Northfield Downtown Development Corporation

As usual, there’s a lot goin’ on in our Art Town. Once again, lovers of art and culture will have to make tough choices about where to spend their leisure time this weekend.

Of course, the hottest ticket in town is the Northfield Arts Guild’s “The Lady’s Not for Burning”. The buzz around this show in not just because of the performance of NDDC Board Member Rob Schanilec, although his work in this piece has been described to me as “amazing”, “brilliant” and “sexy”. Apparently, the themes explored hold great meaning for our times. It’s Friday and Saturday, 7:30 pm, and Sunday, 2 pm at the Arts Guild Theater, 411 West Third Street.

There is also MedusaHead Cabaret, Ted King and the DaDa ChaCha at the Upstairs Rueb, 503 Division Street, from 7 to 11 pm. Satisfy your craving for Beat Poetry, Hipster Jazz and Bukowski-Jung Cabaret with this ArtOrg production. Kick-off your cabin fever with the Northfield Winter Stomp, 7 to 10:30 pm at the Northfield Armory. Contratopia provides the music and local enthusiasts can provide instant instruction. Finally, there’s Julia and Irina Elkina, internationally acclaimed duo-piano artists. The performance is at 7 pm in Urness Recital Hall on the St. Olaf campus.

Saturday is just as full. Start it off with the Imagination Celebration, 10:30 am to 3 pm, at the Northfield Arts Guild’s Center for the Arts, 304 Division Street, Northfield’s All-School Art Exhibit. There’s the closing reception for the exhibit “Art Touring 2008″, a show of regional artists at ArtOnWater Gallery, 217 South Water Street, from 3 to 9 pm. Finally, check out the Lost Bayou Ramblers, a Grammy-nominated Cajun/Zydeco band, 8 pm in Severance Great Hall on the Carleton Campus. The event is free and open to the public.

“Another piece to the downtown redevelopment puzzle is on its way, as is more downtown parking.” No, it’s not Northfield, it’s Prior Lake and the article was in the South Extra section of the Strib. The paper was reporting on the highlights of Mayor Jack Haugen’s State of the City address last week.

“By the end of the year we expect to have at least one new multi-use downtown building project underway,” he said, “the building will follow the Lakefront Plaza and Rock Creek template as a quality multi-story and multi-use structure”.

I really appreciated the fact that the mayor of Prior Lake was highlighting a downtown in-fill or redevelopment project in his State of the City address. His appreciation for a traditional style of commercial development warmed my heart. We are fortunate in Northfield to have a solid base of multi-story and multi-use buildings. Encouraging such in-fill or redevelopment projects, with traditional design elements, would be a great use of our leaders’ social capital.

Even more heartening were his many statements about downtown parking. “We understand that we must create more parking, and soon. You can anticipate that in 2008 that additional parking will be created on city-owned property”, he said. I’d love to hear those words from our mayor or either of the downtown Councilors. Both the 3rd and Washington and 5th and Washington municipal parking lots could be turned into parking structures, as recommended by the, was it, 2000 Walker Parking Study. Taking advantage of the topography to create two-levels of parking, requiring no sacrifice of parking spaces for internal circulation, would be a great way to get more economic leverage from our existing assets.

According to the Strib, a complete text of the mayor’s speech and the slide show that accompanied it can be found at www.cityofpriorlake.com/mayors_columns.shtml. It’s worth a look.

In a recent exchange, Jerry Bilek, owner of Monkey See, Monkey Read, accused me of being a wimp. As a guy who generally doesn’t lightly pass on a challenge, I had to follow up.

I had admitted that although I try to commute to work by bicycle at least four days a week during the Spring, Summer, and Autumn, I take the car during the winter. Unless it’s ten below or colder, I run outside all Winter, so it’s not the “eager and nipping” winds that keep me off my bike, it’s the slippery surfaces. Jerry commutes by bike year round. He told me that the secret to success is in the tires.

Here is a photo of Jerry arriving at work this morning, as well as a close-up photo of the tires, the Nokia Snow and Ice 160s…or something like that… They are made in Finland, where they’ve got even more snow and ice than Minnesota.

I appreciate the fact that Jerry is so determined to keep riding his bicycle, even during the winter months. It’s really great that he’s leaving one more downtown parking space available for a shopper or a diner. However, even if I had the special tires on my bicycle, I’ll admit I’d still be a little hesitant about riding on ice and snow.

Hey, Spring is just around the corner…

…right?

Northfield’s own guitar wizard Peter Diggins, joined by bassist Jim Anton and drummer George Marich, will play at the Upstairs Rueb on Friday, February 8th, from 8 to 11 pm, as the trio Sizzling Eggheads, in an ArtOrg production. The trio was a major player in the nationally recognized Minneapolis music scene of the late ’80s and early ’90s, headlining such noted venues as First Avenue and the Entry, the Cabooze, 400 Bar, and the Uptown Bar & Grill. If you haven’t heard Peter Diggins play guitar, you need to pull yourself off the couch tonight and come on down to the Upstairs Rueb, he’s a local artistic treasure.

Just at the northern edge of Downtown Northfield, you will find a rather highly regarded liberal arts institution known as Carleton College. Tonight there’s a performance of selected chamber and solo works by composer Alex Freeman at 8 p.m. in the Carleton College Concert Hall. This special event, featuring performances by Chicago pianist Brian Lee and Finnish kantele musician Eva Alkula, along with members of the Carleton and St. Olaf music faculty, pays tribute to the work of acclaimed composer Freeman, now a professor of composition at Carleton College. Friday evening’s program will represent a cross-section of Freeman’s instrumental chamber works from the last seven years, including “Sonata” (2000) for piano and “Magnolia” (2002) for the Finnish national instrument, the kantele.

“The Girls” will be in concert on Saturday night, February 9th, at 7:30 pm at the First UCC Congregational Church, (300 Union Street…at the eastern edge of our emerging Arts and Culture District). Lori Dokken, Judi Donaghy, Erin Schwab and Debbie Duncan, popular Twin Cities musicians, bring their tight, four-part harmonies to jazz tunes, familiar ballads and R & B standards to Northfield. This is the concert that folks have been buzzing about for weeks. Tickets are available at the UCC Congregation Church office, the Northfield Arts Guild office or Present Perfect (419 Division Street).

Finally, there’s another rather highly regarded liberal arts institution, up on that western hill, known as St. Olaf College. Barb Brocker, a nationally recognized musician, will perform a unique solo concert of handbells on both bell tree and table. Also participating will be ringers from the St. Olaf handbell choir. That’s at 6 pm in Urness Recital Hall.

There are only seven days before Valentine’s Day. Although some may try to dismiss it as a holiday created to sell greeting cards, those of us experienced enough to have a shred of wisdom realize that it’s an opportunity to say something that we don’t say enough the rest of the year, “I love you”.

Admittedly we all may have many other things on our minds and on our schedules. Finding that perfect way to emphasize the saying of “I love you” can be a creative challenge to over-taxed minds. Fortunately, there is Downtown Northfield.

Linda Schneewind and Eric Hope at digs have jewelry, great cards and “lots of heart-felt knick-knacks” and an energetic and innovative staff to help you come up with a good idea. April Ripka at The Sketchy Artist has a fun and funky card selection, “How to Make Love” and “The Art of Kissing” books with advice from the 1930s, the Love Gun and cupid ammo and lots of materials to get creative and make your own valentines. Ally Beyer at The Rare Pair says that they’re having a jewelry sale from Monday to Thursday and suggests that a be.ology t-shirt would be an affectionate gift.

Jon Lee at River City Books has a little Valentine’s Day section set up with books for kids and adults as classic love stories (Jane Austen is always big this time of year). Kerri Houfer at Echo Used DVDs and Games has a good selection of romantic films, guaranteed to set the right mood. Jerry Bilek at Monkey See, Monkey Read recommends poetry this time of year, in particular he suggested Fourteen Sonnets by Joyce Sutphen (a handmade book by a regional artist) or Penchant by the Northfield Women Poets.

And, there’s the time-proven gift of love…chocolate…and Mary Rossing at Present Perfect has the McElrath Valentine Collection. Of course, Eileen Seeley at the Cocoa Bean always has a wide variety of sweets for your sweetie.

When in doubt, or really pressed for time, why not go out for drinks and/or dinner. Norman Butler at The Contented Cow is doing a wine special and Chapati is doing a Valentine’s Day dinner special. Joe and Jody Grundhoefer at The Rueb-N-Stein are offering a sirloin steak special for lovers who might ask “where’s the beef?” For couples for whom the art of seduction moves to the music of Tom Waits in a Biergarten, Tim Sellars of Tiny’s Dogs All Day recommends his (delicious) new Hot Dog Reuben, washed down with some 1919 Root Beer. Finally, Brad and Lula Valek, that’s B & L Pizza, believe that nothing says “Amore” like a Greek pizza and a bottle of red wine.

So for Valentine’s Day, Downtown is for Lovers: Love Local and Shop Local.