Category Archives: Downtown news

Enhancing Readiness for Business Succession

Are you part of the 60% of small business owners who were born between 1946-1964 who are nearing retirement? Do you have a plan for unexpected life transitions? Do you recognize the need for succession planning, but feel hindered by the cost, time and lack of resources?

The University of Minnesota Extension and VisionOne High Performance Group have collaborated to create a course that will help you prepare with a 10-week transition planning course, specifically designed for small businesses in rural Minnesota.

What will you gain by participating?

  • Build knowledge and ability to strengthen your business in preparation for a succession event.
  • Learn about resources in your community and how to leverage them.
  • Engage in an on-line learning community with other firms featuring five bi-monthly sessions including one 120-minute kickoff session and four 90-minute sessions to enhance your succession planning knowledge
  • In the alternating five weeks, business owner participants will meet in-person in their community with local economic development facilitators to apply their learning to your specific business.
  • By the end of the course, you will have drafted a formal, written succession plan that addresses and supports your most important business succession, personal wealth, and legacy desires and needs.

What is the commitment?

  • This program is ten weeks in length and will run from March-May 2020
  • Participate in the five on-line learning sessions – March 4, 18; April 1, 15, 29
  • Attend five local meetings in your community with other business owners and your economic development facilitator to complete the coursework for each session. Dates TBD.

What is the cost?

  • Because of a grant through the Southern Minnesota Initiative Foundation, your cost as a business owner is only $100.00 for the full 10-week course. If the registration fee creates a financial hardship, there are limited scholarship funds available through SMIF. Contact John Katz at SMIF for more info (JohnK@smifoundation.org).

REGISTRATION DEADLINE: FEBRUARY 15, 2020

Details and registration are available online at z.umn.edu/succession2020

Question? Contact Greg Siems (greg@nddc.org/507-645-5604)

Access to this workshop is the result of a partnership between the Northfield Downtown Development Corporation, the Northfield Area Chamber of Commerce & Tourism, and the Northfield Enterprise Center.

First Friday Art Night-October 4

5:00-9:00pm       William Kentridge: Universal Archive
Weitz Center for Creativity @Carleton College, 320 3rd St. East

South African artist William Kentridge has created an extensive body of interrelated works that includes drawings, prints, sculptures, artists’ books, films, and theatrical productions. His interdisciplinary approach to art is most often political. This exhibit

presents a series of linocut images printed on dictionary and encyclopedia pages. The images — trees, coffee pots, cats, typewriters, birds, horses, nudes, and self-portraits — are frequent characters in his  visual lexicon, and range from highly descriptive to gestural abstractions. This exhibition was organized by the Gund Gallery at Kenyon College and curated by Natalie Marsh.

5:00pm                 Cowtoberfest and Stein Hoisting 2019, The Contented Cow,
302 Division St. S.

5:30-6:30pm       Celebration of Artists on Main Street: Connections/Conexiónes,
Bridge Square

Join us for a concluding celebration of the 2019 Artists on Main Street project, “Connections/Conexiónes”. Remember “Raggin’ at the Depot”, “Selfie Shark” and “Geese Be Gone”? Meet some of the artists whose projects have contributed to creative placemaking in Downtown Northfield this past summer and learn more about how they brought their projects to life.

“Connections/Conexiónes” is a collaboration between the Northfield Downtown Development Corporation, the Northfield Arts and Culture Commission and the Northfield Arts Guild. Funding was provided by Springboard for the Arts and the Bush Foundation through a grant from Rethos Places Reimagined.

6:30-8:00pm       Graveyard Tango at Northfield Dance Academy, 640 Water St. S.

Find your inner Morticia and Gomez during this tango class with Brian Sostek. No partner needed. All skill levels welcome. Cost $20/person. Register at northfielddance.com.

7:00-8:00pm       Live music with Cannon River Currents at Imminent Brewing,
519 Division St. S.

 Helen Forsythe (banjo) and Delia Kain (fiddle) present a mix of folk, bluegrass, old-time and Irish music.

7:00-10:00pm     Live music with Nikki Walsh at Tanzenwald Brewing, 103 Water St.N.

Nikki Walsh combines the vocal precision of jazz singing with the warmth and intimacy of folk.

7:30pm                 She Kills Monsters, Haugen Theater, St. Olaf College,
1520 St. Olaf Avenue

The St. Olaf College Theater Department presents a production of She Kills Monsters by Qui Nyugen, directed by Assistant Professor of Theater Michelle Cowin Gibbs. Tickets available at 507-786-3332 or stolaf.edu/tickets.

8:00pm                 Stargazing Open House, Goodsell Observatory, Carleton College, 301 Goodsell Circle

Monthly every first Friday when skies are clear. Join Carleton’s resident astronomers to view the moon, stars, planets and nebulae. The event canceled if cloudy. Dress for the weather.

8:00pm                 Live music with James Lewis & the Jackpines, Imminent Brewing,
519 Division Street S.

Led by Northfield-raised singer and guitarist James Lewis, the South Minneapolis-based Jackpines bring an updated take to honky-tonky standards. Their players are steeped in rock, indie, bluegrass, jam band and Lutheran choral traditions. Collectively, they’ve curated a catalogue of country classics to get your boots scootin’ and booty movin’.

8:00-11:00pm     Live music with Ashes for April, Reunion-Eat, Drink, Gather,
501 Division St. S.

Four guys, six acoustic instruments and retro pop songs. Includes Lincoln Ashbury (acoustic guitar, mandolin, vocals), Chubby Ashton (upright bass, vocals), Rocco C’Ash (drums, percussion) and Mickey Mash (acoustic guitar, banjo, vocals).

Electric Vehicle Charging Station Now Available

Recently installed in Downtown Northfield MN . . . an EV charging station! There are two ports on the charging station and two dedicated parking stalls for use while charging your vehicle. The station is on the northwest corner of the 5th St. and South Water St. intersection. Pricing information can be found at https://na.chargepoint.com/charge_point. Be sure to move your vehicle when it’s fully charged as there is an hourly rate to park in these stalls when not actively charging a vehicle. This installation is a joint project of the City of Northfield and the Northfield Rotary Club.

This is the third electric vehicle charging station to be installed in Northfield. The other two are at Carleton College and St. Olaf College.

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New Downtown Banner design selected

The Northfield Downtown Development Corporation and the City of Northfield Arts and Culture Commission unveiled the winning design from their street banner competition last week. The new banners will be hung on lamp posts along Division Street and Water Street in downtown Northfield beginning this fall.

The winning artist is Steve Maus, a local artist and a staff member at the Northfield Public Library. “I’ve always wondered who the people were winning these contests. It was exciting to win,” said Maus.

The Public Art Review Committee (PARC) reviewed and selected the winning design. “Steve’s design is bright, bold, and eye-catching. It captures elements that speak to our history as well as our future as a community. We appreciate Steve’s willingness to work with PARC through drafts of the banner to arrive at the final design. We are so pleased and excited to have these banners up!” said Alyssa Melby, chair of the Arts and Culture Commission and a PARC member.

“It’s fun thinking about the many thousands of people visiting Northfield every year who will see these banners,” said Maus. Besides having his design displayed for thousands of visitors and residents annually, he also received $400.

The new banner features the words “Welcome” and “Downtown Northfield since 1855,” a silhouette of a windmill and buildings, and incorporates part of the city logo with the swooping blue and green indicating the river and farmland on a brightly colored backdrop of orange and yellow flowers. The winning design replaces the red, white and blue “Historic Northfield Since 1855” banners, which have been used since 2005.

The Northfield Downtown Development Corporation was awarded a mini-grant of $4,200 by Minnesota Main Street to assist with funding the competition, production and installation of the street banners.

Ten Northfield artists to receive “Artists on Main Street” grants

The Northfield Downtown Development Corporation (NDDC) was recently awarded a two-year $30,000 grant by Minnesota Main Street, a division of the Preservation Alliance of Minnesota, to fund an “Artists on Main Street” initiative in Downtown Northfield.

The Artists on Main Street funding inspired the NDDC, the Northfield Arts Guild and the City of Northfield’s Arts and Culture Commission to form a partnership called “Connections/ Conexiónes” which invites the local artist community to:

  • provide intriguing, welcoming gateways and/or views of our entire downtown area
  • engage with people who spend time near the river
  • create opportunities for people of all backgrounds to be more connected to our downtown area
  • draw people downtown to shop, eat, dine, and utilize our assets along the river

Ten artists or groups have been selected to participate in the first year of “Artists on Main Street”. They will use their works to draw people’s attention to the west side of the downtown district and connect the west side of downtown to Division Street. The locations where the art will be displayed include Ames Park, the Northfield Depot, the Riverwalk,  bridges over the Cannon River, and areas around Bridge Square. These art and performance pieces are intended to be temporary installations. The participating artists and their projects are:

  • Rob Hardy: “Poetry Posts”
  • Lorraine Rolvig/The Northfield Garden Club: “Northfield’s Hanging Garden’s in Plein Air”
  • Fletcher Coolidge: “Raggin’ at the Depot”
  • Alexis Valeriano” “Poems on a Bridge/Poemas en el Puente”
  • Oliver Jin Casima and Ben Heath: “Rays of Unity”
  • Sharol Nau: “Bridge Weaving”
  • Demian Jackman: “Selfie Shark”
  • Jim Rossow: “Totally Tubular Traveling Tubulum”
  • Suzanne Daehlin: “Love Makes the World Go Round”
  • Kathy Ness: “Goose Be Gone”

A kick-off event with the selected artists and the public will be held from 5-7pm on Friday June 7th on the downtown Riverwalk behind the Northfield Arts Guild building (304 Division St.) in conjunction with the NDDC’s First Friday Art Night to celebrate Northfield artists’ participation in this new initiative. Light refreshments will be provided.

The artists’ projects will be displayed or presented at various times and locations between June 2019 and October 2019. Further information about these projects can be found on the NDDC’s website, www.downtownnorthfield.org and the Northfield Public Library’s website, www.mynpl.org.