Northfield Downtown Development Corporation

As you may have noticed in previous years, the 4th of July is one of my favorite holidays. I marvel at the historic coming together of such imperfect yet incredible characters to fight corrupt incompetence in government, work against unjust taxes in town, and experiment with a new and hopefully better way of doing things. I admire their vision, determination, creativity, and endurance and wonder where can such a group be found now.

Here’s a group of volunteers from the Northfield Historical Society, under the direction of tent raising expert Lee Lansing, getting ready for tomorrow’s activities. There’s much going on downtown, Friday, July 4th, including a Flea Market in Ames Park at 9 am, a Yankee Doodle Kiddie Parade along Division Street at 1 pm, a Presentation of the Colors at 7:30 pm and, thanks to Dan Freeman and a group of the community members, 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, featuring a group of talented artists such as the Northfield Dance Academy and Folkloric Dancers, the To Be Announced Band, Marty Anderson and the Goods, Down Lo and Madelyn Hartke and The Patchwork Orchestra. Waking Avalon is at the Contented Cow.

On Saturday, fresh off their triumph at the First Annual JuneBug Music Festival, the Last Known Whereabouts are at the Contented Cow. The group features Jake Stroup on mandolin and vocals, Aaron Hagenson on guitar and vocals, Aaron Cross on fiddle, and Carl Haskins on bass. They’re high energy fun so check them out.

On Sunday, relive those political discussions at the Green Dragon Tavern that contributed to our nation’s independence. It’s Policy and a Pint at the Contented Cow, 6 pm.

Based on the comments the nights of, as well as the days after, the First Annual JuneBug Music Festival was a great success. The weather supported the efforts of the organizers, the performances of the musicians, and the enthusiasm of the attendees.

Pictured here is Blue Moon, one of dozen local bands that performed during the festival. Yeah…that bass guitar player does look a little familiar…and that seems to be a Tiny’s cap that he’s wearing.

Griff Wigley, of Locally Grown, took a number of great pictures each night of the event. See his coverage, and photos, of Night One, Night Two, and Night Three to get a good sense of the experience.

JuneBug is just another example of how the idea of a couple of individuals, in this case Julie Bixby and Norman Butler of the Contented Cow, when supported by a few dozen hard workers and several hundred eager participants, can turn into a real community-building event. Of course the sponsors, Chapati, the Contented Cow, the NDDC, the Sitze Building, and Tiny’s Dogs All Day, helped too, by putting the necessary infrastructure in place.

Thanks to everyone who helped make the First Annual JuneBug Music Festival a great success. Let’s do it again, in Downtown Northfield.

The NDDC will feature Northfield’s new Police Chief Mark Taylor at its July Downtown Forum. The forum is scheduled for Tuesday, July 1 at 8 a.m. in the Riverview Conference Room, located in the lower level of the Archer House, 212 Division Street, in downtown Northfield. The public is always invited to attend and participate.

Taylor was Patrol Captain of the Northfield Police Department for six months before being made Chief in late April of 2008, following the departure of former Police Chief Gary Smith. Taylor served for twenty years with the McLeod County Sheriff’s Department before coming to our community.

Taylor’s first visit to Northfield was on a motorcycle trip with his wife from Hutchinson to Red Wing many years ago. Taylor, pictured here discussing the logistics of the JuneBug Music Festival with Julie Bixby of The Contented Cow, considers himself a strong supporter of activities and events in downtown Northfield and has spent much time meeting with community members. “I believe private-public partnerships are the key to community safety,” he says, “as well as to the cleanliness and vitality of the area.”

The NDDC forum is intended as an opportunity for the Chief and the community to get to know each other better. However, Taylor is willing to address all topics of interest to downtown stakeholders.

The NDDC is a non-partisan, non-profit community organization dedicated to the vitality of downtown Northfield. The event is free and open to the public. As always, coffee and cookies will be served.

For more information, contact Executive Director Ross Currier at (507) 663-0319 or rcurrier@nddc.org.

We’re barely to end of June, but it already seems like there has been, is, and will be much going on in downtown Northfield, all summer long.

Tonight, Thursday, June 26th, Tom Franek is at the Upstairs Rueb, 503 Division Street, at 6 pm, the Northfield Community Band is in Bridge Square, at the heart of our community, at 7 pm, there’s an Opening Reception of Fiber Arts on Climate Change and the annual Arts in Bloom exhibit in collaboration with the Northfield Garden Club at the Northfield Arts Guild, 304 Division Street, 7 pm, Teague Alexy is at the Tavern Lounge, backside of the Historic Archer House, 212 Division Street, and it’s the first evening of the JuneBug Music Festival, behind the Contented Cow, rain or shine, 302 1/2 Division Street.

Friday, Kim Bloom is at the HideAway, 421 Division Street, 7 pm, Joe Meyer is at the Tavern Lounge, backside of the Historic Archer House, 212 Division Street, and JuneBug continues.

Saturday, Kim Bloom is again at the HideAway, 421 Division Street, 7 pm, Norwegian Cowboy is at the Tavern Lounge, backside of the Historic Archer House, 212 Division Street, and its the final night of JuneBug.

It appears that a stage is emerging from the parking lot behind the Contented Cow. Indeed, it’s part of the upcoming JuneBug, a new Annual Music Festival in downtown Northfield.

JuneBug is a celebration of local music, highlighting the wide variety of impressive talent in the Northfield area, brought together on one stage over the course of three evenings at the end of June.

Thursday night features Marty Anderson and The Goods, followed by the Rice County All-Stars. Friday’s line-up consists of Meredith Fierke, Occasional Jazz, Blue Moon, and The Last Known Whereabouts. Saturday features Dr. Jellyfish, Jon Manners, Fish Frye, The Loafers, Gospel Gossip and the Zillionaires.

So come on down(town) and check out the music, along the east bank of the Cannon River, and support your local artists.