Northfield Downtown Development Corporation

City of Northfield Finance Department Manager Kathleen McBride will be the guest speaker at the NDDC’s December Downtown Forum. The Forum is Tuesday, December 4^th, 8 am in the Riverview Conference Room, lower level of the Archer House, 212 Division Street, in downtown Northfield.

Kathleen, or “Mac”, will give a brief overview of the City’s financial structure and processes and then take questions from the audience. It is a rare and valuable opportunity to learn about one of the more arcane areas of city government.

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 663-0319 or rcurrier@nddc.org.

My buddy, and good friend of downtown, Jim Bohnhoff swung into the NDDC office the other day to tell me that his “Bird’s Eye View” Map of Northfield is going to be unveiled. The event is tonight, Thursday, November 29th, from 7 to 9 pm at the Northfield Arts Guild.

I dropped into the Arts Guild Gallery to grab an image of the piece, pictured in the background, and found much more than I had expected. I realized that Jim’s piece was part of the Arts Guild’s Member Show, now through January 5th, but I was really blown away by the extent and quality of the work. It’s really impressive.

So come on down(town) and check out the opening reception for the Guild Members and their work. See your friends and neighbors in the Gallery and maybe grab some dinner and/or a drink or make a little progress on your holiday shopping.

There’s always something fun going on in Downtown Northfield.

Come join the birthday party, celebrating 10 years of Mary Rossing’s business adventure in Downtown Northfield. Friday, November 30th, 7 to 11 pm, be part of the Present Perfect festivities at the Upstairs Rueb, 503 Division Street.

Mary started with an outlet for her studio creations ten years ago in the Nutting Block. She dug in deeper with retail when she rented the former Two Moons space in what is now Fashion Fair. Finally, she made a decision to truly invest in downtown, buying one of the commercial condos in what had been part of Jacobsen’s.

Retailing is an excellent creative outlet, according to Mary. Not only is there the window and display designing and product selection and promotion, every day brings problem-solving challenges that often push her creativity to new heights. Mary is always finding new ways to share her many talents with the community.

The rumblings of Griff Wigley and the giant cake continue. New rumors of a return of the Shop Local Boys emerge. So, come on down(town), dance to the Zillionaires, eat some cake, have some fun and say Happy Birthday Present Perfect.

I caught two of the more industrious elves, Linda Schneewind and Jami Klehr of digs, putting some decorative touches on the Santa’s House in Bridge Square. It’s become a holiday tradition in our authentic and walkable shopping district with its unique mix of shops and restaurants.

Santa’s House is part of the effort to encourage Northfielders to do at least some of their holiday shopping locally. In today’s Strib (Wednesday November 21) there’s an article about this topic titled: “Made in Minnesota gifts keep on giving”.

Lee Egerstrom, economics fellow at Minnesota 2020, author of “Made in Minnesota: The Value of Buying Local This Holiday Season”, is encouraging consumers to buy local products this holiday season. He suggests that even switching a small portion of your shopping will help create jobs.

Jamie Seeley Kreisman, of Beka Wood Products, a family-owned business in St. Paul, sees even more benefits. “We employ local people. Our employees spend their money here. Our employees support the local schools. I like the idea of supporting local families.”

Of course Northfield’s biggest “Shop Local” event of the season is the always popular Winter Walk, an annual event sponsored by the Retail Committee of the Chamber of Commerce. This year’s event is Thursday, December 6th, from 5 to 9 pm.

So mark your calendar and come on down(town) for friends, fun and shopping local.

You might think from the title that I was going to talk about the Santa’s House on Bridge Square.

The brain-child several years ago of (former NDDC Board Member) Linda Schneewind and (her husband) Eric Hope of digs, the delivery of this festive addition to the holidays downtown has been coordinated in recent times by (NDDC Vice President) Joe Grundhoefer, owner of J. Grundy’s Reub-N-Stein. After being stored in the “off season” at (First National Bank Vice President) Rick Estenson’s farm, the house was delivered a little earlier this year by Rick Pavek Construction.

In fact, I was talking about the curb work. In my five years of association with the NDDC, and my work with Joe, a topic near and dear to his heart, and no doubt at the top of his wish list, has been the repair of the much damaged curbs in downtown. As I walked from a meeting at Goodbye Blue Monday to the NDDC office this morning, I could see that Santa’s Infrastructure Elves were recognizing the fact that Joe must have been nice more than naughty this year.

So, ho, ho, ho, Merry (early) Christmas to Joe Grundhoefer and all the downtown stakeholders who have been patiently awaiting this (not necessary to gift wrap) present to the streetscape. You can be sure that we’ll be sending candy canes instead of coal lumps for Director of Public Services Joel Walinski’s stocking this year.