By Logan Wells, News Director | Logan@kymnradio.net
Tomorrow is the Third Thursday, an event where people gather on Bridge Square to enjoy great live music, shop, and dine downtown. However, many are unaware of the group that organizes the event: the Friends of Downtown Northfield.
The Friends of Downtown Northfield, or simply the Friends, is a group of downtown employees, business owners, building owners, and anyone else who is a friend and supporter of downtown. President of the organization, Josh Zimmerman, stated that they work to advocate and promote the area:
“Our mission is to focus on the preservation and enhancement of the vitality of our Northfields Downtown Historic District. We’ve evolved from earlier efforts that were the organization that was called the Northfield Downtown Development Corporation, which was focused also on preservation, but really development-focused, and making sure we had a healthy downtown. But as the friends, we really want to enhance that vitality through partnerships with businesses, community groups, and other organizations.” – Josh Zimmerman, President of the Friends of Downtown Northfield, on KYMN’s Something I Have Always Wondered About
Zimmerman said that their work includes many different groups in downtown:
“Which is kind of looking at all the different audiences and constituencies of downtown as a whole versus just business or just property ownership.” – Josh Zimmerman, President of the Friends of Downtown Northfield, on KYMN’s Something I Have Always Wondered About
He cited building owners, business owners, employees, residents, community groups, and customers as some of the many different groups that the friends work with and try to include.
Among the work that the Friends of Downtown does is hosting events to bring people to stores and restaurants, such as Third Thursday, and administering grant programs. Zimmerman cited one grant that they give out during the holiday season:
“One of our successful programs that we’ve run the last several years around micro grants has been a great partnership there to highlight downtown business windows decorations for the holidays.” – Josh Zimmerman, President of the Friends of Downtown Northfield, on KYMN’s Something I Have Always Wondered About
Pictures from the June 2025 Third Thursday, where a large audience watches the Northfield Community Band. Picture by Logan Wells/KYMN News
You can hear more of my conversation with Zimmerman and Board Member Christopher Tassava on this week’s edition of Something I Have Always Wondered About, today at 9am or wherever you get your podcasts.
Editor’s Note: KYMN’s Logan Wells is a Board Member of the Friends of Downtown Northfield.
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