Here I am with Jerry Johnson, of the Minneapolis Public Schools, making room for more trash in the receptacle. As you may have heard, the First Annual Taste of Northfield was pulled together three weeks to the day between an NDDC Board Meeting and the actual event. In fact, as Joe Grundhoefer reminded me, we didn’t have our first (and only) organizing meeting until the following Wednesday, so it was really closer to two weeks.

Several people have suggested that this “No Time for Meetings” model might be a new paradigm for Northfield. The event seemed to come off quite well in spite of the lack of meetings…or maybe because of it. Perhaps we were all just too busy getting ready to debate positions and too needing cooperation to mark out territory. Or maybe we were all so focused on making it happen that it seemed like a lot more fun than work.

Well, I suppose a little more planning would have saved me from emptying the trash receptacles by hand nine or ten times to make room for more waste. Thanks to Jerry Johnson (above), Sarah (Cox) Currier of the Prior Lake-Savage Public Schools and Wendell Ellis of SpeachGear for helping me empty trash receptacles during the event.

And thanks to Tristan Cox of Northfield Construction, Rick Estenson and Dave Shumway of First National Bank, and John Daniels, an unsuspecting friend of Rick Estenson, for hauling the picnic tables and street barricades to and from Bridge Square for the event.