field trip: northfield, mn

No lie, “Cows, colleges, and contentment” is the official motto of Northfield, Minnesota (pop. 18,000). Only 45 minutes from the Twin Cities, Northfield is smack dab in an agriculture belt (“cows”, although wikipedia says there are more pigs than cows, go figure). It’s home to St. Olaf College and Carleton College, two top-notch institutions of high learning (“colleges”). And, over the past 15 years, Northfield has become a bedroom community to the Twin Cities—a quiet, clean, and cozy small town populated by lots of really smart and interesting people (“contentment,” I surmise).

In the 90s, work took me to Northfield at least three times a year. I liked its quaintness then. The draw to urbanites, looking beyond the suburbs to a small town as an ideal place for raising their families, was evident. It has been four years since my last visit, but a few weeks ago, I had an opportunity to remedy that situation. My friend Jeanne Z. and I drove down for a little Odegard Books reunion with our former coworker Jessica, who has lived and worked in Northfield for the past six or seven years.

We started with Indian buffet lunch at Chapati, located in the Palmer House hotel. Clearly, if you work downtown, you eat lunch at Chapati. The restaurant was packed and Jessica knew everyone. We snagged the last table and tucked into some of the best Indian buffet I have had in a very long time. Chapati’s website promises, on Tuesday through Sunday, to offer salad, fresh fruit, chutneys (mint-cilantro and tamarind), two soups (which I skipped for no particular reason, except that I made a beeline for the papadams), tandoori chicken, basmati rice, naan, pakora, four meat curries (chicken curry, spicy beef vindaloo, chicken sabzi, and lamb sabzi on the day I visited), and four vegetarian curries (for example, saag paneer, dal makhani, chana masala, and something with mushrooms), as well as gulab jamen and rice pudding for dessert. The food was well seasoned, fresh, and utterly comforting, but I was sold by unlimited access to the papadams.

After lunch, we took a stroll. Jessica introduced us to everyone we met on the street. I wondered if this—in a small town, you tend to know everyone, and everyone tends to know you—is part of the “contentment.” Quite frankly, having grown up in a small town, I find it singularly stifling. I think it’s the one thing that would keep me from relocating.

But, the shopping! Oh the shopping. Jeanne and I managed to keep the Northfield economy stimulated that day. Division Street—Northfield’s main street—is peppered with gift shops, like Swag; clothing stores; bookstores (although River City, owned by Carleton College as a “service” to the downtown, is going out of business, Monkey See, Monkey Read, with a great mix of new and used, is worth a visit); restaurants/bars/coffeehouses; and a bead shop. And, it’s a really, really good bead shop. The owner is making some neat beads by fusing bottle caps in a unique way, as well as cutting and tumbling glass bottles into fabulous organic shapes. I bought beads, but also incredibly inexpensive, one-of-a-kind jewelry.

As far as I can tell, Division Street, far from needing another home furnishings/tchotcke shop, could use a good Thai restaurant, a kitchenware shop (e.g., Cook's of Crocus Hill) and a cheese shop. I hear a business opportunity calling my name. . .