I went to Carleton, and have lived in Northfield for one year since graduation, and I have a few things to say.
On townies and students:
There is a feeling among the student body at Carleton that the townies don't like us very much. People say that the locals like St. Olaf better than Carleton because St. Olaf is a dry campus and a more conservative school. I suppose that's reasonable, but there is some resentment about that attitude due to the fact that St. Olaf students come to Carleton to get drunk and cause trouble. It's not their campus, so they don't care as much about causing property damage and disturbing the peace. The Olaf students aren't angels, and if it weren't for Carleton, there'd be a lot more problems with them in the local bars.
It took me a few years to become involved in the Northfield community, but once I did, I found the townies to be very welcoming. One of the problems is that students only stick around for four years, and if it takes you one or two years to get involved, you'll be nothing but a blip on the radar before you graduate. I think that is a very common problem in college towns, and I know that the administration at Carleton is working very hard to encourage the students to get involved in the local community. The ACT Center is devoted to community outreach. You can find out about specific programs here:
http://apps.carleton.edu/campus/act/
Since there is such rapid turnover of the student body, it is vital that townies get involved in these programs. Right now, there seem to be a lot more programs connecting us to Faribault than to Northfield, which is sad. Any locals who would like Carleton students to become more involved in community affairs should contact the ACT Center themselves and make it happen. The staff would be delighted, and the center does not lack for funding...
On Businesses:
Different people look for different things, so I'll just list what I see Northfield as having to offer.
Shopping:
Groceries: Cub Foods, Econofoods, Just Foods (co-op), Famer's Market, Brick Oven Bakery, another bakery, a candy store. Two liquor stores. A mexican food specialty store.
Clothing: Target, K-Mart, Fashion Bug (low prices), Anna's Closet (high prices), Sisters Ugly (outragiously high prices), Ragstock (low prices), Rare Pair (mostly shoes. High prices), Kids on Division, A consignment shop, and another shoe store that specializes in leather. There is also a thrift-store type area at the community center where you can get clothing very cheaply.
Utility: Menards, Sears (small), Ace Hardware, Village Drug, Walgreens, another local drug store, several auto repair shops, a bike repair shop.
Gifts and window shopping: Hallmark, Present Perfect (cute housewares and toys), Monarch (new age), Sweet Pea's Loft (cute housewares and toys), The Sketchy Artist, a sewing store, Ooh la la (boutique), a bead store, The Bag Lady (jewelry), a used DVD and CD store.
Books: A nice public library as well as two college libraries, two college bookstores, River City Books (new), Monkey See Monkey Read (used and new), Bookfellows (used), a christian bookstore somewhere.
Entertainment:
Coffee: Goodbye Blue Monday, The Ole Cafe, James Gang, The Hideaway, Bittersweet, Caribou Coffee. There is an annex to the bakery on division that serves coffee but it's not very popular, and Hogan Brothers also does coffee.
Dining: Chapati, Kurry Kabob, Hogan Brothers, Erbert's and Gerbert's, George's Vinyard, Basil's, Dominos, Papa Murphy's, B & L's, El Tequila Mandarin Garden, another chinese place, Perkins, The Tavern, Beef O' Brady's, Applebees, The Quarterback Club, McDonalds, Wendy's, Subway, Taco Bell, Tacoasis, Dairy Queen, Culvers.
Bars: Contended Cow, Tavern, Froggy Bottom's, Rueb'N'Stein, Diamond Daves, the VFW club
Music: The bars, Ole Cafe, The Cave (carleton), The Pause (St. Olaf), The Key (I think), Northfield Arts Guild
Theatre: Northfield Arts Guild, Carleton, St. Olaf.
Fitness: Three dance studios, a public pool, parks, a yoga studio, two gyms, and a YMCA. Additionally, Carleton's gym and pools are open to the public and there are lessons at the gym that are open to the public for free every term (massage, dancing, nutrition, weight lifting, pilates, yoga, etc). There are frequent contra-dances at the YMCA. Probably the best thing about Northfield is the Arb, which is a nature reserve in the care of Carleton College. The Arb is huge, with enough trails for a multi-day hike if you wanted to get serious. The arb was featured in
Runner's World magazine as one of the top 10 places to run in the country.
Movies: Northfield does not have a movie theatre! I included this category just to mention that. You have to go to Lakeville, which is about 20 minutes away. Movie Gallery rents videos, and there's always netflix.
On Retirement:
If noise at night bothers you, you should get a house that is not close to Carleton. I have been living in an apartment complex near St. Olaf and I have found the neighborhoods around St. Olaf to be fairly quiet. I feel very safe in Northfield and have never had a problem walking around after dark.
There are at least two retirement centers in northfield: three-links retirement center, and Northfield Retirement Community. The latter is a christian organization (if that appeals to you) and very large. They seem to have a variety of housing options, including independent homes that are affiliated with the community, apartment style assisted-living options, and more intensive-care options. I walked by there once and was very impressed, and I've considered checking out their cafe, but I would feel out of place.
I know that the ACT center has a few outreach programs that might be appealing, including a meals-on-wheels type program and adopt-a-grandparent.
If transportation is ever a problem, Northfield Transit might appeal to you. Northfield Transit is usually $1, but it is free to students and I bet you that it is free to senior citizens as well. Northfield transit has a regular schedule of driving by the colleges, the apartment complexes, Econo Foods, Target, and Cub. If you need to go any place in particular, you can call them up and schedule yourself a ride for a specific time. I know some people use it to get to work, and I know that Northfield Transit will take you to the Allina Clinic no problem. They will probably also take you to Northfield Hospital.
As far as community goes, I have seen groups of older women gathered at Bittersweet. Bittersweet seems to be the hangout of choice among older community members (students prefer Blue Monday, which has worse coffee in my opinion), and I am sure I saw a book club there once. There is a magazine put out by a group of women in northfield that seems focused on the lives and relationships of older women in the community, and you might check that out. I have also seen groups of older men gathered over coffee at the Tavern early in the morning and sitting out in front of Blue Monday on the sidewalk when it is warm.
There are several very active churches. The UCC always seemed like a nice place, and I noticed that they had a spirituality discussion group for women, which I thought was neat. I am not very religious, but friends who are have enjoyed it and said that it was welcoming and diverse.
On Education:
I have never seen a high school student taking a class at Carleton. Adult townies sometimes enroll in classes. There is supposedly a technical college around here somewhere, but I've never seen it. I know that Carleton has a bunch of summer camp options for k-12 students. I have no idea what the public schools are like, but I have heard excellent things about the (
http://www.prairiecreek.org) Prairie Creek School. There is also a daycare option that is loosely connected with the Psych program at Carleton. The Development Psych professor has her daughter there and students work with the children. I know that it is competitive to enroll your child in this program and there is a lottery.
I always assumed that the public schools in Northfield must be fairly good, because I can't imagine that the professors at St. Olaf and Carleton would allow their children to go to a sub-par school, and not everybody can go to the Prairie School. There are a bunch of students at both Carleton and St. Olaf who went to Northfield High School, and neither school is easy to get into. However, anybody with children should probably check out how Northfield public schools compare with other options before they move.
Economy:
I noticed a few years ago that the economy in Northfield seemed to be sliding downhill. This predates the recession. Somebody decided to develop the land across the river from Carleton, and the buildings have sat unused. There are condos for sale that look like they would be pretty nice to live in, but who buys condos in Northfield? People rent or they get a house. There is space for businesses attached to the condos, but nobody has moved in. Someone tried to start a cafe, but it closed. There was really delicious Guatemalan place next to Blue Monday, but they went under. Someone almost started a specialty Pizza place in that spot, but that fizzled out. We got a Waffle Bar for about a year, but the Waffle Bar closed. There was a bagel place next to the bookstore, but it has been empty for at least 5 years. There was a hardware store across from Econofoods, but that place has closed and is still empty. The art store closed. The lutheran heritage store closed. A new art store replaced the lutheran store, but the spot where the art store was is still empty. Now that I think about it, Mr. Movies has closed, so I'll have to delete that from the list of movie places. There is a bar next to the movie place called Diamond Daves, but it used to be called something else. Dad's? Something. That closed. There is a currently a mexican-food specialty store that has changed hands three times in the last 5 years. Northfield had a movie theatre, but it sucked, and it recently went out of business and turned into a Culvers. The candy store closed for a while, but came back in a new location. What I am trying to say is that Northfield is not as vibrant now as it was when I got here 5 years ago. Northfield still has plenty of life left, but you'll notice some empty storefronts when you visit. I honestly wouldn't worry about it too much. The core businesses are doing just fine, and I think a lot of the places that closed might have been pushed out by the new places that moved in.
By the way, I think Target/Cub/K-Mart/Menards are technically in Dundas. Dundas is a suburb of Northfield and it is amazingly small. Head down highway 3 and then turn right between the K-Mart and the Kwik Kopy, go down that road for a while, and you'll hit Dundas. Dundas has some bars and a Bistro. I think it's probably what Northfield was like 30-40 years ago.
My mother went to Carleton in the 70s. I know that the Reub was around back then, as well as the VFW club. The shoe store that specializes in leather boots was bigger and sold denim. It was a one-strip town with no stop lights and a lot of bars. So there's a history lesson for you. Northfield is pretty nice now and has come a long way.
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