Down by the Cannon Riverside

Posted by Reginaldo Haslett-Marroquin on July 30, 2008

I had a chance to spend time with the organizers and the judges from America in Bloom (AIB) who were in Northfield yesterday judging some of Northfield’s projects that were entered into the national contest.

Our Community Garden was one of the projects profiled and I was invited to have lunch with the judges, the Northfield area organizers, and the Jesse James Gang at their camp by the Cannon River right in the middle of town but secluded enough that one of the gang members dressed in full attire (from the time of the bank robbers), had to show everyone the small path through the woods down to the river.

At the river, a chuck wagon was set-up and a delicious lunch cooked in an open fire, all while there were plenty of “Corona” beer for the judges with the hope their eyesight and clarity of mind could be turned into our favor for a positive profile of the projects they were about to visit.

We were also delighted with some acapella music from an impromptu performance by a well known local group that includes David Legbold, a neighbor farmer who also runs the Cannon River Watershed Partnership. All in all, it was a great break from the office work and an amazing opportunity to enjoy the Cannon river in a very different setting that took us back to an old style of outdoors living.