Northfield Downtown Development Corporation

…and anyone else who was part of this project. I’m just mentioning Heidi Hamilton, Director of Public Works, and Joel Walinski, Director of Operations, because I know, in the big picture, this is part of their “portfolio” of responsibilities.

Too often we only give recognition to the high profile and high buck projects. Much of what contributes to our quality of life, downtown or throughout the community, is an almost invisible and routine operation.

Over the past few weeks, City of Northfield workers have been systematically cleaning up the trees that are part of the downtown streetscape. Come spring, just around the corner, their work will produce both healthier trees and greater visibility of buildings, shops and signs.

…all of which will make modest but important contributions to the economic vitality of downtown.

Thanks again.

As regular readers of this blog know, the NDDC owes much to ideas explored and experiments pursued by the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s Main Street program. From Marketing to Streetscape, the NDDC has both considered and implemented some of the recommendations coming from their headquarters in Washington, D. C.

The latest National Trust idea that we’ve been kicking around the past few month’s is branding. Many of you are probably at least somewhat familiar with the concept. It’s a marketing tool that helps to package a district’s attributes and values in a way that strengthens its identity.

The discussion started in earnest when John Potter, executive director of The Phipps Center for the Arts, presented at the NDDC’s August Forum. NDDC President Dan Bergeson focused on John’s comment that The Phipps markets to a fifty-mile radius. Then in November, the NDDC held its third in a series of Retail Workshops conducted by the University of Minnesota Extension Service. As we raised possible ideas to boost retail sales, NDDC Board Member Linda Schneewind suggested that we launch a campaign that focused on households with specific characteristics.

We met with a graphic designer, researched the costs of printing and mailing lists, developed a schedule and then asked ourselves, “What do we want to say about downtown Northfield?” Fortunately, the September edition of the National Trust’s Main Street News had an article abut branding.
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Spider John Koerner is coming to Northfield! Mark your calendars now: Thursday, February 23 at the Grand Entertainment Center in downtown Northfield. Showtime is 8 pm.

Who’s Spider John Koerner?

Check out the City Pages…

…or Minnesota Monthly…

…or Bob Dylan,

from his autobiography, Chronicles:

“With my newly learned repertoire, I then went further up the street and dropped into the Ten O’Clock Scholar, a Beat coffeehouse. I was looking for players with kindred spirits. The first guy I met in Minneapolis like me was sitting around in there. It was John Koerner and he also had an accoustic guitar with him. Koerner was tall and thin with a look of perpetual amusement on his face. We hit it off right away. … When he spoke he was soft spoken, but when he sang he became a field holler shouter. Koerner was an exciting singer, and we began playing a lot together.”

…as least temporarily, so folks could get a sense of how it might fit into downtown.

About two dozen people, including a number of elected and appointed officials, braved the nipping and eager air in Bridge Square Thursday afternoon to see Ray “Jake” Jacobson’s model of his proposed sculpture “Harvest”. Jake’s comments about the conception of the project and possible locations generated enthusiastic responses from the gathering.

Now Jake, and his supporters, will have their work cut out for them as they go about generating financial support for the sculpture. Go, Jake, go.

(Photograph courtesy of the sculptor’s official photographer, Susan Crow.)

I just got an e-mail with an important public service announcement. Lunch and Learn is back at the Northfield Arts Guild.

On the last Tuesday of each month from noon-1:00 p.m. the Arts Guild (304 Division Street) will host a series of lectures from experienced professionals on a variety of topics related to the arts.

The cost of the lectures is $3.00. Bring a brown bag lunch, or for an additional $6.50 you can pre-order a boxed lunch prepared by Bon Appetit. Beverages provided. (Orders for a Bon Appetit boxed lunch must be received by noon on the Friday before the lecture.)

Here’s the presenters and topics for the immediate future of the series:

Jan 31: Robert Anderson, photographer and media arts teacher, willl speak about fine art photography and digital media.

Feb 28: Toni Easterson, designer and local artist, will talk about the presence of design in our lives and why it is of vital improtance.

April 25: Karna Hauck, art educator and mother of 4 will talk about how to encourage creative thinking and promote enjoyment for artistic activity in your child.

By the way, I’ll probably bring my brown bag lunch from Tiny’s. Their peanut butter and jelly sandwich is excellent.