An almost palpable air of excitement has hung over the Paradise Center for the Arts in Faribault ever since July 20, opening night of

Mike (“Doc”) Hildebrandt has a motto, taken from John Denver’s song Thank God, I’m a Country Boy. It is, “I fiddle when I can and

  Some people look at cut-down trees and think “Firewood.” Curtis Ingvoldstad of Nerstrand, a wood sculptor/chainsaw artist, looks at the trunks that are

You may remember Prince’s song, “Party Like It’s 1999,” which was popular as the new millennium approached. Well, Northfielders were in the mood to

L.K. (Larry) Hanson, creator of a popular St. Olaf comic strip in the ’60s and long-time StarTribune illustrator and writer, came to Northfield recently to talk

It is not surprising that Susan Garwood, executive director of the Rice County Historical Society, expresses a fondness for history. But it turns out

Dad, why doesn’t Carleton play metric football?” That question, from Carleton chemistry professor Jerry Mohrig’s teenage son David, sparked a very special and unique

The year 2016 marks the 125th anniversary of St. Olaf College’s first music organization, a group once led by F. Melius Christiansen. No, it

Those of you who have been amazed at the magnificence (and length) of the Defeat of Jesse James Days parades will no doubt be

I wrote two paragraphs about Henry Talford Budd, known as “Tal,” in my third Historic Happenings column in April of 2007. I was writing about events

What would have been on the covers of the February Entertainment Guides had they been around in the 19th century? In 1892, we may have

No, I am not writing about the Northfield Cannon Valley Lions Club. Nor am I writing about the St. Olaf Lion, logo of the

Carleton College archivist Eric Hillemann has a colorful poster from the 1930s on his office wall which announces a lecture: “James B. Pond presents

In July of 2011 an open house was held at the Archer House River Inn to show off a $1.1 million renovation of the

On Aug. 19, 1915, the Northfield Independent newspaper announced, “Carnival Shows Draw Big Crowds. Many Clever and Interesting Performances to Be Seen with Patterson Carnival Company,

With a menacing stare and a big ax, Smoke Shop proprietor Stanley “Tiny” Johnson stood beside two men locked into the “Jesse James Days

Prior to embarking on a tour of Norway, Denmark and Germany in 1966, the St. Olaf College Band, under the direction of Miles Johnson,

Sayles-Hill Gymnasium, now used as Carleton’s Campus Center, was dedicated on Jan. 26, 1910. As the “March Madness” of the collegiate basketball season is

“Until Dec. 7, 1941, I thought I was a normal boy, a normal American. All of a sudden I was dirty. All of a

Within six years of the founding of Northfield in 1855, Northfield proudly flew its first U.S. flag. The Continental Congress had adopted the nation’s

The opening game of the 1965-66 basketball season of the Northfield High School Raiders was to be played on the court of a new

A clause inserted into every deed of land by Northfield’s founder John North was “No intoxicating drinks shall be sold or in any manner

Gary Rue was in his 9th grade algebra class in Tracy, Minnesota, in September of 1964 and the fellow sitting behind him was beating

Last month Carleton College published A Beacon So Bright: The Life of Laurence McKinley Gould, a long-awaited biography of Carleton’s fourth president by Carleton archivist

“Northfielders Have Forever Found Fun, Even in the Frigid Days of February.” That was the title of my first column for the Northfield Entertainment Guide in