By Teri Knight, News Director
The 2021 Northfield street projects were approved but without an additional trail connection. Engineer Sean simonson laid out the project for the Mayflower Hill area on the eastern edge of Northfield and the frontage roads along Hwy 3, “and the 3rd project area is the East Cannon River Trail connection. This would be off of Honeylocust Dr. which would be on the southwest portion of Northfield near the Northfield/Dundas city limits”. And also a trail connection from Babcock Park. The motion was to approve the project with the trail at an additional cost of $300,000. C. Zweifel said, “this link provides a key link to our commercial highway and areas out there by the Target and the Cub and I can really see this providing some key infrastructure for people that want to
walk and bike to that commercial node down there. So we’ve been talking about it for years and I’m excited that it’s on the agenda”. C. Ness said, “I am just not convinced that $300,000 is the right thing to spend right now. I think finances is going to be such a big issue in the next 12 months to 18 months. I would love to see that connection but I don’t think this is the time to do it. It’s just too much money to spend on a project like that”. He said that’s a want, not a need at this time. DeLong also said he would not vote for it. This action needed a super majority and with C. Nakasian absent, it did not pass. Mayor Pownell wants to bring the trail item back to council as a separate item on October 20th, likely with a full council. Administrator Martig was in studio with a full recap of the meeting. His interview is HERE. More information on the 2021 project in the Mayflower Hill area and the Hwy 3 frontage road work is HERE
Thelen is “Spreading the Love” throughout the Community
Gerie Thelen and Dale Lewis have created a tree of hearts, which was installed on the corner of Division and 6th St. at The Armory yesterday morning.The sculpture was made possible by the Artists on Main Street project through the Northfield Downtown Development Corporation and Northfield’s Arts and Culture Commission. Thelen enlisted the help of metal artist, Dale Lewis for the piece, “Spreading the Love”. She said, “we worked together over the years. He created a 7 foot tree with branches that we attached fused glass multi-colored hearts on”. Along with the substantial work with rebar to create the tree, there are 48 fused glass hearts attached. She bought 500 pounds of glass and hauled it down to her studio, then set to work cutting the pieces of the hearts. The tree equals community, heart equals the love of community and the multi-colored hearts equals all are welcome in our community. Thelen said this project really touched her heart and allowed her to find her voice as an artist, saying, “I feel my role as an artist is going in a different direction than I’ve dreamt of. I would like to try and expand this program to other cities”. She’s already been contacted by someone in northeast Minneapolis. She says life is not a solo act, we need each other. Thelen’s next focus is finding the heart of Northfield. She’s invited all the local businesses to participate in a scavenger hunt. Thelen explains, “every business that has agreed to be a part of the scavenger hunt will have a 6 inch heart like that is on the tree. And the scavenger hunt is to go through all the businesses downtown and find that heart”. The Northfield Chamber will have information and the first 5 people who find all the hearts will win a garden stake with one of her multi-colored hearts. Look for the information next week. Paisley Gardens is selling the heart garden stakes, there will also be pendants and suncatchers at the Arts Guild. Listen to Gerie’s full interview is HERE.
KYMN’s Election Guide
KYMN’s Jeff Johnson continues interviewing candidates for Northfield Council and School Board. Upcoming will be the mayoral candidates. The interviews are on our website kymnradio.net and also linked in our Election Guide which includes candidate surveys for District 20 Senator, District 20b House, Northfield Mayor and Dundas council candidates. We’ve also linked the Chamber of Commerce and League of Women Voters candidate forum for them all. Hear them in their own words, not sound bites. Click on the Election Guide in the upper left hand corner. Feel free to share this LINK.
Shop for a Cause in Northfield
