuts, but we’ve never had the bigger picture conversation about our values and priorities in the community,” said Buckheit.
The Northfield City Council recently approved its Strategic Direction and Goals for 2010 and the first three goals under Direction #1 all have to do with citizen communications. ‘Twould be cool if they could be put into play for the budget cuts.
By Griff Wigley, on May 19, 2010, 6:24 am
 Oil Can Henry’s at Hwy 3 and Honey Locust Drive has become a Castrol Premium Lube Express.
OCH International is the parent company of Oil Can Henry’s and has some kind of an alliance with Castrol, as the Castrol logo is visible at the bottom of their website.
The franchise is owned by Jeff Hasse, also the proprietor of the CountryInn Northfield and AmericaInn Northfield. Jeff is also on the boards of the NDDC and the Northfield Area Chamber of Commerce.
By Griff Wigley, on May 18, 2010, 11:46 am
 
Northfield Mayor Mary Rossing presented at an NDDC forum this morning, discussing, as noted in Ross’ NDDC blog post, “the City of Northfield’s plans for financing the Capital Improvement Plan and [the] work to address the budget shortfall in the 2010 budget and a similar challenge for the 2011 budget.”
Click play to listen. 1 hour, 13 minutes. Or download the MP3.
By Griff Wigley, on May 5, 2010, 6:59 am
 Ross has the info in his blog post detailing Friday night’s Girls Nite Out (GNO) activities (PDF).
What he fails to mention is that the veteran members of the Shop Local/Somewhat Full Monty routine at the Grand, he and I among them, have not been invited back. We’ve retained counsel. Clearly age discrimination.
Hopefully, they’ll let <ahem> photojournalists in the Grand.
See the 2009, 2008, and 2007 GNO photo albums.
By Griff Wigley, on April 19, 2010, 7:22 pm
 The NDDC has a slick new downtown Northfield brochure out (“Great downtowns don’t just happen”), the work of Board member Anastasia Balfany who teamed up with Nichole Day Diggins at Flying Pan Productions. ED Ross Currier’s job was to nag me for photos.
Click the thumbnails above for a quick look or view this big PDF.
By Griff Wigley, on March 6, 2010, 8:45 am
 Today, Faribault’s Sage Electrochromics was cited in the Strib for winning “a $72 million federal loan guarantee for a major expansion of its manufacturing facility, where the company has developed ‘smart’ glass for windows and skylights that reduce energy use.”
Two weeks ago, Faribault’s McQuay plant was cited in the Strib for “using $1.3 million in new federal tax credits to revamp a manufacturing plant to make more energy efficient air-conditioners.”
In January, Northfield’s Cardinal Glass was cited in the Strib for receiving “$7.7 million of new federal funds to convert its residential-glass factory into a solar glass-coating plant.” (A tip of the blogger hat to Larry DeBoer for alerting me to it.)
I don’t know to what extent the people involved with Northfield’s economic development ecosystem (see organizations below) are pursuing green collar manufacturing jobs. I found a few mentions:
Continue reading Green collar economic development: Faribault 2, Northfield 1
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