Northfield Downtown Development Corporation

I traveled to Alton Bay, New Hampshire to celebrate my parents’ 50th Wedding Anniversary. Here I am on the top of Mount Major, overlooking the mouth of the bay, having made the approximately 2 mile climb with my two daughters. Note the Northfield Milk T-shirt, available at the Historical Society’s shop.

While there, I took my annual trip to Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Unfortunately, I didn’t have my camera with me (we’d spent the day at the beach) or I would have snapped a shot of Portsmouth’s new downtown banners. They say “Art Town“.

Maybe we’re working too hard here in Northfield…

Well, there’s a variety of arts, recreations and cultures available to us in this great nation/state/town of ours. In case you don’t recognize it, this is Fenway Park, on “New Hampshire Day”, where the Red Sox beat the Orioles 11 to 9 last Sunday afternoon.

From left to right, me (yes, wearing Red Sox cap and shirt…when in Beantown, render unto Papi what is Papi’s, or something like that…), my brother Ben (of the Red Sox Nation in Venice Beach, California), my brother Tad (wearing Chicago Cubs clothing…well, he did grow up in Mount Prospect, Illinois) and my father (Amesbury High School in Massachusetts, Bowdoin College in Maine…yeah, he’s a life-long Red Sox fan).

Vacation’s over, it’s back to work. The Red Sox better beat the Yankees this weekend if they’re planning on post season play, ’cause the Twins are going to win the Wild Card slot, if not more, and the second place participant in the playoffs will be from the Central Division.

For the NDDC’s August Third Thursday event, we’re going back to the movies. We’ll be featuring Downside Up: how art can change the spirit of a place, a documentary film about Mass MOCA in North Adams, Massachusetts.

Experiencing a decline due to changes in the world economy, this community decided to build their economic development future on a base of art. It wasn’t quick or easy but the early indications are that it was a solid plan and has been successfully implemented.

The short film will be followed by a discussion of the Mass MOCA story, the NDDC’s August Downtown Forum on ArtsPlan’06, and the Arts and Northfield’s Economic Future.

So join us, Thursday, 7 to 9 pm, at the Grand.

Okay, just for the record, I’d like it to be know that I think it should be “Shop Locally, Eat Locally, Create Locally”. But hey, it’s all about promoting community economic development.

From A Taste of Northfield to the Building for Creative Professionals, the NDDC advocates investing in our community. Now there’s a new twist to this theme. Just Food Co-op is encouraging people to eat 80 percent of their diet from food produced in the five-state region for six weeks.

Just Food, like the NDDC, believes that working to keep your money in Northfield is good for both the local economy and the global environment. So take the challenge, and enjoy some of that local produce, now available at the Northfield Farmers’ Market and other area establishments.

Perhaps you too have been at least peripherily following the Miss Rockaway Armada. It’s a group of a couple of dozen or so artists floating on a raft (shown here under construction) from St. Paul to St. Louis. This morning I actually visited their website. I found it to be rather interesting.

I suppose that I shouldn’t have been surprised to learn that they have some philosophical underpinnings to their quixotic quest. I expected their expressed desire to interact with the communities along the river, sharing art and absorbing culture. What really caught my attention was their concept of Pirate Utopias or, more specifically, Temporary Autonomous Zones (TAZ).
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