By Rich Larson, News Director
Early voting has been underway for a few weeks in Minnesota, and with less than a week to go before election day, people are being encouraged to take advantage of the options available to them.
If you requested an absentee ballot but have not sent it in, you are strongly encouraged to do so as soon as
possible. Rice county’s recommended date to mail your ballot in was on Tuesday, but under state law there is still time. Ballots must be postmarked on or before election day and received by the county within seven days of the election. There is also a drop off option. The Rice County Government services building, located at 320 3rd Street North West in Faribault has a convenient ballot drop off box, or you can bring your ballot to Northfield City Hall and drop it off there.
In-person early voting is also underway at City Hall, and Northfield City administrator Ben Martig said yesterday that the city is trying to make it as easy as possible for you to cast your vote. “Here in Northfield we have in person absentee early voting, that is available in the [City Hall] second floor training room. It will be going Monday through Friday from 8-4:15. In addition, City Hall is open Saturday, October 31 from 10-2:45 for some added convenience.”
Martig also said that Covid-19 restrictions are in place. Masks are required, social distancing is enforced, and the voting offices are restricted to voters only, so be prepared to find a line when you go to vote. And should you want to wait until election day, the Covid restrictions will still be in place, but with eight total polling places, rather than just one for early voting, things might move a little quicker.
Northfield City Hall Presents ‘War of the Worlds’
The Northfield High School will present a live radio play on Saturday night, performed on the grass at Memorial Field, and broadcast live right here on KYMN radio at 8PM.
The idea came to NHS theater guru Bob Gregory-Bjorklund this summer when he was casting about for ideas on how to do theater in the time of Coronavirus. A friend of his suggested a radio play, and specifically Orson Welles’ infamous classic War of the Worlds.
First presented on October 30, 1938, Welles’ production nearly caused a panic when people tuned in to the play about aliens invading the Earth but did not realize that they were hearing a piece of fiction.
Gregory-Bjorklund is not looking to cause a panic. Just the opposite, in fact. He wants to do theater that is safe.
“And a radio play is a great way to do that,” he said, “because you have actors that can space out on the stage and you can have an audience that is distanced.”
Gregory-Bjorklund said that the performers will be working to get the listeners at home to participate in the show. “Participation has to do with imagining. Participation has to do with closing your eyes and picturing ‘Where is this happening? Where is this large park in New York City? Maybe it’s Central Park? What does it look like? What does an invading space alien look like?’”
There will be a live audience for the performance. Two-hundred and fifty people will be allowed into the stadium. Admission is free. The tickets will be given on a first-come first-serve basis.
Merchants Bank begins re-model
The downtown Merchants Bank Building is getting a facelift.
Tim Viere, the president of Merchants bank said that the last time the bank was remodeled was in the early 90’s. When Merchants Bank merged with the First National Bank this past summer, it became time for an update.
“The color of green carpet in the lobby worked for both Merchants and the First National,” Viere said, “but I’ve always joked you could pull it up and make bullet proof vests out of it.”
The remodel will happen in two phases. The first will be done on what has traditionally been the commercial banking side, and the second will be on the other side of the bank where the teller windows are.
And even though the point of this is to bring the bank into the 21st century, Viere said they aren’t going to discard some of the history that is in that building. “The old vaults that we have in the bank, they’re from the old times. So we’re not going to touch those. That would be almost humanly impossible to move those around, so we’re doing the remodeling and keeping them in the same place.”
Construction began earlier this week. Phase one will be completed in late December. Phase two should be done sometime in March.
