Two, three and four part harmonies…
…popular tunes from the 16th, 17th, 18th, 19th and 20th Centuries…
…and, jaw-dropping flute solos…
…Reve du Faun rocked the Grand.
Maybe we can get them back for St. Pat’s Day. Yo Jims Bohnhoff and Pokorney, I’ve got their number….
(…by the way, I attended the performance, wrote this blog and still caught the game in the 8th inning with a 1-1 tie…sometimes everything works out darn near perfectly.)
Jan Shoger and Tim Lloyd, long-time Northfield residents and highly respected artists, are exhibiting their work at the Northfield Arts Guild gallery. The Opening Reception is tonight (Thursday, October 19th) from 7 to 9 pm.
Jan, who taught at St. Olaf College, and Tim, who taught at Carleton College, have spent decades contributing to the local art scene. Regionally and nationally recognized, this show marks the first time Jan and Tim have shown their work in Northfield since retiring.
The unifying theme of the work is nature. Jan (print-maker) and Tim (metalsmith) are joined in the exhibition by (Northfield-born) Steve and Becky Lloyd (potters).
Although the show conflicts with the NDDC’s Third Thursday Event at the Grand, community members are urged to attend the opening (in costume), greet the artists, check out their work, and then stop by the Grand in time to catch the last set, have a nightcap and enjoy the gathering of friends and neighbors…
…all in Downtown Northfield.
At the most recently NDDC Downtown Forum, a few of the audience members challenged the College Presidents to contribute more to the community. In a follow-up article in the Northfield News (buried deep in the paper), I was quoted as saying that I always found the colleges willing to work with and contribute to the community and suggested that maybe folks were either not asking the right question or not offering the right opportunity.
The NDDC just completed its second annual Welcome Parents and Familes Bag project and the colleges couldn’t have been more helpful. The bags are filled with coupons and goodies from local retailers and restaurants, along with information about Northfield and our ever-popular Downtown Directory. The parents seem to absolutely love them.
And what did the colleges do? They contributed rooms for the assembly of the bags, they provided workers to fill the bags, they gave us coffee and baked goods to nourish the volunteers and then set up spaces for us to distribute the bags. No, I didn’t ask them to hand over cash, I just asked them to work with us on a mutually beneficial project.
Thank you Carleton and St. Olaf! It was great. Let’s do it again next year.
Third Thursday event for October,
Reve du Faun,
at the Grand,
7 to 9 pm,
Thursday, October 19th,
$5 cover, free food, cash bar.
Drink like the Irish, Kiss like the French and ______ like the Norwegians.
What behavior are the Norwegians famous for?
It should be no surprise to anyone watching the Economic Development Authority and their efforts to craft an Economic Development Plan, Northfield’s success in attracting retirees indicates that we must have many of the amenities that are most desired by this group.
The topic is not unimportant to economic development. In Monday’s Wall Street Journal, there was an article on the topic. Apparently, what is most important to retirees is changing. Although weather and leisure remain significant, increasingly retirees are looking for a community where they can make friends and connections quickly, “whether its a small town or a walkable neighborhood in a big city”. One retiree described it, “You’re walking around, and you get to know your neighbors, you get to know the shopkeepers, because you meet them on the street”.
Hmmm, sounds like our authentic downtown with its walkable shopping district to me…
(more…)
