The Northfield City Council will discuss Sidewalk Dining at their Work Session tonight, 7:00 p.m., Council Chambers in City Hall. The City created a new ordinance last year to allow licensed establishments to serve customers on their sidewalks, if the business complied with the requirements of the ordinance. (more…)
If you live, work or play in Northfield, you must have heard about the Rock N Roll Revival. Who isn’t inspired by Big Hair?
On Friday, March 20th…it’s Rock N Roll Revival, 8 p.m., Middle School Auditorium, 2200 Division Street South, Karaoke, 9 p.m., J. Grundy’s Rueb-N-Stein, 503 Division Street, Carey Langer, the Contented Cow, 302B Division Street, and Jeff Ray, Tavern Lounge, riverside of the Archer House, 212 Division Street.
On Saturday, March 21st, it’s the Tuition Daddies, 6:30 – 9 p.m., Hogan Brothers Acoustic Cafe, 415 Division Street, Rock N Roll Revival, 8 p.m., Middle School Auditorium, 2200 Division Street, the Jerry Johnson Band, the Contented Cow, 302B Division Street, and Norwegian Cowboy, the Tavern Lounge, riverside of the Archer House, 212 Division Street.
On Sunday, March 22nd, it’s Politics & a Pint, 6 p.m., Northern Roots Music Session, 7:30 p.m., and Quiz Night, 8 p.m., all at the Contented Cow, 302B Division Street.
Joey Robison, Marketing and Members Services Manager at Just Food Co-op, sent me a link to an article in BusinessWeek titled “To Beat Recession, Indies Launch Buy-Local Push“. I guess the long-time advocacy efforts are finally getting the attention of the main-stream press.
The piece noted that independent and locally-owned businesses have long argued that the decision to “shop local” keeps your money in Northfield. Recently however, some people are noticing that the strategy may help a community weather the worst impacts of the current downtown.
It’s noted that such campaigns typically have three elements. First, they educate consumer about the importance of independent businesses to a community’s vitality. Second, they collaboratively promote shopping at local, independent businesses. Third, they give independent businesses a voice in advocacy efforts.
For some people, the economic impacts of shopping locally are obvious. Local owners generally buy from local suppliers, hire local service providers, and invest in local organizations. The article cites the often-reference Austin, Texas study that documented a 45 cent reinvestment from local independents versus the 13 cent figure resulting from national chains. These statistics were also quoted by the student from Prairie Creek Community School in today’s Strib article.
Finally, the story mentions two good resources for such efforts, the American Independent Business Alliance and the Business Alliance for Local Living Economies. The piece concludes with a slide show of successful campaigns around the country.
Thanks to Joey for the article and Griff Wigley for the photo.
The NDDC-led initiative on In-fill and Redevelopment moved to the next phase as the Four Economic Development Partners agreed to present the work plan to their boards for formal adoption.
Board and staff members of the NDDC, EDA, and Chamber of Commerce, along with a staff member of the NEC, joined by a number of commercial property owners and the Mayor of Northfield, reviewed the work plan resulting from the series of summits on in-fill and redevelopment held over the past few months on Saturday morning and gave it an initial “thumbs-up”.
The Partners, stating that their organizational priorities for 2009 include some of the tactics identified by the stakeholder input and that implementation efforts are underway, expressed their belief that the greater the coordination and collaboration of our efforts, the greater the efficiency and effectiveness in our outcomes.
The work plan, or “Matrix”, is a focusing and structuring of the one hundred ideas gathered at the three summits and, in its full format, includes assignment of responsibilities, time-lines, and outcome measures. It is summarized below in a table or view/download the PDF:
That would be the St. Pat’s Parade. You could be Polish, Pagan, and Purple and still be warmly welcomed to the Northfield version of this annual celebration. It’s this Saturday, March 14th. Meet at 2:00 p.m. to gather at Econo, the parade begins at 2:30 p.m., ends at the Carnegie Library, with festivities continuing all day long.
But first, Friday, March 13th, it’s Occasional Jazz, 5 to 7 p.m., The Contented Cow, The Little Prince, Haugen Theater, St. Olaf College campus, Rock N Roll Revival, 8 p.m., Northfield Middle School, Karaoke, 9 p.m., The Rueb-N-Stein, Draper Daniels at The Contented Cow, Joe Meyer at The Tavern Lounge (riverside of The Archer House), and Mark Mraz at Froggy Bottoms.
Then Saturday, it’s that parade thing, 2:30 p.m., EconoFoods Parking Lot to the Historic Carnegie Public Library, The Little Prince, 2:00 & 7:30 p.m., Haugen Theater, St. Olaf College campus, Get Down Tonight: Auction for the Arts, 7 to 11 p.m., Northfield Arts Guild Center for the Arts, Rock N Roll Revival, 8 p.m., Middle School Auditorium, Karaoke, 9 p.m., Fieldhouse, DJ Music, 9 p.m., The Rueb-N-Stein, Matt Arthur and the Bratlanders at The Tavern Lounge, The Options at The Contented Cow, and Lori Landry at The James Gang HideAway.
Finally, Sunday, March 15th, it’s The Little Prince, 2 p.m., Haugen Theater, St. Olaf College campus, Rock N Roll Revival, 2 p.m., Middle School Auditorium, St. Olaf Band Concert, 3:30 p.m., Skoglund Center on the St. Olaf College campus, African Fundraising Feedback, 4 p.m., The Contented Cow, and then the usual line-up of Politics, Roots, and Quizzes, from about 6 to 10 p.m. at The Cow.
