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Early voting opens at Northfield City Hall
Northfield voters can vote early in the primary election now through Aug. 12 at City Hall, 801 Washington St. in the second floor training room. Voting hours are Monday, Wednesday and Thursday 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Tuesday 7:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Friday 7:30 a.m. to noon. Additionally, City Hall is open Saturday, Aug. 10 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. and Monday, Aug. 12 from 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. for voting. Signs within City Hall will direct people to the voting...
Three Links Health Services celebrates 125 years in Northfield
IF YOU GO Three Links Health Services is hosting an anniversary celebration on Thursday, July 18 from 4-6 p.m. at Odd Fellows Park, 1011 Forest Ave. in Northfield. The event features a bouncy house, face painting, balloon art, live music and food. A free will donation will be taken. For more information, log onto threelinks.org . 95fe889b-9bfc-47e0-8d30-200412c90291 ...
125 years of Three Links history documented for book
Darlene Christensen Pfahning, an Odd Fellows historian, documented much of the history and stories of the orphans to create a memory book. For more than 10 years beginning in the late 1990s, she collected information from the orphans, photos and newspaper clippings. Pfahning lived with her parents on the Odd Fellows Home farm during the 1930s. Her parents met while working at the Home and married in 1929. Her father, Hans Christensen, managed the farm and her mother, Irene, worked as a waitress in the...
Canopy Jam offers two days of yoga, music, dance this weekend
If You Go For more details on Big Woods Movement Collective’s Canopy Jam 2024, log onto the website: https://www.bigwoodscollective.org/canopy-jam. cc6848e4-6951-45ee-b1be-9de3bfdcd76d Big Woods Movement Collective is preparing to host its second annual Canopy Jam, held this summer on Saturday, July 20 and Sunday, July 21 at two different Northfield locations. Shari Setchell, the new executive and artistic director of Big Woods Movement Collective along with her partner in movement Jenaveve Bell-Pittman,...
Healing community to gather at Odd Fellows Park on Sunday
A healing festival with nine local holistic practitioners offering mini-sessions for guests to sample their services is the idea behind a free outdoor event happening Sunday, July 21. A similar health and healing fair debuted at the Grand Event Center two years ago. This month’s outdoor event is titled “Putting Unity Back Into Community,” explained Leslie Reynolds, the organizer of the unique event that starts at 9 a.m. at Odd...
Northfield man identified as Lakeville drowning victim
A 26-year-old Northfield man was identified as the person who died in a drowning Saturday about 40 yards from the Antlers Park shoreline of Lake Marion in Lakeville. Reynaldo Antonio Patishtan Hernandez died after the flotation device he was using was capsized by a wave from a passing motorized boat, according to a release from the Dakota County Sheriff’s Office. Witnesses reported that Patishtan Hernandez and a 19-year-old man were...
All-day bus tour to teach area farmers best practices for healthy soil
After years of drought, the area finally got some much-needed rain. Then, more rain. And more. And more. It might even be more than farmers in Rice and Steele counties bargained for, which could impact the health of their farmland. Farmers with concerns about soil health might consider signing up for a new Soil Health Bus Tour from 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. July 31. The free event is organized...
With record rainfall, Sharing Our Roots farmers struggle for profits
Farmers at Sharing Our Roots are fighting to survive an abnormally wet summer. The organization, which runs a 163-acre farm located north of Northfield, advocates for equitable land access to immigrant, BIPOC and LGBTQ+ farmers and gardeners. Sharing Our Roots supports 200-plus immigrant, BIPOC, & LGBTQ+ farmers and gardeners across Dakota and Rice counties with land access and shared infrastructure. Charlie Zieke, communications director for Sharing Our Roots, said the...
Tractor Supply Company opens in Dundas
If you need a new pair of work boots, another bird feeder, shampoo for your horse or a kayak or riding mower, then Tractor Supply Company in Dundas might be your one-stop place to shop. The new store, located at 600 Schilling Dr., opened in the spring and celebrated its Northfield Chamber of Commerce ribbon cutting June 1. Since the pet friendly, big box store opened its doors, rural and...
Northfield School Board considers adding former member Hardy to serve temporarily
Dr. Rob Hardy, former Northfield School Board member and former Northfield Poet Laureate, will be asked to return to the board to serve as a temporary replacement for ailing board member Noel Stratmoen. Stratmoen, who has served on the board since 1980, submitted a letter outlining his illness to the board on June 19. He is the longest serving board member in Minnesota. In a recent e-letter to district families,...
County’s 1st full-time ditch manager right at home among the fields
It’s a homecoming of sorts for Jarett Spitzack, last month named Rice County’s first full-time ditch manager. Spitzack, one of the only kids in his Bethlehem Academy class dressed in work boots and Carhartts, spent two summers during college as a seasonal employee for the county’s Highway Department. Born into a farming family and raised in Walcott Township southeast of Faribault, Spitzack wears his rural Minnesota pride like an Olympic...
Northfield council considers temporary pause on northwest business district, in order to target specific development
With an eye toward fostering targeted types of business development, so as to broaden the property tax base and limit the tax burden on residential taxpayers, Northfield’s City Council is redoubling its focus on the northwest part of town. The currently undeveloped area west of Northfield Hospital was annexed by the city from Greenvale Township in 2009, with the vision that it could eventually help the city to grow its industrial tax base articulated in the 2008 Comprehensive Economic Development plan. ...
Northfield council considers temporary pause on northwest business district, in order to target specific development
With an eye toward fostering targeted types of business development, so as to broaden the property tax base and limit the tax burden on residential taxpayers, Northfield’s City Council is redoubling its focus on the northwest part of town. The currently undeveloped area west of Northfield Hospital was annexed by the city from Greenvale Township in 2009, with the vision that it could eventually help the city to grow its industrial tax base articulated in the 2008 Comprehensive Economic Development plan. ...
Rice County Fair to feature new shows, more vendors and music
Even after color-coding the fair manager’s massive keyring, he still has trouble finding the right one. Peter van Sluis, the new manager of the Rice County Fair, stressed that hardworking volunteers and funding from several grants make the fair possible. From 1 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday at 7 p.m., the 2024 Rice County Fair returns with upgraded buildings, a lot more venders and even a new show in the grandstand. ...
Cannon Valley Cinema 10 hosts free family movies again
Once again this summer, Merchant Bank has partnered with Cannon Valley Cinema 10 to offer community members free family-friendly movies once a week on Wednesday mornings at 10 a.m. The series started June 12 and will wrap up July 31. All ages are welcome. The free series started June 12 with “Rally Road Races,” followed by “Trolls Band Together” on June 19, “Despicable Me” on June 26, “Teenage Kraken” on...
New group seeks to connect queer youth with nature
Roy and Silo are a pair of male penguins who raised a chick named Tango in the late '90s at the Central Park Zoo. The split-gill mushroom has about 28,000 different sex types. These are just two of the thousands of examples of queerness in nature, knowledge Clean River Partners Community Engagement Coordinator Heron Mahr said could've helped them feel more comfortable with their identity growing up. That's why Mahr, who is nonbinary and uses they/them pronouns, helped spearhead a new group to get queer...
Cannabis businesses in rural Rice County paused until 2025
Inside incorporated cities of Rice County, businesses that are part of the cannabis industry are still permitted to operate. In the rural areas though, they’re likely to wait until next year. The moratorium was placed by the Rice County Board of Commissioners Tuesday morning during a regular business meeting. It’s purpose is to give county staff enough time to study how Rice County cities have approached regulation of cannabis businesses. Cannabis is also known as marijuana, recreational use of which was made legal in Minnesota...
Northfield to host Bike MS, needs volunteers
Three hundred cyclists will be pedaling in and around Northfield on Sunday, July 21 when Bike MS: Ride Across Minnesota kicks off its five-day cycling event, which will end here on Friday, July 26. The annual cycling event is dedicated to raising funds and awareness for multiple sclerosis (MS) research. Bike MS is the largest fundraising cycling series in the world, with nearly 50,000 cyclists and more than 5,000 teams participating each year. Funds raised support the National Multiple Sclerosis Society’s mission to tackle the...
Carleton bridge team to compete it North American championships in Canada
Carleton College’s student bridge team was invited to compete in the 2024 Collegiate Bridge Bowl, held during the 2024 Summer North American Bridge Championships in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The team of four students earned a travel package to compete in Toronto after participating and placing in sanctioned online college tournaments throughout the spring 2024 semester. The Carleton team is among 10 universities that were awarded free travel packages to Toronto on July 25-27. They will compete against university teams from Canada and the United States...
History of pizza in Northfield detailed at new History Center exhibit
Pizza was a novelty food in the 1950s and 60s when it was first introduced in Northfield. According to historical records, the Ideal Cafe at 317 Division St., served the first pizza here in 1952. The stories behind that first slice and those first pies has been documented in storyboards and videos in a new exhibit opening this week at the Northfield History Center, formerly the Northfield Historical Society. The...
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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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