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Northfield News
Northfield council continues focus on expanding multi-use trails, bike lanes with 2025 streets project
In advance of several important projects next year, Northfield’s City Council is focusing on making its growing network of multi-use trails and bike lanes more “complete, consistent and connected.” The package of projects set to go forward next year will include pavement reclamation along Washington Street, Laurel Court and Industrial Drive, plus mill and overlay work in the southwest part of town along adjacent sections of Maple Street, Lake Drive and Superior Drive. ...
Revamped Petalina Mercantile features locally sourced gifts, merchandise
Petalina Mercantile owners Derek Kruse and Ethan Solheid want their new store to be a destination gift shop. The 1,900-square-foot store at 313 Division St. S. is located in a historic building dating back to 1910. The space was previously home to the Scandinavian shop Petalina. When Petalina owners Dennis and Karen Vinar retired earlier this year, Kruse and Solheid purchased the store and have since completely revamped the space. ...
Tapper and Becker win 1st place in Northfield Stormwater Pollution Solutions contest
Liv Tapper (Grade 2-3) and Piper Becker (Grade 4-5) won first place in the 2024 Northfield Stormwater Pollution Solutions Poster Contest. Students from Spring Creek Elementary, Greenvale Park Elementary, Bridgewater Elementary, and Prairie Creek Community School submitted 50 posters for the contest. “We saw some really creative and unique posters this year. The students were able to ...
Northfield's truck driving academy moves drivers forward
On their very first day of school, students at Above and Beyond CDL Driving Academy get behind the wheel of an 18-wheeler, in order to overcome any intimidation they might have learning to drive a semi-truck. This introduction is part of the academy’s five-week class A course that mixes classroom time with behind the wheel instruction on late model tractors and 48-53-foot trailers. The goal is to ensure that students...
Ekern, Poole represent Northfield boys golf at state
The Northfield High School boys golf team finished its 2024 season by sending two golfers to the MSHSL Class AAA state tournament, which was held at Bunker Hills Golf Course in Minneapolis on June 11-12. Sophomore Elias Ekern led the Raiders with a two round score of 156 (75-81), which put him in a tie for 40th place on the state tournament leaderboard. Freshman teammate Miles Poole placed 58th at the tournament with a two day score of 160 (81-79). ...
Two Northfielders graduate with top honors from Carleton College
Two local Northfield graduates of 2020, recently graduated Summa Cum Laude from Carleton. Aydn Math and Jack Rizzo were two of eight Summa Cum Laude graduates from Carleton on June 8. Summa Cum Laude is the highest academic honor awarded by the college. It is awarded to students with a grade point average in the top two percent of their graduating class. This is quite an honor for these two young men with the hard work and dedication required for the past four years. This is also their first graduation celebration because they were the "COVID" graduating class from Northfield. Due to isolation and distancing at the time, their class did not have a graduation ceremony or any celebrations.
Dundas Women's Study Club celebrates 100 years of education, service
This month, the Dundas Women’s Study Club is celebrating what its 20 charter members wouldn’t have imagined: a centennial anniversary. When the club was formed on Sept. 16, 1924, the women established a name, a constitution and an objective: a focus on the literary and social culture of its members. For organizational purposes, they’ve adopted Robert’s Rules of Order and have a slate of four officers plus a historian. The club’s committees include program, social sunshine and centennial. ...
County approves controversial mine after 'inadequate' environmental review
After more than a month of organizing and researching complexities and concerns surrounding a possible gravel mine in northeast Rice County, many residents of Nerstrand were left disappointed. The Rice County Board of Commissioners approved the controversial interim-use permit to allow the mining operation and denied an Environmental Assessment Worksheet at the end of a four-hour meeting Tuesday morning. The decision left several members of the public feeling frustrated, especially after their coordinated effort to gather 100 signatures and petition for a third-party EAW. ...
City leaders mark transit hub development with groundbreaking ceremony
Holding golden shovel heads aloft, Northfield city leaders broke ground Wednesday afternoon on the new Northfield Transit Hub, which will be located just north of the restored Northfield Train Depot. State Rep. Kristi Pursell, Mayor Rhonda Pownell, City Administrator Ben Martig, City Engineer Dave Bennett, Chamber President Jane Bartho, and Save the Depot Director Alice Thomas tossed a shovel full of dirt in the air while more than 75 community members cheered them on. ...
Schulz Electric celebrates 50 years of lighting Northfield
Schulz Electric has been lighting up Northfield area businesses, farms, developments and residences since 1974. Over the years, Schulz has installed the lighting systems at Reunion, Redemption and Culver’s restaurants, Imminent Brewing, Northfield Public Library, the Laura Baker Campus and the streetlights along historic Division Street downtown. All of that electrical wiring was done by a family-owned company based on the city’s northside that has so far, only been passed...
Northfield girls track finishes up at state; Livingston, Beaham make podium
The Northfield High School girls track and field team capped its successful 2024 season with several solid performances at the recent MSHSL Class AA championship meet, which was held at St. Michael-Albertivlle High School on June 7-8. Tops on that list were two trips to the podium by Raider athletes in the 100 meter hurdles and the 300 meter hurdles. Sydney Livingston, a ninth grader, earned All-State honors with a seventh-place finish in the 100-meter hurdles at 15.80, and junior Emily Beaham placed seventh in...
Northfield boys compete at state track; Feig earns All-State honor
Stephen Feig led Northfield High School at the 2024 MSHSL Class AA boys track and field state championship with an eighth-place finish in the pole vault. In the meet, which was held at St. Michael-Albertville High School’s track complex June 7-8, Feig gained All-State status with a top vault of 13-6. Brian Schloeder of Rockford gained top honors in the event at 15-7, while Feig tied for eighth place along with Nathaniel Bear of Chicago Lakes at 13-6. ...
315 Raiders receive high school diplomas Sunday
Despite a persistently fierce wind that challenged morterboards and balloons, robes and ribbons, 315 Northfield High School graduates walked across the stage at Memorial Stadium Sunday afternoon to receive their diplomas. NHS principal Shane Baier delivered the opening remarks to the assembled crowd in the stadium and on chairs on the field. Baier referenced the John Mayer song, “Waiting on the World to Change” and told the graduates to stop waiting and be the change instead. ...
Visitors from Poland focus on Northfield's energy, climate projects
A group of visitors from Poland stopped in Northfield last week to study climate changes within a local American community. Members of the Northfield Rotary Club hosted the guests at various locations around town including the wind turbine at St. Olaf College, Carleton College’s geothermal system and the solar field on the west side of town. The group started with a tour of City Hall and stopped for lunch at the Northfield Public Library where they heard a presentation on the city’s climate action plan. ...
Northfield farmer testifies before Senate Ag Committee
Last week, four area farmers traveled to the nation’s capital to talk about how the agricultural industry can explore opportunities to support new and emerging farmers. According to the most recent Census of Agriculture, the average age of a producer in the United States is now 58, and in Minnesota it is 57. The subcommittee will highlight potential solutions to remove barriers for producers hoping to enter farming or ranching, such as land access and access to capital. ...
Rice County names 2024 Farm Family of The Year
The Larsons, headed up by Ray and Darlene, are the 2024 Rice County Farm Family of the Year. The family heads up Bridgewater Farm. Ray grew up on a small hobby farm west of Northfield and Darlene grew up on a dairy farm near Webster. Ray and Darlene got married in 1977, and they were able to buy Ray’s aunt’s farm west of Northfield on Highway 19. Over the years,...
Northfield council moves forward on Mill Towns Trail, streets plan
Northfield’s City Council has begun the process of moving forward with planned improvements to Mill Towns State Trail and nearby streets, ordering a pair of feasibility studies for a pair of southeast Northfield projects slated for completion in 2026. After securing $8.15 million in state assistance in the 2023 bonding bill, the city is committed to building 6.1 miles of the long-awaited Mill Towns Trail by 2026, along a route which will connect the current trail running from Dundas to downtown Northfield to the Waterford...
On the job with Rice County's emergency management director
Joe Johnson, Rice County's new emergency management director, wants everybody to have a plan and resources at the ready just in case a manmade or natural disaster strikes. Johnson, who took the job in late April, said his No. 1 goal is ensuring residents are prepared in the event of an emergency. “Have enough food and water for three days," said Johnson. "Ensure you have a plan to self- sustain...
THE RAIDERS RETURN: Northfield use extra game advantage to punch 1st ticket to state since 2016
The Northfield Raiders remembered what it was like to watch the Byron Bears hoist up the 2023 Section 1AAA baseball championship and celebrate their advancement to the Class AAA state tournament. They initially lost to the Bears in the championship semifinals, pulled out a win over Winona in the elimination finals and got their shot at rematching with Byron. Northfield won the first game, but the extra game advantage for the semifinals winner aided the Bears with a close 8-7 victory over the Raiders ending...
YMCA Camp Pepin maintains strong Northfield connections
For many kids growing up in Minnesota, summer wouldn’t truly be summer without going to a sleepaway camp by a lake. For Northfield native Erik Burton, that experience was transformative as a young camper, and later as a teen counselor, and now as an adult camp director. Today, Burton is the director of YMCA Camp Pepin. He’s responsible for maintaining the 40-acre site that sits on Lake Pepin, outside of...
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Northfield News has been serving Rice County, MN since 1876 and publishes Wednesdays and online at www.NorthfieldNews.com
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