Northfield Downtown Development Corporation

The Northfield Downtown Development Corporation (NDDC), in collaboration with the Northfield Arts and Culture Commission, will seek stakeholder input on arts and culture policy at its August Forum, scheduled for Tuesday, August 5th at 8 a.m. in the Riverview Conference Room, located in the lower level of the Archer House, 212 Division Street, in downtown Northfield. The gathering is the intellectual kick-off of the Fifth Annual ArtSwirl Festival. The public is invited to attend and encouraged to participate.

Home to a number of institutions, galleries, venues and studios for a wide range of artistic mediums, Northfield is poised on the brink of regional recognition as one of Minnesota’s most vibrant “Art Towns.” With St. Olaf College’s recently completed arts facility considered among the top-rated in the country, and Carleton College’s proposed Arts Union promising a new paradigm in arts education, Northfield could soon be winning national recognition as an arts incubator.

A growing number of people in the community believe that arts and culture can lead the way to creating and supporting a new economy. The NDDC and the Arts Commission seek to generate ideas, to be presented to the candidates in the upcoming election, as well as offered to the city’s boards and commissions and community’s organizations and groups, of policies that can enable Northfield to maximize the potential that this sector holds for our local economy.

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 (507) 663-0319 or rcurrier@nddc.org.

…between the gentleman on the right and yours truly in purely coincidental.

Okeh, I’ll admit it, I play bass guitar in Blue Moon. My band mates have wondered why I hesitate to promote our band on this website and so I finally succumbed to peer pressure. We (Jerry Johnson, Lance Heisler, Wendy Smith and me) are playing tonight (Friday, August 1st) at the Contented Cow. As a special treat, we’ve got musical guest Inga Johnson playing fiddle for family and friends before she heads back to Ripon College.

Also tonight, the Norwegian Cowboy is playing at the Tavern Lounge. Head to the riverside of Northfield’s Historic River Inn, the Archer House, to hear his wide range of music, creative pronunciations of foreign languages, and unique brand of locally loved entertainment.

Finally, it’s the Merry Wives of Windsor, 7 pm, on the Central Park Stage. John Falstaff, one of Shakespeare’s deepest and most human characters, leads the action in perhaps the Bard’s most popular comedy. He tries to trick a couple of women in matters of love and money and, in a familiar turn, ends up the fool. Falstaff takes it well, accepting responsibility for his actions, laughing genuinely at his own foibles, and inviting everyone back to his place for brews by the fire. Ah, we can all learn something from the fat and happy Sir John.

Saturday night, The Merry Wives are again in the Park, Spruce Top Review (musical interpretations that are “familiar and obscure”) is at the Contented Cow, Mark Mraz (Northfield’s “piano man”) is at Froggy Bottoms, and Cam Waters (”understated, expressive singing and simple yet inventive finger-style and slide guitar playing”) is at the Tavern Lounge.

Then Sunday, it’s Politics and a Pint, at the Contented Cow. Moderator Bruce Morlan will be out of town so it’s rumored that Proprietor Norman Butler will be assuring truth, justice and the pursuit of happiness for this weekly session.

I stopped by Sisters Ugly to pick up my copy of Meredith Fierke’s “The Procession”. Quite popular here in Northfield, local artist Fierke has been steadily building a regional following. I’ve caught her at the Upstairs Rueb, the Contented Cow, and at last year’s ArtSwirl.

Meredith returns to ArtSwirl this year as a featured artist. Fierke and her band will perform a special CD release concert on Friday, August 8 at Northfield’s historic Grand Theater (at the corner of 4th and Washington Streets) in Downtown Northfield, along with special guest Scaredy Cat Blackie. The doors open at 8 pm.

You can catch a preview of Meredith’s music on the Cities 97 Radio. That’s right, Meredith and her music will be on this Sunday, August 3rd, at 10 pm…or streaming at www.Cities97.com

So, check out Meredith on the radio this Sunday and then come on down(town) to ArtSwirl and join in her CD release party at the Grand.

Those colorful banners have appeared again. The 5th Annual ArtSwirl, a celebration of art and artists in Northfield, begins next week. This year’s festival features even more events and activities, focused primarily in our historic downtown and concentrated in one very long weekend. The briefest of summaries appears below:

Tuesday, August 5th

8 am - NDDC Forum: Arts and Economic Development Policy Platform - Archer House

Wednesday, August 6th

12:15 pm - Noontime Organ Recital - Skinner Memorial Chapel, Carleton College

7 pm - Books & Stars - Northfield Public Pool

7:30 pm - Summer Sonnets Writers’ Night - Central Park

Thursday, August 7th

12 pm - Japanese Garden Tour - Behind Watson Hall, Carleton College

5-7:30 pm - Chainsaw Sculpture Demonstration - Bridge Square

6-8 pm - ArtSwirl Kick-off - Bridge Square - featuring breakdancing performance, “Edible Art Walk,” and arts & crafts activities for kids

7 pm - Theater in the Park: The Merry Wives of Windsor - Central Park

7:30 pm - Bridge Chamber Music Festival Concert - Urness Hall, St. Olaf College

7:30-9:30 pm - Street Dance Featuring Popular Polka Band, DyVersaCo - Bridge Square

9 pm - Local Music Live in the Pubs

Friday, August 8th

12:15 pm - Noontime Organ Recital - Northfield Methodist Church

6 pm - Northfield Arts Guild Ballet - Pedestrian Bridge over the Cannon River

5-9 pm - Chainsaw Sculpture Demonstration - Bridge Square

7 pm - Theater in the Park: The Merry Wives of Windsor - Central Park

7:30 pm - Storytelling: Real Lives Aloud - Northfield Arts Guild Theater

8 pm - Belly-Dancing Performance by Inara - Chapati

8 pm - Meredith Fierke CD Release - Grand Event Center

9 pm - Local Music Live in the Pubs

Saturday, August 9th

10 am-9 pm - Chainsaw Sculpture Demonstration - Bridge Square

12-6 pm - Artists’ Market - Bridge Square

12-9 pm - Performing Arts on the Showmobile Stage - Bridge Square

6-9 pm - Downtown Gallery and Studio Crawl - Downtown Northfield

7 pm - Theater in the Park: The Merry Wives of Windsor - Central Park

9 pm - Local Music Live in the Pubs

Sunday, August 10th

12-5 pm - Greater Northfield Studio Tour - Surrounding Communities

2 pm - Bridge Chamber Music Festival - Studio A, St. Olaf College

6 pm - Politics and a Pint - a lively discussion of the arts in Northfield - Contented Cow

As you can see, there’s a lot to choose from in this festival. So come on down(town) and all around Northfield and enjoy ArtSwirl.

That’s how I might describe how much is going on in our town this weekend, at the slow end of July.

Moments after the Sundowner Classic Cars drive into the sunset, the 50s and 60s music by KRDS Radio fades away, and Crazy Daze ends until next year, the entertainment picks up again for the weekend.

Thursday night there’s Charlie Parr at Hogan Brothers Acoustic Cafe, 7 pm, Study Hall with Peter and Terry at The Contented Cow, and Tony Newes at The Tavern Lounge, riverside of the Archer House.

Friday come on down(town) and check out Annie Get Your Girlfriends, a women’s health event with over 20 business participating in the activities and prizes in downtown Northfield, starting at 4 pm, Steve Kelly and Occasional Jazz, 5:30 pm, and Marty Anderson and the Goods, 8:30 pm, at the Contented Cow, and Joe Mayer at the Tavern Lounge.

Saturday night, Bonnie and the Clydes (that’s Bonnie Jean Flom, Bill McGrath and Scott McMillan) are at The Contented Cow and Jeff Ray is at the Tavern Lounge.

Finally, Sunday, it’s Northfield’s most vigorous and/or virulent art form, Politics and a Pint, 6 pm at The Contented Cow.

Thanks to Griff Wigley for the photo of Steve Kelly and his musical gang.