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Northfield News
Northfield author returns to familiar ground with latest book 'Beyond Barron'
In short chapters accompanied by two dozen black and white photos, local author Daniel E. Van Tassel continues narrating the events of his life in a sequel of sorts. “Beyond Barron: A Memoir” combines humor and insight to record an indelibly stunning variety of lifetime experiences. Van Tassel, a St. Olaf College graduate, with advanced degrees in literature from the University of Iowa, moved to Northfield in 2013, wife his wife Rhoda and daughter Abigail, who now lives two houses away. ...
Northfield baseball aims for section title with returning top performers
The Northfield High School baseball team completed its 2023 season with an impressive 16-3 record in its final 19 games of the season. Included in this run were Section 1AAA tournament victories over Faribault, Stewartville and Winona before taking Byron to the limit with a 4-1 victory and a close 8-7 loss in the Section 1AAA championship game to finish the season. The Raiders, which completed their 2023 season with...
Northfield softball looks to seniors to lead the way in 2024
A solid nucleus of four seniors along with an infusion of talented varsity newcomers both look play a key role in the success of the Northfield High School softball team in 2024. “We are going to be young as we graduated six starters from last year,” NHS coach Josten Colman said. “We have a big group coming up from JV and they had success at that level going undefeated against some extremely tough competition. It is almost a whole new group for us coming up...
Wetterling mother slated for book talk in Northfield
If You Go Author Patty Wetterling and journalist Joy Baker discuss the memoir “Dear Jacob: A Mother’s Journey of Hope” at Content Books, 314 Division St., on Thursday, April 4th from 7 to 8:30 p.m. ASL interpretation will be provided at this event. 9eb677dd-3f6e-4ff3-9a2d-f1e9b2b47115 Hope was the only thing to cling to after a mother in small-town St. Joseph, Minnesota learned that her 11-year old son Jacob had disappeared. The...
How We Die: Advocates say advanced planning helps to take control at end of life
Editor’s Note This is the second in the series of three Northfield News articles covering various phases of end-of-life planning. The next article in the series focuses on Northfield’s death midwives who assist the dying client in their journey towards a peaceful ending. “Death finds us all eventually.” That’s the opening sentence of a 40-page advanced planning booklet produced by Compassion & Choices that guides people through the process of...
Pints for Pride moves to The Grand Event Center
The second annual Pints for Pride, from 5-8 p.m. Saturday, April 6, will be held at The Grand Event Center. The fundraising event is organized by Imminent Brewing, The Grand Event Center and A Very Moxie Production. While admission is free, there is a suggested donation of $5. Funds raised will go to an annual scholarship program for LGBTQ+ graduating seniors and quarterly events that build relationships, foster community, and improve the lives of queer people in the Northfield area, particularly the fourth annual Pride...
Northfield girls golf returns majority of conference-winning squad
A team that has enjoyed a solid resume of excellence in recent seasons, the Northfield High School girls golf team looks to continue that run of success in 2024. The Raiders will return six of their top seven players from a 2023 squad that won the Big 9 Conference championship and placed second at the 2023 Section 1AAA tournament. “Conference-wise we should be the best team in the Big 9,”...
Speech, language services open communication skills for adults, children
Whitney Docken and Kari Holden are passionate about communication. That’s why the two women with master’s degrees in Communication Disorders decided to open Evergreen Therapy Solutions. Their Northfield-based speech and language therapy business offers children and adults personalized and comprehensive speech therapy services. The partners, both Northfield natives, opened Evergreen Therapy Solutions last summer. In their downtown facility, currently at 305 Division St., they offer both structured and played-based approaches...
Greenvale Township residents research 166 years of community leaders
One hundred and fifty-plus years before the internet age where digital data is stored on servers in off-site locations, history was methodically recorded by pen, ink and paper. Sometimes, those handwritten records contained information about the leaders busy building a sense of place, like those who founded Greenvale Township in 1858, back when it was called Green Vale, two words. The township, located just north and west of Northfield, has...
Discussion begins for stricter tobacco ordinance in Rice County
Banning flavored vapes and menthol cigarettes sales are among the proposed updates to Rice County's two-decade-old tobacco ordinance. But the tangible impact it would have is minimal. Tuesday's Rice County Board of Commissioners work session began with a 45-minute discussion about a number of updates to the county's current tobacco ordinance, which was enacted in 1998. While the proposals excited at least three local health advocates who spoke at the meeting, it's not likely to have much effect unless the municipalities follow suit. ...
Downtown Ace Hardware store reopens under family ownership
Randy Yoder needed a new garden pruner and twisty ties. Yoder, a certified business coach, said he waited to purchase those items until he could walk from his Water Street South office across the street to buy them at the reopened Northfield Ace Hardware store. On Monday morning, Yoder was the first customer inside the sparkling clean River Park Mall store. ...
Northfield High School alumni make their mark in St. Olaf athletics
Northfield High School has made a significant impact on the intercollegiate athletic program at St. Olaf College as several former Raiders are now competing as NCAA Division III student-athletes for their hometown college on the hill. The following is a rundown of those Northfield athletes at St. Olaf this academic year. Marcus Hauck and Oscar Hanifl, men’s swim and dive ...
Northfield residents call on council to adopt resolution supporting immediate ceasefire in Gaza
Hundreds of Northfield residents, including a significant number of students and faculty at Carleton and St. Olaf Colleges, are pushing their City Council to adopt a resolution calling for an immediate and permanent ceasefire in Gaza. Hoping that Northfield will soon join the small but growing number of Minnesota cities which have recently passed symbolic pro-ceasefire resolutions, several dozen city residents attended Tuesday night’s council meeting with protest signs in hand, looking to make their voices heard. ...
Northfield council considers latest ice arena options
Prodded by a passionate hockey and skating community, including athletes and families, the Northfield City Council is looking closely at the potential to build a new ice arena, this time hearing proposed designs from veteran sports venue architect Tom Betti of Minneapolis-based JLG Architects. After two months of background work, and guided by meetings with city staff and the Northfield Hockey Association, Betti produced two proposals, with the larger and more expensive option coming with a price tag of over $28 million. ...
Northfield Knowledge Bowl sends 2 teams to state
The Northfield High School Knowledge Bowl program qualified for its seventh consecutive state competition Feb. 29 in Rochester during the Southeast Regional competition. Knowledge Bowl competitions are interdisciplinary academic contests designed for students in grades 7-12. During the contest, teams of students compete in written and oral rounds by answering questions related to all areas of learning typical of secondary education programs. Questions test students’ recall, problem solving, and critical thinking skills. ...
Lessons in chemistry: In the studio with award winning visual artist
When she’s not tending to her Japanese indigo plants or harvesting natural materials to create dyes and inks for fiber and art projects, visual artist, educator and researcher Judy Saye-Willis is promoting and teaching art creation. She’s served on the Southeastern Minnesota Arts Council (SEMAC) board, the Minnesota State Arts board and as a member on the Rice County grant panel review board. In 2021, she received a Creative Support...
How We Die: End of life advocacy groups share their message in Northfield
For Dundas resident Julianne Donaldson, thinking about the most compassionate way for a human life to end was not the way her husband Don died. Donaldson, a hospice volunteer, called the five-month period from diagnosis until her husband’s death from esophageal and stomach cancer in 2016 “truly terrible.” “We tried everything,” she said. “It was painful physically, emotionally, spiritually.” She said she was so worried that he would try to...
Local Lutheran churches share new, young Northfield pastor
During Lent, Wednesdays and Sundays are a bit of a scramble these days for Pastor Joe Jorgensen. Especially Sundays. After delivering the sermon at 8:30 a.m. in Kenyon, Lutheran pastor Jorgensen drives to Faribault to deliver that same sermon at 10:30 a.m. The current service schedule will be reversed after Easter, so that Jorgensen, who...
Vintage record store opens in downtown Northfield
Whenever customers walk into Verbena Vinyl, they’d better have enough time to browse the record crates, sit and listen to some tracks and banter about recordings and concerts with owner Victoria “Vicki” Scott. Scott, who opened the vintage record store at 419 Division St. S. in early January, said she’s pleased that Northfield once again has a record store downtown. Before the pandemic, the city, home to around 5,000 college students nine months of the year, had always supported a couple of independent record stores. ...
At 65, Northfield Arts Guild celebrates its past, present and future
Sixty-five years ago, the Barbie doll debuted, President Dwight D. Eisenhower was finishing his second term, Bobby Darin’s song “Mack the Knife” topped the charts and “Gigi” won a record nine Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director for Vincente Minnelli. That same year, the Northfield Arts Guild opened its doors. According to Bruce William Colwell’s book, “Celebrating Arts and Community: The History of the Northfield Arts Guild,” 60...
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