Northfield Downtown Development Corporation

The college football teams have their cereal bowl, the city council has its wrestle-mania, and in an effort to try to match all the media hype, let me say…

“Get Ready for the Granola Bowl”.

Carleton President Rob Oden and St. Olaf President David Anderson are the Downtown Forum Speakers, Tuesday, October 2nd, 8 to 9:30 am, in the lower level conference Room of the Archer House, 212 Division Street.

Although they’re old friends from their days in Ohio, both wax poetic on the importance of Downtown to their institutions, and love to talk about the many areas for mutually-beneficial cooperation…

…this meeting promises to be down and dirty, and the dirt will be purely organic.

At last year’s Presidential Forum, they talked about their goals for sustainability. Now they’ve both earned serious bragging rights through their impressive accomplishments in reducing their institutional footprints on our planet.

Come hear about their successes in 2007 and their goals for 2008 for the colleges and the community working together for a better Northfield.

Okay, maybe you’ve got to be a bit of a building code and the adaptive reuse of existing buildings wonk to truly enjoy it…

…but I’ve got to highly recommend Tracy Davis’ podcast with guest David Hvistendahl and Norman Butler.

If you really want to understand the challenges, and underlying issues, as well as get the minimum necessary background of pertinent details on implementing code requirements in historic structures (as well as get some first-hand insight into this whole “business-friendliness” issue), check it out at: Norman Butler and Dave Hvistendahl on building codes.

…in Downtown Northfield.

The Northfield Wine Club is holding a Syrah wine-tasting event from 7 to 9 pm this Thursday, September 20^th, at the Grand Event Center, 316 Washington Street.

Syrah is a grape that is often used to make dry red table wines. Participants in the event will be able to sample 19 different wines, gathered together by the Northfield Liquor Store.

In addition to the wine, there will be cheeses from Just Food Co-op and baguettes from Brick Oven Bakery.

Admission is free and the event is open to the public. For more information, call 645-5153.

Those Downtown Retailers are at it again.

They’re putting together a Fall Festival, Saturday, October 27th, 5:00-9:00 pm, centered in Bridge Square, in Downtown Northfield.

Sponsors so far include Grezzo Gallery, The Rueb, Tiny’s, First National Bank, Bridgewater Produce, Kids on Division, digs, and the NDDC.

Activities so far include: hayrides, a pie eating contest, pumpkin decorating, a haunted house, caramel apples, hot apple cider, Tiny’s Dogs on the Square, Lena the Horse, face painting, live music, a scarecrow contest between retailers and camp fires and ’smores.

Costumes are enthusiastically encouraged and pumpkins will be available for purchase that night on Bridge Square.

Phillip Spensley, Chair of the Northfield Arts Commission, brought me back a copy of the weekly newspaper from Burlington, Vermont. I visited Burlington a couple of years ago when my oldest daughter was looking at colleges. I loved it. Seeing the ads for the David Grisman Quintet and Emmylou Harris concerts reminded me why I liked it so much. There’s quite a bit of cultural vitality in that town.

The article that Phil recommended to me was about the growth of the area’s creative economy. The steadily increasing number of studios, including many focusing on the carving of granite, appears to be fostering other economic development.

One of the small towns undergoing a renaissance is Barre, Vermont. Young entrepreneurs have opened new restaurants, a brewery, a coffee shop, and a bakery in town. Although some people are concerned about gentrification, Sue Higby, director of Barre’s Studio Place Arts, calls it “downtownification”.

“Downtowns are places where you can leave your car, stroll around and really enjoy a diverse selection of small businesses”, Higby offers. She goes on to identify what she calls Barre’s core businesses, “We have real jewelers who repair, a cobbler shop, two hardware stores…”

It sounds like an authentic downtown to me.