Pictured with owner Pai Yang are board members Mark Quinnell, Greg Kneser and Keith Covey.  One of them (to remain unidentified) said, “Hurry up with the picture, Ross…I’m hungry”.

Pai warmly greeted the long-time customers in our group and seemed optimistic that the construction work would soon be completed.  There were a number of full tables, with customers of all ages, as well as a number of “to-go” pick-ups, during our time there, and the place was a quiet oasis compared to the world outside.

Mandarin Garden has been located in downtown Northfield for 29 years.  After a few early years on the 500 block of Division Street, they’ve been in their present location for over two decades.

The 4th Street reconstruction is now scheduled for completion by the end of July.   Until then, like I said, good times and great food.

Tom is a long-time area resident.  He looked at several locations in the “greater” metro area, including many that were cheaper, but chose Northfield.  He said the community has a good reputation for specialty retailers and that people will travel a considerable distance for certain stores.

Tom believes that he can attract customers from both the Twin Cities and Rochester, as well as informed athletes from around the state.  His strategy is to back his quality products with the information necessary to help you succeed.

As for things that could be improved about downtown Northfield, Tom mentioned lighting.  He said not only are the streetlights rather inadequate, there’s also relatively little lighting on signs or buildings when compared to other towns around Minnesota.

Tom offered a number of new ideas to the NDDC Board.  To build better connections with the college students, he suggested a business showcase on the campuses in early October.  To raise awareness of his business, and to bring some people downtown, Tom proposed the Northfield 1-miler during the Taste of Northfield.

He’s definitely a new burst of creativity in downtown.  Just check out his model website at Fit to be Tri’d.

It’s got that “social” word in it.  It seems, at least to me, more like exchanging news, information, or gossip, over a cup of coffee (or a glass of wine), than like watching the news, reading the paper, or passively viewing television commercials.

Oh, and it seems to be linked to the internet.  At least I never heard of it before the the internet.  So, I guess I’ll say social media is communication generated, updated and/or modified by multiple (perhaps infinite) sources and disseminated through that ubiquitous world-wide web.

At any rate, the NDDC Communication Committee has long been discussing the 5,000 people who are part of our town for at least nine months a year, commonly referred to as college students, and who we don’t always seem to be successfully reaching.  Sometimes when I’m talking with one of those Carls or Oles, it’s obvious that they have a rather limited understanding of downtown’s offerings.

Committee members Dan Bergeson and Greg Kneser had a one word answer: Facebook.  Now, because I realized a couple of years ago that my collegian daughters no longer seemed to use e-mail and stay in touch with each other and their friends through Facebook, I knew what they were talking about.

Yeah, I’m on Facebook.  So are almost 100 businesses in Northfield.  Heck, I’ll betcha over half of the town is on Facebook.  In fact, with 400 million users, the site’s current population would make it the third-largest country in the world, behind only China and India and ahead of the United States.

Dan and Greg said it’s not just about the college students.  There are who-knows-how-many people who once lived in Northfield and want to “stay in touch”.  As our “friend” Maureen Valley said, “I love reading what’s going on in and around Northfield…I’m 1,500 miles away and miss the smallness and intimacy of Northfield”.

Facebook is a social networking site.  Social networking is just another way to build community.  The NDDC is all about building our downtown community.

So, a couple of weeks ago, we put Downtown Northfield MN on Facebook.  Check it out, hear what’s happening in Downtown Northfield, and join the party.

Years ago (I think it was shortly after John North headed off to Riverside, California), then-NDDC board member Dan Bergeson and I were troubled by the lack of a simple map of downtown.  Our response was the creation (with the talented Mr. Bohnhoff) of the ever-popular, annually updated Downtown Directory.

Of course, time and technology move on.  A year or so ago, we began looking into the creation of an electronic, interactive, map of downtown.  At first, it looked like it wasn’t going to be easy or cheap.

Then, for the second time in three years, I attended the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s Main Street Conference in Chicago.  There I learned about the CommunityWalk tool for creating interactive maps.

At first, a few of our stakeholders had some concerns about it.  However, as more Main Street communities adopted it (and perhaps because it was free), we decided to go with the CommunityWalk tool.

We took it slowly at first (with most of the work performed by the talented Miss Athena), seeking feedback from the board, and had to get some professional help (from the talented Mr. Wigley) to get it embedded on our website.  But now it’s up and working.

You can use the version at the bottom of our homepage, or check out the full-sized version.  We’re pretty happy with it; please let us know what you think.

Aquatic Pets has been serving Northfield for 20 years, or since 1990, offering a wide variety of products for pets while focusing on the aquatic variety.  They’ve occupied three locations in downtown during that time, on the west side of Dahomey Avenue (Highway 3), at the corner of Dahomey and Second Street, and now right in the heart of Northfield on Division Street.

Liz loves her Division Street location.  She says downtown is great; everything is within walking distance, making it convenient for multiple tasks.  Liz says that each store benefits from the others’ traffic and notices that when people come into her store they are often carrying bags from other shops.

When asked how the NDDC might better serve her business, Liz suggested more coordination of district advertising.  She advised that themes promoting the diversity of retail offerings in downtown and celebrating the independent ownership would be powerful messages.  She also recommended work on a program that subsidizes the cost of meeting HPC standards for building facades.

Liz identified parking as a problem of perception for downtown.  She noted that if the connections between parking and retail were clear and attractive, this might help.  While on this topic, she noted that the sidewalk and curb maintenance in downtown could be better.

Finally, Liz shared her concerns about rising commercial property taxes.  Although she offered that she has a great landlord who has shielded her business from these costs so far, she hears many stories of financial stress caused by this increasing burden from other local business owners.

Taxpayers should speak up about what services are truly essential, she advises.  Maintaining the existing infrastructure and supporting existing businesses, she believes, should be Northfield’s top priorities.

The bank has a long history in Northfield, going back to 1878.  Although Community has grown to include offices in Cannon Falls and Roseville, the base of operations remains in Northfield.  The bank has 75 employees and, as Don pointed out, uses a number of local vendors.

Northfield’s strengths, according to Don, are good people, with good work habits, and who have also proved to be good customers over the years.  The bank has long focused on serving the needs of local businesses and local property owners.

As for areas of improvement for Northfield, Don cited the number of road blocks that businesses can face in town.  He advocates for more streamlined processes and encourages the City to become more proactive in meeting the needs of the business community.

Don also wishes that the City would include financial feasibility in their analysis of potential projects; he doesn’t think that there is adequate consideration of the cost burdens that are sometimes placed on businesses by City requirements.  Finally, Don thinks more emphasis should be placed on supporting Northfield’s existing businesses.

Fostering an environment that is good for existing businesses will help attract new businesses, Don suggests.  He believes that Northfield offers a really good quality of life, with a wide offering of restaurants, goods, and services, and can be quite competitive with other communities as a location for businesses.  He does wish more stores were open after work hours, however; suggesting that some of our retail leakage comes from after-five trips to Metro stores.

As for offering advice to the NDDC Board, Don recommends collaborating with other groups on bigger, community-wide issues.  Among those he suggested are transportation and safety, as well as a stronger physical connection between the north and south of the Highway 3 corridor.  Such connections, Don argues, will benefit all of the business community.

Actually, the NDDC was conducting a board visit with Jessica Prill, owner of Oolala.  The art event was just icing on the cake.

Jessica gives downtown Northfield an 8.5 on a scale of 1 to 10.  She said it might be a full ten on a warmer day.

In a a theme that carried through a number of topics, Jessica said Northfield has a lot to offer, if you’re willing to go find it.  She said that we have anything you need to buy in town, an incredible wealth of cultural programming, and a good deal of information and services…if you’re willing to go find it.  Jessica notes that she’s energetic and assertive, but that these characteristics are perhaps sometimes too necessary to find what she needs in Northfield.

She loves the lay-out of downtown.  She notes that there are shops, restaurants, parks, a river, and even woods within walking distance.  She particularly enjoys making time for a picnic by the river on a sunny afternoon.

Jessica would like a little more foot traffic but admits that it seems to be at least somewhat related to the weather.  When the temperature drops, so does the foot traffic.  She thinks that the current economic challenges are national in scope and feels thankful that the presence of the two colleges somewhat lessens the local impact.  Jessica is optimistic that the warm weather will bring an upturn that will last longer than the season.

As for things she’d like to see in Northfield, Jessica quickly suggested a movie theater.  She’d also like a free Happy Hour for downtown retailers at least quarterly.  I’ll tip my glass to that idea.

That was the cake, now back to the icing.  Paintings, pottery and music…or local artists and local musicians, this Saturday, 6 to 9 p.m., Oolala.  It’s just the first of a monthly series, any artists or musicians who are interested, please contact Jessica.

The group works to tell Northfielders about the NDDC, tell the world about Downtown Northfield, and listen to anyone’s and everyone’s offering of ideas.  Some of the areas of specific interest, and effort, for 2010 re the monthly Downtown Forums, the effectiveness of the NDDC website and its relationship to the Northfield internet community, and closer collaborations with the colleges in marketing Northfield to the world.

At a recent committee meeting, the group’s discussion of potential forum themes demonstrated the diversity and creativity of the members.  Topics suggested for the Downtown Forums included Sustainable Development, Code Implementation for Historic Buildings, Increasing Economic Leverage from the Bike Trail, the Financial Needs of Small Businesses, Living Downtown, Northfield’s Internet Ecosystem, and College Student Drinking.

If you have some suggestions for future forum topics, mention them to Dan, Greg or Mark…or send me an e-mail.  We’re always interest in your ideas.

Garcia chose to locate his business in Northfield.  He promised his wife that they would be within 50 miles of St. Paul and he literally visited the communities in that defined radius.  Garcia said within minutes after arriving in downtown Northfield he had made his decision.

Monster Games has been in Northfield since 1996.  It employs 21 people, including 4 Carleton College alums, and has had a summer intern from Northfield High School for 4 years in a row.  Garcia noted that you could literally set up his company any place in the world and his customers are, in fact, all over the world.

The key to the company’s success is attracting talent, both artistic talent and technical talent.  Garcia offered that Northfield helps him attract talent: the coffee houses, restaurants and unique shops are of a great appeal, and the ability to walk around a historic downtown with a scenic river is a powerful amenity.  He mentioned that when his employees being to contemplate starting a family, they appreciate the cultural offerings that are enhanced by the presence of the two elite colleges, the quality of the public schools, and the safe neighborhoods within an hour’s drive of the Twin Cities.

Finally, Garcia offered that his customers from Japan love visiting Northfield.  They think it’s the Wild West.

Yee-ha!

Well, there’s also free hors d’oeuvres, a cash bar, friendly people and…a raffle.  Here are the raffle prizes, generously donated by downtown businesses:

2 Cities 97 Samplers Vol. 21

Original signed/framed photography by Dan Iverson (Anthologie)

4 $100 Downtown Shopping/Dining Sprees (yup! Four of ‘em!)

Year’s worth of Gourmet Cakes from The Ole Cafe

Year’s worth of Seasonal Bouquets from Forget-Me-Not Florist

Dinner for Two with Wine and an Overnight Stay at The Archer House

Hand-Selected Top-Shelf Case of Wine

$500 Downtown Shopping/Dining Spree

Some come on down(town), this Saturday night, and join the fun!