Nfld now 6 2018

Northfield

now L I V E / W O R K / P L AY

a perfect

Union

Couples find unique gardens an ideal spot to tie the knot Page 12 Armstrong: passionate about music, St. Olaf 6 Some interesting tales lie in Northfield Cemetery 22 Big green bus remains Wellstone symbol 26

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Downtown Northfield, Minnesota (Evan Pak photo)

the

perfect

place to stop and ‘smell the roses’: downtown It is easy in life to take things for granted.

We get up each day, help our kids get ready for school and then head off to work ourselves. Eight hours later, we return to our homes and get set to do it all over again.

That’s how the first 20 years of my adult “work life” started. It was a routine. There was nothing wrong with it, but it’s pretty easy to fall into a robotic daily routine.

As the popular saying goes, people need to remember to “stop and smell the roses,” once in a while.

For me, I’ve found a version of my “roses” during what used to be an average workday. It started a few years ago when I was named publisher of the Northfield News.

With my new title came one of the best perks I’ve had during my career – an office in a beautiful building in what I consider the best downtown in Minnesota.

For one, my office has two large windows that provide a ton of natural light and a view of the bustling activity in downtown.

But the best part of my day occurs when I can venture out on a 10-minute walk through the entire area.

On a warm, sunny day, a walk to the river, across the bridge and down on the Riverwalk is the perfect way for me to “stop and smell the roses.” I prefer cutting back through the buildings up to Division Street, and the further I walk the more I feel like I’ve been transported back in time. It’s exactly the break that I need to get back into a frame of mind to get through the rest of the day.

If you work in downtown Northfield, or live here and find time to visit the area on a routine basis, it is hard to take for granted what we have in our community. It’s one of the reasons we chose to include a “Long Division” piece in our Northfield Now magazine. I get to see firsthand what drove Maggie Lee to start her “Long Division” column so many years ago. And for that, I am lucky.

contents

6 St. Olaf’s Dr. Armstrong leads choir with meaning 12 Once a nursery, now a

one-of-a-kind garden where love blooms

16 Carleton photographer’s gift

is now his passion

22 Long Division:

Finding

Northfield’s history in its first cemetery.

26 Big green school bus remains and enduring symbol of the late Paul Wellstone 32 WINGS takes the lead in community efforts, philanthropy 36 Steve Schier’s interest, abilities

make him a much sought after political commentator

on the cover:

“A Perfect Union” (Greg Davis photo)

Chad Hjellming Publisher NorthIeld

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Leaf and flower. INSET: Bee and flower. (Chris Leppink-Shands photos)

Northfield

now L I V E / W O R K / P L AY

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NorthIeld

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publisher: CHAD HJELLMING managing editor: Suzanne Rook advertising manager: JAY PETSCHE media consultant: KARI CLARK designer: Kate Townsend-Noet

ad designers: Mary Jo Blanchard Kate McGillen Jennifer Schoenbauer Send story ideas to: Suzanne Rook at Northfield NOW

srook@faribault.com

Volume 1, Issue 2

Northfield NOW Published Summer 2018 by: Northfield News 115 W Fifth Street, Northfield, MN 55057 northfieldnews.com Š

All advertising contained herein is the responsibility of the advertisers. This publication is copyrighted by the Northfield News and no content can be reproduced without permission.

northfield now calendar its effects on her family. It also addresses the issues of grief, suicide, drug abuse, ethics in modern psychiatry and suburban life.

Helping individuals, couples, and families rediscover strengths and potential.

Tickets: $18 adults, $13 seniors/students Visit northfieldartsguild.org

Northield Scultpure Farmers Market dedication 11:45 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Tuesdays and Fridays, from 9 to 11 a.m.

Saturdays in Riverside Park, Northfield.

Features fresh seasonal fruits and vegetables, flowers, plants, baked goods and crafts.

Visit Northfield Farmers Market on Facebook

10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, June 23 at the Dundas city trailhead off Railway Street.

‘Between Earth and Sky’ Sculpture Committee dedication at noon. Other events include a family bike run from Northfield to trailhead to honor the first art form on the Mills Town Trail, food and refreshments from Ruth’s on Stafford, music by Bonnie and Clyde, a silent action and something for kids. Dundas Mayor Glenn Switzer serves as master of ceremony and sculptor Mac Gimse will speak.

• Child, Adolescent & Adult Services • Problem Gambling • Life Transitions • Personal Goal Setting

Feel Better About Yourself and Your Life Today!

Defeat of Jesse James Days Sept. 5 to 9; events spread across Northfield

From 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Saturdays from June 2 to Oct. 20 on Bridge Square.

2018

Open-air market along the Cannon River. Locally grown produce, artisan foods and a selection of artwork. Each week there’s a different mix of events, musical and activities for all ages. Rain or shine.

“Next to Normal” July 27 to Aug. 5 at Northfield Arts Guild Theater, 411 Third St. W, Northfield.

S T U D I O

Visit riverwalkmarketfair. org

ARTour Northfield Arts Guild presents “Next to Normal,” a contemporary musical that centers around a mother struggling with bipolar disorder and the

Some events require a Defeat Days button, available locally late summer.

PAULA J. DETJEN, PLLC Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist

(507) 581-0430 105 E. Fourth St., Suite 301, Northfield 14041 Burnhaven Drive, Suite 145, Burnsville

DetjenCounseling.com

Joseph Feaster 19 studios 38 artists

Joseph Feaster

Barb Zaverhua

Barb Zaverhua

2018

One of the largest celebrations in Minnesota, it honors the residents who fended off the marauding James-Younger Gang, including notorious bank robber Jesse James.

Defeat Days begins with a graveside service honoring Joseph Lee Heywood, the banker killed during the attempted robbery.

The event begins in earnest Friday evening and continues through Sunday with plenty of entertainment, a carnival, rodeo, arts festival ,vintage baseball, a car show and two parades.

The centerpiece of the weekend is the narrated bank raid re-enactments on Division Street. Raiders on horseback and townspeople in period costume perform eight times over the weekend, carefully detailing how the townspeople fended off the despots.

19 studios 38 artists

Riverwalk Market Fair

• Anxiety & Depression • Stress Management • Grief & Loss • Relationship Issues • Parenting Training

STUDIO

ARTour

South Central Minnesota

SAVE THE DATE!

OcTObEr 13TH AnD 14TH www.studioartour.com See website for details!

South Central Minnesota

Visit www.djjd.org

Summer 2018 -

NorthIeld

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Message of the music:

“It’s never my choir.

I learned that from Ken Jennings. It’s the St. Olaf Choir. We’re stewards of tradition.”

- Anton Armstrong

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St. Olaf’s Dr. Armstrong

leads choir with meaning

I

By NICK GERHARDT ngerhardt@northfieldnews.com

n a way St. Olaf College found Anton Armstrong.

Armstrong at times resisted the pull of the college and its illustrious choir, but it turned out to be just the place to hone his musical skills and the right environment for him to flourish.

As Armstrong approaches the 30th year as conductor of the St. Olaf Choir, he’s expanded the tradition of the choir and found that The Hill is his home.

Getting started in choral music

Armstrong’s musical career started on Long Island where he sang in the youth church choir under a choral director who urged him

to head to the American Boychoir summer program in Princeton, New Jersey. Armstrong spent several summers there before being selected to the American Boychoir School, one of the world’s pre-eminent choir schools for middle school students. During his time with the choir, it performed at the White House for President Richard Nixon.

The intensity to the craft of music making was instilled in Armstrong at the American Boychoir School, where he rehearsed three hours a day, and sang with the world’s finest orchestras.

As high school approached, Armstrong’s interests outside of music grew. He played soccer and baseball, and served as editor of the school’s newspaper. But choral music and St. Olaf still tugged at him.

Dr. Anton Armstrong leads the St. Olaf College during a performance. He has led the choir for the past 28 years and is just the fourth conductor of the choir in its 106 years. (Photo courtesy of St. Olaf College)

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Dr. Anton Armstrong, the St. Olaf Choir conductor, leads a performance during the annual Christmas Festival on the campus. He also leads an open women’s choir and spent 27 years conducting a boys choir with the Northfield Youth Choirs. (Photo courtesy of St. Olaf College)

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 7

The first time he had an opportunity to hear the St. Olaf Choir, he was unmoved. It took some prodding from his pastor and his parents to convince him. It also meant turning down a Moody Blues concert at Madison Square Garden and tickets he’d bought himself.

“I thought it was a pretty good choir but Minnesota was nowhere I had any intentions of going to school,” Armstrong said.

He wasn’t completely convinced he wanted to pursue music and St. Olaf wasn’t exactly on the radar. It took a Lutheran college fair to steer him to Northfield. With long lines at other colleges’ tables, Armstrong kept returning to St. Olaf’s table.

“About the third time I went there he [Bruce Moe, director of admissions] says something, ‘You keep coming back but you don’t take anything.

Do you know anything about our school?’ ‘Aren’t you the school that sings with those funny, purple robes on?” Armstrong asked Moe. “Finally I asked him, ‘How many black people do you have that go to that school?’ He looked at me and it was a very honest answer and he said, ‘You’d make one more.’”

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Armstrong arrived at St. Olaf in the fall of 1974 and spent his first year singing with the Viking Chorus. His sophomore year he became an alternate for the St. Olaf Choir and then finally earned a spot on the choir his junior and senior years under Kenneth Jennings.

Robert Scholz worked with Armstrong as his vocal coach and noticed Armstrong’s passion for the music and for learning the tradition of the choir.

“It was obvious that he really loved music,” Scholz said. “He did have that intense interest in making music. He had this special gift of loving music and communicating to other people.”

Armstrong calls Scholz his musical godfather.

The two remained close as Armstrong moved on to complete his master’s degree at the University of Illinois and later when they became colleagues.

It became a relationship that opened doors for Armstrong.

After completing his degree and looking for jobs, Armstrong found it difficult. That is until Scholz suggested him for an opening at Calvin College in Michigan.

Armstrong had applied to 25 colleges and had been rejected by 24 before Calvin College called.

He spent the next 10 years at Calvin College in

Michigan, gaining notoriety for his work and conducting youth choirs. He also spent some of those years completing his doctorate at Michigan State University.

Coming to St. Olaf The dream to lead the St. Olaf Choir lived within Armstrong long before the opportunity came.

Armstrong talked about leading the St. Olaf Choir with André Thomas, who is the director of choral activities at Florida State University and the president-elect of the American Choral Directors Association, while they studied together at the University of Illinois.

“We had discussions about him wanting to direct the choir and I just said to him, ‘Yeah, sure, we’ll see if St. Olaf will do something like that.”

The opportunity came in 1989 when Jennings, the third conductor in the choir’s history, announced his retirement. But Armstrong hesitated.

“I looked at it and I was scared that, suppose I applied and they didn’t take me,” Armstrong said.

“I was afraid of rejection.”

It took a phone call from St. Olaf gave him the push he needed.

Dr. Anton Armstrong conducts the St. Olaf Choir at the annual Christmas Festival. One of the early associations he made with the choir was its purple robes. (Photo courtesy of St. Olaf College)

“One, that was encouraging that I’d even be on their radar,” Armstrong said. “It also gave me an easier way of going back to my department chair at Calvin College and saying, ‘Could you write me a letter?’”

Though spurred to action, Armstrong, who wrote his doctoral thesis on the history of the St. Olaf Choir, had reservations. He procrastinated in submitting his application materials though he’d completed them well in advance. Instead he overnighted the materials to St. Olaf and waited for a call.

As one of five finalists following an international search, he was to interview Dec. 6 at St. Olaf.

But as like his earlier encounters with the college, it turned out to become a bit of an adventure.

He arrived in Northfield much later than expected and the interview was moved to the next day.

Then, as he led a a choir rehearsal — a required part of the interview — the room filled with those curious to see who might replace Jennings.

“I conducted a rehearsal and there were actually more people in the room than were in the choir,” Armstrong said. “I guess every day became a little more of a circus. Who was going to follow Dr. Jennings?”

Armstrong considered himself one of two candidates who didn’t fit exactly in what the school might want and had almost put the thought of directing the choir to the back of his mind by the time the school called two weeks later.

“When I heard Dr. [Kenneth] Graber I prepared myself,” Armstrong said. “I wasn’t going to cry. I was going to be gracious in accepting defeat and just move on. When he finally said, ‘I’m so sorry, we’ve taken longer. It was just difficult in finding time, but I want you to know that I’m calling to offer you the position.’ I remember pinching myself, I said, “Can you say that again? Just say it again.’”

“You were chosen because we believe you are the best person who can lead the St. Olaf Choir and the other responsibilities you’ll be tasked with into the next chapter of its history,” - Dr. Kenneth Graber Inheriting the choir At 33, Armstrong was the youngest candidate by three years. But his natural ability to connect with the students showed. His outgoing personality smoothed the transition, but his affability didn’t mean there’d be any relaxing when it came to work.

“Part of the reason he was brought here was because he is an outgoing person,” Scholz said.

“There was a knowledge, interest and enthusiasm to be a good teacher.”

When Graber offered him the position he told Armstrong the selection committee did not ignore his race when making its decision, instead it felt it was an asset.

“You were chosen because we believe you are the best person who can lead the St. Olaf Choir and the other responsibilities you’ll be tasked with into the next chapter of its history,” Graber told Armstrong.

The decision to name Armstrong as the fourth conductor in the choir’s history certainly came with some criticism. Armstrong admits that even as recently as 10 years ago he’s received racially tinged letters.

“I’ve fought in my own way not to let people pull me down,” Armstrong said. “I’ve tried to

do that and give that same leadership to students who I’ve taught over the years. Whether they be students of color, whether it’s because of their gender, sexual orientation, that they don’t let those things come in the way, that they find a way and they move forward. You have to work harder sometimes. You’re judged on the merit of your heart and your mind and the content of your spirit, which I hope is a loving one and willing to embrace.”

Armstrong has clung to the tradition of the choir, but he hasn’t shied away from adding to its repertoire, either. Where his predecessors composed many of the pieces the choir performed, Armstrong has sought to include diverse pieces from an array of composers young and old. His work has a global dimension to it while firmly rooted in St. Olaf’s a capella tradition.

“The newer repertoire that I brought into the performing library was this global music, especially from Africa and Latin America,” Armstrong said. “[On a tour of New Zealand and Australia] we not only opened our music to those two countries but also the folk music. Quite frankly, music of our own nation, especially as an African American, I thought, the concert spiritual and the CONTINUED ON PAGE 10 NorthIeld

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Dr. Anton Armstrong conducts the St. Olaf Choir at the annual Christmas Festival. Throughout his 28 years of leading the choir he has sought to include diverse, global music into the choir’s programs. (Photo courtesy of St. Olaf College) CONTINUED FROM PAGE 9

gospel music had a place in the repertoire of the St. Olaf Choir.”

That interest in global music has allowed Armstrong and the students to understand the cultures in a fuller, more complex way. An experience in a Maori village back in 1997 continues to stand out for Armstrong.

The choir received permission to sing a native Maori song and following the song a shopkeeper approached him after being struck by the performance.

“One of the shopkeepers came up to me and asked, ‘Are you the chief?’ I said, ‘Yes, you can call me the chief.’ She said, ‘You know our music and you sing it so beautifully. You know our hearts.’ I’ve always been struck by that.”

Armstrong’s been known to take risks with the music selection. He likes to present a smorgasbord of music with his programs by selecting music from diverse composers.

“His personality, his interpretation, attention to detail, diction, all of those establish him as unique but to the extent that he does, it makes him one of the best,” Florida State University’s Thomas said.

The dedication to the work to have the choir perform at its best is critical to convey the message of the music to the audience.

“When you can eliminate all of those things that will distract the human mind and the ear then the power of the music, the power of the text will lift 10

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up,” Armstrong said.

Mark Stover came to St. Olaf in the fall of 1997 to sing in the choir after hearing it on the radio as child. As he grew older he learned more about the choir and Armstrong. When he arrived, he finally saw what made it so special.

“You’re working at such a level and commitment to reach a level of artistry,” said Stover, who now serves as the conductor of the Viking Chorus and the Chapel Choir. “It’s that level of dedication, five days a week, an hour and a half a day. For the right kind of student that can be really rewarding.

That’s a way I thrived.”

There is the rigor of rehearsal and performing but it’s done with a commitment to the student and the music.

“You’re being stretched but you’re being nurtured,” Stover said. “It’s that sense that every time he’s expecting you to bring your very best effort. That never wavers or diminishes. There’s an insistence, not for us, but for believing in the music that it deserves that.”

His communication is one area colleagues say set Armstrong apart and make him so effective as an educator.

“He has a gift with words, and I think this also helps him bring his choral texts to life,” said Steven Amundson, conductor of the St. Olaf Orchestra and Robert Scholz Endowed Chair of Music.

“Anton has extremely high standards for his choir and he is able to get the very best possible

results with his students. It’s not only the rather perfect performances he is able to garner from his students, it’s the heart and soul, that depth of emotional and spiritual commitment that is so obvious. ... I think his students respond really well to his sense of mission, that sense of going beyond notes and rhythms and seeking out the true meaning, the artistic and spiritual depth of whatever music he is bringing to life.”

In 2006, Armstrong received recognition not only for his conducting but for his teaching when Baylor University gave him the Robert Foster Cherry Award for Great Teaching. The university picked him from 86 nominees and 46 disciplines for the $200,000 award.

Becoming a mentor Once Armstrong firmly established himself at St. Olaf he began mentoring students on campus as well as throughout the country.

“Anton has certainly kept that wonderful prestige in place for St. Olaf and he has also been a real mentor, helping young conductors find their way, offering master classes to lead them when they seek help,” said Philip Brunelle, artistic director and founder of VocalEssence, a premier choral organization in Minneapolis that has been around since 1969.

Armstrong’s work has included numerous councils, the Oregon Bach Festival Strangeland Family

St. Olaf Choir History The St. Olaf Choir started in 1912 by F. Melius Christiansen and became a premier a cappella choir. The choir gained prominence as it began touring, first in Norway in 1913.

Olaf Christiansen succeed his father, F. Melius, as the choir’s conductor in 1943 and continued to lead the choir until 1968.

In this image from a previous St. Olaf College Christmas Festival, the sheer scope of the event is captured. (Photo courtesy of St. Olaf College)

Youth Choral Academy, serving on the summer faculty of the American Boychoir School and its board of trustees, conducting the World Youth Choir, all influencing others along the way.

“In a very substantial way he took me under his wing and said I want to support you,” Stover said. “The thing with Anton there are countless students who would say the same thing. He brought me in and nurtured me. He pushed me, he demanded the best work, he mentored my entire master’s work.”

Music as service Armstrong sees music as a way to serve others and believes music can heal. His choirs have routinely provided service through their performances.

In 1999 on a trip to Florida, proceeds from the choir’s performance helped fund a wing of what was then called St. Andrew’s Lighthouse, a residence for families to stay while they cared for loved ones in the hospital. Fifteen years later that performance still has an impact on what is now called Gabriel House of Care.

“While we were there, there was a couple and the woman asked, ‘Is this the choir from Minnesota that did a benefit several years ago for Lighthouse? I want you to know that my husband and I used that. If it hadn’t been for that house and that place we could’ve never been there.’

People in this choir made a difference,” Armstrong said.

Just this last year as the choir toured in Santa Barbara, a portion of the proceeds went to help those who lost their homes and possessions following a wave of wildfires and floods.

Armstrong’s service has extended into the Northfield community for nearly as long as he’s conducted the St. Olaf Choir. Scholz’s wife, Cora, tapped him to lead the boys choir a year after she helped start the Northfield Youth Choirs. Armstrong conducted a youth choir while at Calvin College and at that point in his career had started to become known for his work in that area. He just conducted his last choir for the Troubadours in December after 26

years.

“This was another way to have a connection to the Northfield community beyond St. Olaf College,” he said.

“It’s been really wonderful to see these kids grow up.”

Part of the reason he stepped away from the Northfield Youth Choirs was he felt his connection to the younger kids start to slip. That hasn’t been the case at St. Olaf but it will be one of the reasons from him to hand the program off should the time come.

“So far, I seem to be making connection to the students and in some ways I’m making some of the best music I’ve ever made,” he said. “I can see there are a few more years.

I won’t even say a decade.

“It’s never my choir. I learned that from Ken Jennings.

It’s the St. Olaf Choir. We’re stewards of tradition. Each of my predecessors turned over a strong and healthy instrument to the person who succeeded them. That’s my goal, to keep this choir and all the music making I do as strong as possible.”

Armstrong’s work has led him across the globe as a guest conductor with stops in Taiwan, the Czech Republic, South America, Denmark and South Korea. But there is one stop he’d like to make before he earnestly begins considering retirement.

“I hope I have one or maybe two more foreign tours left before I retire and one of them I hope is to take this choir to Africa,” he said. “Specifically South Africa, that is a dream of mine.”

In his 28 years at St. Olaf, his name always comes up in discussions about the best choral conductors and while he admits he wanted to make a mark, that’s certainly not what his role has been.

“When I started off in this business I wanted everyone to think if they heard my name, that’s the greatest choral director around,” Armstrong said. “That’s not what I’m interested in right now. I want people to know that we bring beauty into the world, we make a difference, we work hard at it. We work hard to make life better.”

Kenneth Jennings began as the choir’s conductor following Olaf Christiansen and remained in that position until 1990 when Anton Armstrong was tapped as the new conductor following Jennings’ retirement.

The choir has performed internationally throughout its history and in 1988 it became one of five choirs to sing at the Olympic Choral Arts Festival in Seoul, South Korea.

The choir tours internationally every four years and regionally in the U.S. each year.

The choir performed in the White House in 2005 in front of President George W. Bush as part of the National Day of Prayer.

The annual St. Olaf Christmas Festival was shown in a live simulcast across 180 theaters in 2007, and reached 2.5 million viewers later on a PBS broadcast.

The choir’s signature piece is “Beautiful Savior.”

©Copyright 2018 APG Media of Southern Minnesota. All rights reserved.

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Once a nursery, now a

garden where love

A

By GRACE WEBB editor@northfieldnews.com

Switzer doesn’t worry about the occasional dandelion or perceived imperfection. To him, it’s what makes the space beautiful — and real. (Greg Davis photos)

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s Glenn Switzer likes to say, the first international language is love, and the second is gardens.

“If you think about every single culture, there’s something about the gardens there,” he

blooms

pointed out.

It makes sense, then, that Switzer oversees the Gardens of Castle Rock, a place where the two languages come together for countless happy couples looking for a beautiful, personalized wedding day.

Switzer grew up in a family of gardeners.

His grandfather founded Switzer’s Nursery and Landscaping in 1926, and he followed his father into the family business early on. But as much as he loved working with his hands and caring for his plants, he didn’t really love the actual business of it. Instead of selling

“Back in the landscaping days, I had five crews of 30 guys who would be going crazy on projects.

Now, I just have a handful of absolutely amazing people who see the vision. I can’t say I loved every day [back then]. Now I do.”

- Glenn Switzer

ABOVE: Lights abound through the Garden, creating an even more beautiful atmosphere.

RIGHT: Clients get the run of the place. Switzer said only one event is scheduled per day so clients can use each of the spaces as they please. (Photos courtesy of The Gardens of Castle Rock)

people plants, he wanted to welcome them into his beautiful space and give them an experience to remember. So, in 2006, he made the decision to stop doing retail and instead use his 13 acres north of the city to host events and gatherings. By the time a friend asked a few years later if there was a good location nearby for an outdoor wedding, Switzer had an answer.

“It was kind of a natural progression,” he said.

“It may sound hokey, but it’s awesome when you finally figure out what you’re supposed to be doing.”

The gardens hosted one wedding in 2012, and that opened the floodgates. The next year, Switzer wrote up a business plan, secured permits and

started building.

While a few buildings were already around from the nursery days, he started working on ceremony sites, beginning with the Grand Promenade. Switzer said the first “official” year was 2014, when they hosted eight weddings.

This year, the number has jumped to more than 60

planned events, with two to four weddings every weekend from May to October, and even a wedding planned for January.

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The Gardens offers rustic and more formal outdoor settings, but there is a tent for cool evenings and in case of rain.

This year, Glenn Switzer expects The Gardens of Castle Rock to host 60 events, mostly weddings. The site, north of Northfield, was his family’s nursery. (Photos courtesy of The Gardens of Castle Rock)

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 13

Throughout the years, three other wedding sites have been added: a lawn setting, a site in the woods and the Lath House, a rustic wood structure built on the remains of one of Switzer’s old nursery buildings that had burned down in the 1980s. While Switzer said the lath house just “kind of happened,” it’s now the most popular site on the premises.

“The first couple of tours, couples would get up there [at the promenade] and look over here and ask, ‘What’s that?’” he recalled. “And then after the third tour, I asked, ‘Do you guys want to see our rustic site?’ We tweaked it a little bit [and] covered it in grape vines. In the summer, this is completely shaded. Grandma used to make jam out of these grapes. There used to be a building right here, one of the first ones my grandpa put up in the 1930s. In 1981, there was a fire and the building burned down… You can still see the charred wood. We keep slowly just enhancing it. It took 90-plus years to get this to what it is.”

Switzer had some experience with weddings even before he reinvented the Gardens. In his younger days, he worked as a wedding DJ, emceeing roughly 450 weddings before he put away the mic. In fact, his time as a wedding DJ helped him see what he didn’t want to happen at his gardens.

“In the 1980s, you had the wedding ceremony, and then the wedding party would go to bar and drink,” he said. “All the guests would go wait at the reception and eat bad mints until the wedding party finally showed up for a so-so meal, dancing

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and then just going home. Part of what makes this wonderful is it is more about experience. Couples spend a full day here. The morning is decorating and spending time with their friends. They’ll get here at 7 in the morning and won’t leave until midnight.”

When it comes to the experience, Switzer said he and his small (think three other people) crew can whip up just about anything. They have hosted large, elegant dinner parties and rustic-chic hoedowns, with guest counts from 16 people to 350. They’ve also hosted several international weddings, with couples flying in from the Netherlands, Nigeria, Ireland and India. They even had a Halloween-themed wedding last October on Friday the 13th, complete with a coffin for the wedding cards.

“What you’ll find here is, if you have an idea and want to try it, we’re game,” he said. “It’s not our day; it’s your day. Whatever you want to do, we’ll find a way to make it happen. A lot of places are really worried about all the things they have, but those don’t necessarily matter to me as much because it’s about what you want your day to be.

It’s not a list of ‘this, this, this, and this.’ What do you want to do with your day? That’s what’s important.”

Switzer said part of what allows couples to have an individualized experience at the Gardens is the fact that they rent the entire space for the whole day (no booking two weddings on the same date), and couples can decide on practically every part of the reception, from choosing their own caterer to bringing in decorations that are meaningful to them. There are very few hard, fast rules at the

Gardens — mostly just state regulations such as working with a licensed caterer or making sure there’s a professional bartender if you bring in your own alcohol.

“We try really hard to make every couple who comes out here feel like it’s the only wedding we’re doing that week,” he said. “It’s such a big day that I don’t ever want to take it for granted.”

Switzer and his crew help prepare for a couple’s big day with months of advanced planning. He often starts working with a couple up to 18 months before the big day, with several meetings and a final 30-day walkthrough to make sure every detail is perfect. In fact, dates have already been booked into 2020. And, while the space is also available to rent for events such as memorials and corporate get-togethers, the majority of the business is still weddings, especially in May and June.

“We love doing weddings,” Switzer said. “This is about love and celebrating life. Each one is a joy, and each one is a surprise. It’s our passion.

When there’s everybody here, there’s this magic thing that happens… Everything comes together and it just lines up and it’s a pretty cool experience.”

A work of love When it comes to the Gardens, Switzer has built pretty much everything himself—the pavilion, the dressing rooms, the ceremony sites, even most of the furniture. For the pavilion, he cut down 100year old timbers and spent more than 300 hours hewing them by hand, and he also hand split rocks in the building’s wall using the traditional featherand-wedge method. Meanwhile, the dressing room features lumber that was meticulously cut and styled with a chainsaw.

One of Switzer’s passions is repurposing old

Glenn Switzer adds wood to the fireplace that is part of the patio setting at The Garden of Castle Rock event facility in March 2014. (News file photo)

materials. Some of the wood used in various buildings comes from a granary his uncle used way back in the 1880s, while part of the pavilion’s roof comes from the roof of a local barn that was torn down.

While some of Switzer’s experience comes from studying landscaping and design in college, he said a lot of the time, he has an idea and figures out how to make it work.

“You come up with an idea, and then you start to find people who’ve done it, and sometimes you go to Youtube,” he said with a laugh. “It’s trial and error. Every time I do something, I learn something. We get a lot of people who say they don’t want a corporate experience. This is my studio.

I’m always going to be doing something out here.”

Always another project According to Switzer, there’s always something to expand, improve or add onto the Gardens. The most recent addition is another dressing room.

Future projects include everything from adding 10,000 square feet of pavers to constructing a

whole new covered ceremony site to combat inclement weather (right now, people stay dry under the Gardens’ giant tent).

“I don’t know what’s next,” Switzer said. “I’m always coming up with ideas.”

MORE INFORMATION 26601 Chippendale Ave., Northfield 651-264-9210 info@gardensofcastlerock.com www.thegardensofcastlerock.com Facebook: The Gardens of Castle Rock

Grace Webb is a freelance writer based in Mankato.

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Gift opens a whole new undiscovered world 16

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Y

By SUZANNE ROOK srook@faribault.com

ou could say Chris LeppinkShands is a quick study.

It wasn’t until the tail end of 2017, during the Carleton College junior’s semester abroad, that he picked up a camera, a gift from his parents. Since then, Leppink-Shands has been nearly unstoppable.

“It’s become the best gift I’ve ever gotten,” he said, adding that it’s helped him see things he never noticed.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 19

Though he’s only recently taken up photography, Chris Leppink-Shands has found it’s made him more attentive to the world around him.

(Photos courtesy of Chris Leppink-Shands) ABOVE: “There are trees on Carleton’s campus that bloom with these flowers every year. I think their structure and color is really amazing.”

TOP RIGHT: “This photo was taken of a cardinal feather on the edge of the Cowling Arboretum. I was drawn to the piercing lively red against the dull muted leaves. The feather was next to a tree that a falcon had used as “a chopping block” (that is how it was referred to in class).”

BOTTOM RIGHT: “This is one of those little blue flowers that pop up in scores around Northfield at the beginning of spring. They are always a welcome sight because it means that we are finally out of winter.

This one was all alone but normally there are huge patches just full of flowers.”

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TOP: “This is taken right at the entrance to the lower arb on Carleton’s Campus. I thought the way the reflections create a full circle framing the waterfall made for an interesting shot. I remember this was right before all of the snow melted, and when I came back to the same spot later in the week the small island I had taken this from was underwater.”

BOTTOM LEFT: “This squirrel was fun to shoot. It just kept darting along that log looking for any remnants of the bounty it had hidden for itself the season before. I mostly just find this shot funny.”

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BOTTOM RIGHT: “This squirrel would dart up and down this tree stopping every few feet. I am pretty convinced he was just showing off his climbing skills and posing.”

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 17

He didn’t chronicle the weeks he spent just outside of Budapest or much of his travels throughout western Europe, but once he got a hold of his Nikon D3300, he went on a tear. There are no snaps of the Parliament of Budapest — which he calls “the most beautiful building in the world” — either of the Hofburgs’ Viennese palaces or the must-sees of Venice, Amsterdam or Prague in his portfolio. There is one stunning shot of a cloudy night in Paris and a few of a snow-covered Switzerland. Mostly, he’s got closeups of flora and fauna found in and around Northfield.

“I’ve spent more time in the arb in the past six weeks than I did the

whole time I’ve been at Carleton,” he said.

Leppink-Shands grew up in Eagan but spent a the first semester of his senior year in Geneva, Switzerland, where his mother works as a diplomat.

He returned to Eagan for his final semester, not wanting to spend an additional year in high school as many European students do before heading to college.

At Carleton he’s majoring in psychology and minoring in neurological and cognitive science. After he graduates in 2019, he plans to get his master’s and continue the research he’s doing at Carleton. He’s most excited CONTINUED ON PAGE 20

TOP: “I found this along the trail in the Cowling Arboretum, I am really not sure what it was but the shape and structure really intrigued me. If someone knows what this is let me know… I am still very curious.”

BOTTOM LEFT: “This was taken on a field trip for a photo class to the Valley Grove Churches. I wandered out into the woods nearby to capture some of the incredible Minnesota flora.”

BOTTOM RIGHT: “This is an early spring flower shielded by a leaf in Cowling Arboretum. Photography has given me the ability to really take notice of things that I would have completely overlooked before. I think that’s one of the greatest gifts a camera gives you: attention and appreciation.”

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CONTINUED FROM PAGE 19

about the work Professor Julie Neiworth is doing with tamarin monkeys, and happily chats about research he’s doing on toddlers who have an extraordinary knowledge of a particular topic.

Carleton was a draw, he says, explaining that family members also attended the school. But it was the college’s ultimate teams that sealed the deal. The game, which uses a Frisbee-like disc, is well-known at Carleton, and its teams have won the national championship four times, most re-

cently in 2017. Leppink-Shands plays on one of Carleton’s club teams.

This semester he’s taking The Digital Landscape, a class which teaches students to “study nature aesthetics and examine your assumptions about the landscape photograph.” The course, he said, has done just that.

But still, he admits, a lot of it’s just going out, waiting, watching and “hoping you find something cool.”

Reach Regional Managing Editor Suzanne Rook at 507-333-3134. Follow her on Twitter @rooksuzy. ©Copyright 2018 APG Media of Southern Minnesota. All rights reserved.

ABOVE: “When I saw the sunset this night I ran to Watson (the tallest building on Carleton’s campus) so that I could get this shot. I made it just in time.

You can see Skinner Chapel and Willis [Hall] protruding into the horizon.”

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TOP: “A waterfall near the Valley Grove Churches. In order to find these falls you have to go a ways off the beaten path, which is another good tip for photography. Not everything is going to be on the way from point A to point B, explore.”

MIDDLE: “This is a bubble and a reflection of myself standing over said bubble. I thought that was pretty neat.

This was taken on a field trip for a photo class to the Valley Grove churches.”

LOWER: “This was an extremely lucky shot. I had been hoping to see deer the entire time I was out but up until this point I had been unsuccessful. I wish I had been able to get a shot of all five of the deer traveling in this group.”

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Long Division

O

By JEFF M. SAUVE editor@northfieldnews.com

Finding

ften the history of a community is not far removed from those buried in its local cemeteries.

Northfield’s first formal resting place, the historic Northfield Cemetery (on Division Street, opposite Northfield High School), contains many unique and varied stories with over 1,000 interred on its 8 acres.

For instance, Benjamin Bartholomew Jr. (17851868), veteran of the War of 1812, was a fifer in the army. One of his sons, Gen. Riley Bartholomew, founded the community of Richfield, Minn, and his father Benjamin Bartholomew Sr. was a Revolutionary War hero.

The simple flat stone of Alex Robinson (18441900) belies his telling life — from that of a former slave in Missouri who at the beginning of the Civil War in 1861 ran away from his owner and later settled in Northfield. Robinson was befriended by Union troops and assigned as a cook for the Missouri

10th Infantry. By 1864, he enlisted in the Company H, Missouri 18th, a “colored infantry,” as it was named then. Fellow soldier and freedman, Cpl. John Boone most likely convinced Robinson to settle in Northfield where the former’s family resided.

Arriving in 1866, Robinson worked for many years at Carleton College where he served as the campus handyman and custodian in Gridley Hall, a dormiJeff Sauve tory for women. In 1973, Carleton’s oldest alumna, 102-year old Elizabeth Luedtke, remembered Robinson as the “biggest favorite in the building” and how he assisted young ladies out past hours in through the dorm’s basement windows.

His obituary stated that everyone knew and

Northfield’s history in its

first cemetery A large tour gathers to hear the history of Margaret Evens Huntington and George Huntington during a previous Cemetery Stories night. The event highlights the lives of some of those who are buried in Northfield Cemetery.

(News file photo )

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Benjamin Bartholomew

admired him. At his funeral, Carleton’s President James W. Strong was one of the members of a quartet that sang hymns. His and Boone’s grave sites are near one another.

Catherine Meade, Civil War nurse Although her headstone is unassuming, Catherine Thorton Meade (1835-1927) had a life that was anything but ordinary. She was born in Tampa, Florida, a territory recently acquired from Spain. In 1858 she married Owen M. Meade, a native of Genoa, New York. At the outbreak of the Civil War, Owen Meade returned to New York to volunteer with the Union army. Catherine Meade followed him into service as a nurse and tended the sick and wounded. Their first child, Nellie, was born in 1861 in Baltimore, Maryland. Reportedly, Catherine Meade could hear the firing of the battle of Bull Run. The following year, Owen Meade was appointed hospital steward at Fort Ripley, Minnesota.

Soon after the U.S.-Dakota War erupted and Owen Meade was transferred to Fort Ridgely. Years later, Catherine Meade recounted those difficult days in Old Rail Fence Corners (1914): “At the fort were gathered all the women and children of the settlers for protection. We could hear the Indian war whoops in the distance. The confusion was terrible and twelve of the women were prematurely confined during the first 24 hours. I helped Dr. Miller, post surgeon, and for 48 hours I had no sleep and hardly time to eat.

Finally, completely exhausted I fell asleep on the floor, with my little daughter by my side. When aroused by my husband, saying ‘The Indians are

Owen and Catherine Meade.

near at hand,’ I declared I might as well die one place as another. I could not go on and remained where I was. The alarm was a false one and we were all saved….”

After the first fight, when the excitement had calmed down, the women busied themselves making bullets and were obliged to remain until help came from St. Paul — nearly two weeks.

After the conclusion of the Civil War in 1865, the Meade family settled in Northfield. With his knowledge of medicine gained during the war, Owen Meade opened a drug store. He later practiced law. Appointed Northfield’s justice in 1882, he had established himself as one of the town’s leaders. Within the next year tragedy struck the family with Owen Meade’s mysterious death on Feb. 5, 1883. At the time, there was speculation the he was murdered by someone disgruntled with Owen Meade’s justice.

The particulars of the incident noted that at age 55, he was in apparently good health. He had left his office at 11:30 a.m. for his dinner and ate a “hearty meal.” After the meal he spent time looking over the morning mail, and then announced he was going to bring in some wood. Within minutes a report of a gunshot was heard. Catherine Meade immediately bolted to the woodshed where horrorstricken she found her husband dead on the dirt floor with a fatal head shot. Beside him lay a double-barreled shotgun with one barrel discharged.

His obituary noted he always enjoyed good health, “But of late years he has been an extensive user of opium,” which might have caused him to take his life. Whether suicide or murder, the mystery has never been solved.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 24 NorthIeld

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Studio portrait of Alex Robinson, engineer and custodian at Carleton College. (Photo courtesy of Carleton College Archives) BELOW: Alex Robinson’s tombstone.

The tombstone of Sheridan Knowles Mackay. (Suzanne Rook photo) CONTINUED FROM PAGE 23

Sheridan Knowles Mackay, A remittance man Probably the most fascinating tombstone in the Northfield Cemetery is that of Englishman Sheridan Knowles Mackay (1833-1867). He was described as a “remittance man,” which was a name given to well connected Englishmen and ne’er-do-wells, who depended on money sent from home.

Mackay was the second son of Thomas M. Mackay, a wealthy shipping merchant based in Liverpool, England, and supporter of the Confederacy in the American Civil War. In December 1861, Thomas Mackay authored an opinion piece for the New York Times expressing his position, “Why British Merchants Sympathize With the South.”

Within a short period of time, Sheridan Mackay was admitted to the bar in 1864, and by May 1865 was charged with bankruptcy and made a “prisoner for debt” in Lancaster. Presumably his creditors were satisfied shortly thereafter, whereupon he was released on the condition he leave the country. Why he ended up in Northfield within the next two years is unknown.

In 1935, 74-year-old Sarah Frances “Fanny” Ames Loyhed (18611947), the granddaughter of Capt. Jesse Ames, who established Northfield’s Ames Mill, recounted her childhood memories, later published by the Northfield News as “Vivid Reminiscences Give Picture of Old Northfield.” She fondly recalled at the age of 6 encountering Sheridan Mackay: “Perhaps you do not know that a pied piper lived in Northfield long ago? He did not wear the queer long coat of the Piper of Hamelin Town and his voice was his magic flute. He was a remittance man from far off England which meant nothing to us. The children hung about the door of his favorite saloon, and when he came out they surrounded him Many of Northfield’s best known residents have been laid to rest in Northfield Cemetery. They include the city’s beloved hero, Joseph Lee Heywood, who kept the James-Younger Gang from robbing the First National Bank. (Suzanne Rook photo) 24

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and dancing and singing would follow him as he lead them to a quiet place on the hillside, and he told them magic stories of castles and towers, of princesses, of knights and tournaments.

One day he wandered alone to the hills and when they found his body the children wept and knew that nevermore would they be entranced by the wonderful music of his stories. He was buried in the old cemetery and the children carried flowers to put on his grave all that summer and told each other the same stories, but they were never the same sweet notes which had led them into the joyous land of “make-believe.”

St. Paul’s The Farmer’s Union newspaper, dated Sept. 6, 1867, remarked of Mackay’s passing: “A well-educated English gentleman named Sheridan K. Mackay, who had been staying in that village some weeks with the hope of reforming his habits of intemperance. A saloon keeper induced him to break his pledge, and continued to furnish him liquor until he became delirious, in which condition he wandered off, and was found dead in the woods between that place and Dundas.”

Mackay’s white stone cross, unique in design for its time, has on both the front and back elaborate inscriptions weathered to the point of being indecipherable. According to a 1948 Northfield News clipping, the inscription reads: Front: Sacred to the memory of Sheridan Knowles Mackay, barrister at law, Inner Temple, London. Born in Liverpool 1833, died at Northfield Aug. 6, 1867.

Back: Here he lies peacefully among strangers

Residential

Northfield’s history isn’t far removed from those buried in its cemeteries. Among those buried in Northfield Cemetery is Hiram Scriver (1830-90, a merchant and the city’s first mayor. The building on Bridge Square which houses the Northfield Historical Society bears his name. (Suzanne Rook photo)

until the resurrection, when all earthy divisions will be unknown. As there is but one shepherd, so there is but one sheep fold.

At some point since 1948, Mackay’s headstone was cemented at the base, and unfortunately the repairs cover the most telling line of the inscription, which is thankfully noted in the clipping:

CommeRCial

Life’s fitful fever’s o’er.

Jeff Sauve served for many years as an archivist for St. Olaf College and the Norwegian-American Historical Association. He is an award-winning writer and is currently working on his latest book project, “Murder at Minnesota Point: The True Story of the Sensational Nationwide Manhunt for a Serial Killer.”

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Big green school bus remains an enduring symbol of the late

Paul Wellstone

A

By PHILIP WEYHE pweyhe@northfieldnews.com

mere 110 years ago, presidential candidate William H. Taft stood on the back of a train at the Northfield Depot, meters away from the city mayor’s daughter, Mildred Ware, who was dressed in a flag of 46 stars, riding an elephant. As thousands cheered at the scene, both for the candidate and the unusual display of patriotism, Taft’s face broadened into a smile.

The elephant, which was part of a Patterson Carnival Co. TOP: Paul Wellstone and his wife Sheila jog to their campaign bus after casting their ballots in Northfield Tuesday morning, Nov. 6, 1990. Wellstone defeated Sen. Rudy Boschwitz in the general election. (AP Photo/Jim Mone) LEFT: Thousands gathered at the Northfield Depot Sept. 26, 1908 to welcome presidential candidate William Taft, who campaigned from the back of a train, while the Northfield mayor’s daughter, wrapped in an American flag, rode an elephant into the scene. (Photo courtesy of the Northfield Historical Society)

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show in Bridge Square, made the moment unique to Northfield. But at the center of the hysteria was Taft’s campaign on a train, something that became synonymous with presidential candidates of the late 1800s and early 1900s.

Almost a century later, Northfielder and U.S. Sen. Paul Wellstone reinvigorated the movement — only instead of a locomotive, he stood on the back of a beat up, antiquated green Carpenter bus.

The former senator and Carleton College professor who died with his wife, daughter and five others in a plane crash days before the 2002 election, spent three United States Senate campaigns heading from town to town across Minnesota, giving speeches from the back of dilapidated, lumbering vehicle. A staunch progressive, advocating for economic justice, the bus fit Wellstone to a T. It was a restrained — perhaps unfashionable — 1968 machine that frequently broke down, and it presented his message well. He wanted to go out and see people. He also wanted to be seen — just not in a glamorous light.

“I think the fact that it was a school bus, that it CONTINUED ON PAGE 28

Paul and Sheila Wellstone, along with their daughter Marcia, left, wave goodbye on Dec. 30, 1990, at the beginning of their trip to Washington, D.C., in the battered school bus that came to symbolize Wellstone’s personality and politics. (St. Paul Pioneer Press)

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One of Paul Wellstone’s campaign button’s featured an image of the former senator on his green school bus that came to symbolize his politics. (Photo courtesy Mpls55408 — Flickr)

Paul Wellstone was a professor at Carleton College before winning a seat as a United States senator in 1990. (News file photo) CONTINUED FROM PAGE 27

was different, blue collar,” said David Wellstone, the son of Paul and the current owner of the bus.

“It was every person’s kind of gig. It wasn’t fancy.

It was sort of in his style. The old shoe leather thing.”

David said the bus is presently stored at his friend’s farm in Wanamingo, looking exactly the same as it did 16 years ago. It’s not running at this point, but some day, David hopes to open up a healing retreat around Northfield, and there he would rejuvenate the vehicle.

“Nothing’s been changed; it’s like a time capsule,” he said. “I think it could run again. I’d love to do it in Northfield. That’s the dream.”

Campaigning In August 1969, Wellstone headed to Northfield to take a position at Carleton, teaching political science. Originally from Washington, D.C., he quickly became involved politically at a local level. He founded the Organization for a Better Rice County, which advocated for public housing, affordable health care, improved public education, free school lunches and a publicly funded day care center.

He was an active protester of the Vietnam War, among other topics; he was arrested on three oc28

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casions. He was even fired from Carleton College in the late 1970s, but was later rehired and granted tenure.

He ran for Minnesota state auditor in 1982, losing to a future governor, Anne Carlson. He remained entwined in politics in different capacities until 1990, when he ran for the United States Senate. He was a huge underdog, outspent sevento-one by incumbent Rudy Boschwitz.

Some of Wellstone’s Carleton colleagues and friends, Sy Schuster, Ed Sostek and Mike Casper, came up with the idea for a bus during a locker room conversation ahead of the 1990 campaign.

The trio believed Wellstone could make an impact across the country.

“He had very good ideas — political ideas, social ideas,” Schuster said. “There was no question about it; we backed Paul way, way back.”

Sostek was the one to think of the bus.

“I suggested the bus as a substitute for the back end of a train, where presidential candidates used to travel around the country,” he said. “He was a popular candidate, and he was very energetic and convincing when he spoke in public. I thought that would be a perfect stage for him.”

Schuster and Casper headed to Northfield’s Benjamin Bus and picked out what they felt was a perfect bus to suit Wellstone’s needs. That bus was not chosen. According to Schuster, people in the cities, closer to the campaign funds, ended up

picking one out.

Regardless, their idea came to life. The image they intended to create was exactly what onlookers saw.

Northfielder Jane McWilliams lived just blocks away from the Wellstone family. Her daughter even babysat for them. Her memories of the bus line up with the original vision.

“I wouldn’t say that it was an elegant vehicle.

It was a symbolic vehicle. It reminded me a bit of Lincoln and other politicians that campaigned from the back of a train,” she said, unaware she was confirming the success of the campaign’s intentions.

“I wouldn’t say that it was an elegant vehicle.

It was a symbolic vehicle.” - Jane McWilliams Wellstone went on to win the 1990 Senate election, the only challenger to take an incumbent’s spot that year. He won again in 1996. He was running again when his plane crashed Oct. 25, 2002.

According to a 1990 New York Times article, Wellstone said some of his advisers had warned against using the old school bus on the campaign trail, fearing that its frequent breakdowns would be seen as a metaphor for the campaign.

“But it worked just the opposite,” Wellstone said at the time. “When they saw this guy out on the highway, standing next to a stalled bus, scratching his head, they could relate to that.”

Post-death Wellstone’s death came as a shock to the country, state and community of Northfield. He was 58 years old. He, wife Sheila, daughter Marcia, the two pilots, his bus driver and two campaign staffers died in a small plane crash en route to Eveleth.

It was devastating for those who had developed a strong connection to the senator, whether or not they knew him personally.

In Northfield, which the Wellstone family had called home for decades, the days after were difficult.

“He was very much at the heart of our community,” said Rick Estenson, who moved to Northfield in 1991, just after Wellstone was first elected. “There was a huge void in the town from the loss suddenly of such an icon. There was just an uncertainty that clouded the next few weeks.”

Estenson describes himself as a centrist politically, likely more on the conservative side during Wellstone’s years in office.

That made it all the odder when the iconic green bus that meant so much to so many people ended up on his property soon after Wellstone’s death.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 30

Sen. Paul Wellstone speaks to a crowd of about 100 people gathered on Oct. 31, 1999, at the entrance of ME International in Duluth. Wellstone voiced his support for workers who had been on strike since August.

(News Tribune file photo)

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Though he may have disagreed with some of the senator’s policies and ideas, Estenson said he always had tremendous respect for the man and what he meant to Northfield. He had room for the vehicle in a large barn on his hobby farm, just outside of town. And so when the Northfield Historical Society asked, he happily made room for it.

“I thought it was going to be a few-month sort of a deal,” Estenson said. “It turned into being a lot longer than that. I’m not even sure how long — three or four years.”

He watched over time as people came out to visit — just to see the bus, touch it, hug it. He knew they weren’t connecting to the object, but rather the history and the meaning behind it.

“It was very much an icon or a symbol of the ground-up election [Wellstone] ran in order to win that election,” Estenson said.

The bus eventually left the Estenson property making its way to a number of locations before landing at the Greg and Wendy Piler farm in Wanamingo.

Stored away, unused and not maintained, the bus has lost its usefulness as a tool to move persons from point A to B. However, it remains a steadfast symbol of one politician’s unyielding desire to connect to the everyday and disenfranchised classes.

Reflecting on years riding the bus with his family in his mid-20s, David Wellstone considered how

“Nothing’s been changed; it’s like a time capsule.”

Steve M 952-21

- David Wellstone

his father and mother felt about the beat up mobile campaign instrument they spent so many long days on. While President Taft later commented that he disliked campaigning on the back of trains, calling it “One of the most uncomfortable four months of my life,” David believes his parents felt differently about the back of the bus.

“I think they loved it,” he said. “There was a genuine connection with the bus. When people saw it, they saw my folks, and it became synonymous with who they were.”

Reach Associate Editor Philip Weyhe at 507-645-1115 or follow him on Twitter @nfnphilweyhe.

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WINGS conducts outreach to the Northfield area to promote the next generation of women. According to Board Member Bonnie Jean Flom, the organization prides itself on being “intergenerational.” (Photo courtesy of WINGS)

takes the lead in community efforts, philanthropy

F

By KELSEY O’HARA editor@northfieldnews.com

ifteen women, of different ages and professions, gathered together early on May 9 at the Northfield Community Resource Center for a monthly meeting.

Although the conversations drifted from scholarships, to youth directors and grants recipients, there was one theme across all topics. How do we make Northfield a better community for women and youth?

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Women in Northfield Giving Support, also known as WINGS, is a local group that educates and expands the number of women in philanthropy by building and strengthening the community through pooled investments and focused giving intended to improve the lives of women and children in the Northfield area.

Monthly board meetings help subcommittees and its more than 200 members understand the organization’s current goals as well as how WINGS is making an impact on their community.

But the meetings are just one small aspect of this female-driven group and its mission in the city of Northfield.

Prepared for flight The group started as a coincidental meeting of five Northfield women at the “Women in Philanthropy” conference in Minneapolis. The small group of ladies took the chance to discuss ways to create a similar philanthropic group in Northfield and a desire to fill a need in the community which had not been met with traditional organizations, but focusing on women and youth. Without realizing, the women slowly grew the seed for the future WINGS organization.

In 2000, about 60 women “founded” Women in Northfield Giving Support. They were asked to pledge to a three-year annual commitment of

President Kathy Olson, left, loves the mission of WINGS and hopes to see more women get involved with the group and in their community.

(Photos courtesy of WINGS)

$1,000, either by giving individually or as part of a giving circle.

“The enthusiasm we generated in the first year really sparked the success of WINGS,” said founding member and the first WINGS president, Catherine McBride. “Having both an annual fund and an endowment fund made a huge impact because we gave grants the first year and we became a major player in town quickly.”

The goal was to collaborate, not compete, with existing nonprofits, and members were encouraged to expand, not divert, their giving. WINGS funds were, and continue to be, invested with Minnesota Community Foundation, one of the four anchors of Minnesota Philanthropy Partners which shares expertise and operational efficiency, and supports community affiliates in Minnesota.

After the first three years, WINGS received a $25,000 matching grant from College City Beverage in Dundas to encourage members to make another three-year pledge. In 2012, when record keeping and tracking of giving circles became too labor intensive, WINGS moved to a tiered level of giving. Today, members may donate at any level of giving for any length of time.

The membership helps fund grants in a variety of areas, including housing, food, economic, safe environments for victims of domestic violence, early learning, out-of-school programs, adult education, health care, healthy behaviors and entrepreneurship.

According to WINGS Vice President Margit

WINGS awarded the first Dare to Dream Bigger grant in 2014 to Greenvale School to help support after school child care and other community programs.

Johnson, the grants always stay grounded in the original mission of meeting the needs of women and youth in the Northfield community because they tend to receive less funding from federal programs and constitute a larger percentage of those needing financial support.

“Our founders saw women as the great philanthropists, and we want to educate other women in the community on how they can become great

philanthropists and why pooling their investments together is an effective tool,” Johnson said.

By pooling in donations with other women in Northfield, the group can support a larger number of area nonprofits that help other women and youth. To board member Bonnie Jean Flom, this organization is led by women for women.

“We have women of different ages and backCONTINUED ON PAGE 34 NorthIeld

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MORE GIVING The nonprofit celebrated 24 WINGS grant winners and community members during its annual celebration June 12. The organizations are recipients of $85,824 in grants to provide programming in four areas: basic needs, education, mental and physical health, and entrepreneurship.

One organization will receive a $25,000 Dare to Dream Bigger grant, WINGS’s largest ever.

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 33

grounds that are bringing something unique to the table and helping this organization grow,” Flom said. “And it’s amazing to see this group of women work together to make a better Northfield.”

Successfully soaring Today, the group has over 250 members with different subcommittees that direct outreach, grants, communications and other tasks. WINGS is an all-volunteer organization which allows them to turn over 90 percent of its donations to the community.

In 2017, WINGS awarded $77,106 in support of 22 grants.

WINGS funds organizations that increase access to opportunity, taking financial need, input and capacity building into consideration. WINGS favors projects that build capacity by leveraging resources and encouraging grant proposals that enhance an organization’s ability to carry out its mission.

Alice Carson, grants committee chair, helps oversee grant applications from local organizations throughout the year

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“We initially started with individuals who wanted to get involved with philanthropy but soon groups of women, or giving circles, pooled money together to grow the endowment fund, which supports the grants each year. This jump-started the organization and 18 years later, we are close to giving $1 million.” - Margit Johnson

and suggest how WINGS funding could maximize efforts.

“We have criteria each year we follow during the application process, but this year, we are also awarding our Dare to Dream Bigger grant,” Carson said. “That grant focuses on funding $10,000 to a nonprofit that has the most compelling dream to help women and children in Northfield.”

The Dare to Dream Bigger grant only happens every other year since 2014, and the last two winners includes Northfield Healthy Community Initiative and Growing Up Healthy.

Northfield Healthy Community Initiative used the funds to support Greenvale School as it became a community school where children and families are supported through community activities, after-school care and other programs. Along similar lines, Growing Up Healthy collaborated with Early Childhood and Family Education and Northfield Promise to create a Latino Child Care Providers Network.

WINGS helps nonprofit organizations and businesses in Northfield that benefit children or women. An example is WINGS funds provided the Northfield YMCA with scholarships for low-income families. (Photos courtesy of WINGS)

WINGS hit a milestone with 2018 Dare to Dream Bigger grant by funding $25,000 for its recipient, which will be announced in June. Carson said the group has been able to support multiple community projects throughout the years including Tattered Pages at the Northfield Middle School and funding scholarships to the Northfield YMCA for low-income families.

Johnson said there are similar groups in other communities that try to resemble the structure of WINGS by serving the community through grants and programming, but WINGS grew naturally and adapted over time to serve women in Northfield.

Now, they are seeing that success in action.

“We initially started with individuals who wanted to get involved with philanthropy but soon groups of women, or giving circles, pooled money together to grow the endowment fund, which supports the grants each year,” she said. “This jumpstarted the organization and 18 years later, we are close to giving $1 million.”

Current President Kathy Olson admires the progress the organization has made in under two decades between funding, membership and expansion to events and celebrations for grant recipients, but what she appreciates the most is the sense of community that’s been built between group members.

“We’ve established an open and engaged group where women are actively taking the lead in their community while meeting other women who want

WINGS hosted their annual members meeting in January to share experiences from the past year and learn what motivates community members to give.

to accomplish those same goals,” Olson said.

It’s a simple goal, really.

Said Johnson, the group’s vice president: “We just want to continue supporting the vital needs of women and youth for basic needs, education and

entrepreneurship.”

Kelsey O’Hara is a freelance journalist based in the metro. ©Copyright 2018 APG Media of Southern Minnesota.

All rights reserved.

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Steve Schier’s

interest, abilities make him a much sought after

political commentator

H

By WILLIAM MORRIS editor@northfieldnews.com

e no longer lives in town, but after 36 years at Carleton College, Northfield still feels like home for Steve Schier.

Schier, a longtime political science professor at Carleton, retired in 2017 and now lives in St. Paul.

But while you can take the poli sci professor out of the classroom, you can’t take the poli sci out of the professor. Schier remains active as a writer and editor on politics, chronicling a tumultuous period of American politics and following the same love he shared with decades of Carleton students.

He says he’s learned a great deal from many years studying Minnesota

politics that helps him make sense of the age of Trump. And if ever there was a need for political science, this is it.

“My department reports record enrollment because people are really interested in what Trump is up to and what the heck is going on,” he says with a chuckle.

Northfield by way of Washington Schier picked up his love for politics early.

He was born in Mount Pleasant, Iowa, but had an uncle who taught American politics at Franklin & Marshall College in Pennsylvania. In 1965, the 12-year-old Steve and his father travelled to Washington, D.C., with his uncle, where he heard or met many of the leading political lights of that era.

“So I became pretty dazzled by Washington at an early age, and it’s been a recurring interest since,” said Schier, now 65.

After high school, Schier studied history and political science at Simpson College, and attended American University’s Washington Semester program in 1973. He was in town for the infamous Saturday Night Massacre on Oct. 20 of that year, as President Richard Nixon fired a succession of Justice Department officials in an attempt to end the ongoing special counsel investigation into the Watergate scandal. (Asked if recent events give him any sense of déjà vu, he says it’s too soon to tell. “There’s just a lot of fog right now,” he says.)

ABOVE: Retired Carleton College political science professor Steve Schier is a frequently quoted political analyst who said his career path was inspired by two uncles and the events of the 1960s and early ‘70s. (File photo)

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Steve Schier, standing, leads the May 2016 American Presidential Election & the Obama Presidency panel discussion at Carleton College.

(Dan Iverson/ Carleton College)

In any case, the explosive series of revelations that eventually brought down Nixon did nothing to dull his enthusiasm for politics. He finished his undergraduate work, then he got his Ph.D. from the University of WisconsinMadison, and began looking for a professorship of his own.

It was “a fortunate turn of the job market” that brought him to Northfield and Carleton, he says. After several years teaching at Wittenburg University in Ohio, he was looking for his next position, at a top liberal arts college, and Carleton certainly fit the bill.

“The quality of the students was important. They’re among the best in the country,” he said. “They bring a lot to the classroom, and you can do a lot with them. … That made teaching challenging, but also pretty exciting.”

Exciting enough, clearly, to keep him for three and a half decades, becoming his own kind of institution for the college in the process.

Teaching at home and abroad Over his many years at Carleton, Schier taught a variety of courses at different levels, but some of his favorite accomplishments happened off the Northfield campus. He created, and led 12 times from 1983 to 2010, the college’s Washington program: a 10-week immersion in the nation’s capital for students aspiring to their own political careers.

The Washington program was more than just a field trip: students met and learned from some of the most senior figures in government, from legislators and White House officials to Supreme Court justices. It was, to put it mildly, a daunting logistical challenge for Schier, but one well worth it, he says.

“I think you can say it was a formidable task each time, but you learn a lot being in Washington and talking to decision makers,” he said. “It made a big difference in my teaching and my research, and I’d say gave me a big advantage over other researchers that never leave the Ivory tower.”

In between teaching in Northfield and Washington — and two stints as a Fulbright Senior Lecturer in Canada and Sweden — that research has been a key part of Schier’s work. He published his first book, studying Democratic Party delegate selection in Iowa and Wisconsin from 1968 to 1976, in 1980.

His most recent is on a topic of somewhat broader interest: “The Trump

Steve Schier, retired Carleton College professor, moderates a May 2016 panel discussion. Schier continues to write, authoring several books on politics. (Dan Iverson/Carleton College)

Presidency: Outsider in the Oval Office,” co-authored with Todd Eberly and published in September, examines the chaotic first eight months of the current administration.

Schier is something of an authority on the contemporary presidency, having also written or edited books on the tenures of Presidents Clinton, George W. Bush and Obama. His bibliography also includes studies of the broader institution of the presidency and presidential elections, the politics of the national debt (co-authored with former U.S. Rep. Tim Penny of Minnesota) and more.

In short, he’s exactly the sort of expert to shed light on the daily drama playing out in Washington, D.C. CONTINUED ON PAGE 38 NorthIeld

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CONTINUED FROM PAGE 37

“Trump has been good for business,” he jokes. “My latest book … is about the early Trump administration, and we’re probably going to write another book. There’s a lot to write.”

‘It’s Trump’s world. We just live in it.’

But in recent years, you wouldn’t need to attend a Carleton lecture or even visit a library, to learn from Schier. On many days, you just have to turn on the TV. Schier has become a go-to source for political journalists in both state and national politics, appearing regularly on TV, as a newspaper columnist and more. He attributes his popularity in part to being easy to work with (“I know journalists are on deadlines, and I try to give them short declarative sentences that can fit well on deadline,” he says) and partly on the pressing need for someone, anyone, who can offer context to the highly unconventional Trump administration. For much of 2017, he said, his phone was practically ringing off the hook.

“The early months of Trump, yeah, wow, because nobody knew what the heck was going on, including many people in the White House,” he said.

But in fact, Schier sees in Trump only the latest manifestation of a 50-year trend in politics, one he has often seen played out right here in Minnesota.

“One of the key elements of our political system is public discontent with government,” he said. “That, I think, really shapes our current politics and creates a lot of volatility, and leads to the election of some unconventional candidates.”

Unconventional candidates such as former U.S. Sen. Paul Wellstone and former Gov. Jesse Ventura, in fact.

“It’s a trend that really started in the 1960s, and it has slowly grown until now we’re electing people with no governmental experience into the White House,” Schier said.

So, what does pundit Steve Schier see coming in politics? He predicts

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Tim Pawlenty will face U.S. Rep. Tim Walz in November for the governor’s mansion, and thinks Sen. Tina Smith’s seat, formerly held by Al Franken, could be a toss-up as well. Nationally, he expects Republicans to lose seats in the House of Representatives, although he’s not sure if the GOP will lose their majority, but thinks they have a good shot to hold or expand their Senate majority. Of course, November is a ways out, he cautions.

“That’s what it looks like right now, but it might look completely different next month,” he said.

And he’ll be watching to see if the trends that made Trump beat expectations in Minnesota will continue or prove to be a blip in the grand scheme of things.

“There’s a lot going on here that could produce definitive change in one way or another,” he said.

These days Schier is happy in St. Paul, where his wife, Mary, is an author for the Minnesota State Horticultural Society. But he remains grateful for his many years in Northfield, where they raised two children.

And if any of his former students find themselves missing his classes, not to worry: he’s probably only a newspaper or a TV interview away.

William Morris is a metro-based journalist. ©Copyright 2018 APG Media of Southern Minnesota. All rights reserved.

BUY THE BOOK Steve Schier has authored or co-authored nearly a dozen books on American politics and contributed to several more.

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