Interested in Playground Options for the Park?

Please join us on Saturday, September 29!

Click to view a PDF of Nature Play Resources

If you’ve been to Way Park lately, you’ve noticed a lot of changes (paths, amphitheater, rain garden, new trees). Now, the focus is beginning to turn to the playground area in the northwest corner of the park.

The Friends of Way Park would like to start a discussion, share ideas, and create a vision for the playground area, so that, when the opportunity arises to make changes there, we will be ready.

We’d like to invite you to join in that discussion, especially if you and your family use the park, especially if you have an interest in designing play spaces. Please come and share your ideas on Saturday, September 29, at 10:30am, at the park. All are welcome!

If you want to get your creative juices flowing, check out the Nature Play Resources presentation that board member Matt Rohn put together with examples of natural play ares he visited over the summer.

Photos from Midsommar 2012

It was a perfect evening for a festival in the park as Northfielders gathered for the seventh annual Midsommar celebration! Thanks to the Northfield Swedish Club, the Sons of Norway, Judy Swanson, Eleanor Croone, and all the volunteers who made it happen. Thanks to the musicians and dancers, wreath-makers and paraders for making it a festive event, and to Laura & Mark Heiman and Doug Bratland for sharing these photos.



Here's another batch of photos from Angela Lauterbach at Northfield Patch (who also earn thanks for helping publicize the event):

• Midsommar Celebration at Way Park 

And there are two more excellent photo galleries from Audrey Kletscher Helbling on her blog, Minnesota Prairie Roots:

• Welcoming summer at the Scandinavian Midsommar celebration in Northfield
• A close-up look at a Midsommar celebration

Midsommar in Way Park: Sunday, June 24

Celebrate Northfield's annual Scandinavian Midsommar in Way Park on Sunday, June 24! Informal picnicking, wreath making, and other family-friendly activities begin at 5:30 p.m. Bring your family & friends, a picnic supper, and a blanket or chairs. (Tables and a few chairs, lemonade, and ice water will be provided.)

Enjoy live music, games, dancing, a midsommar processional and raising of the maypole in the NEW south half of the park.

The event is hosted by the Friends of Way Park, Northfield Swedish Club, and Sons of Norway. The rain site is St. John's Lutheran at 3rd & Plum Street.

Annual Meeting: Tuesday, June 12

The Friends of Way Park 2012 Annual Meeting will be next Tuesday, June 12 at 7pm in the Fireside Room of St. John's Lutheran Church, 500 Third Street West.

You've watched grading and seeding and path construction in the past few  years—join us to hear our immediate plans and our distant dreams! We'll also thank our outgoing board members—Cahrene and Dan Dimick and Chris Kauffeld—and vote in the new 2012-13 board members.

Photo Gallery: Rain Garden Planting

Two new rain gardens were planted in Way Park the weekend of May 20th, thanks to the efforts of volunteers who showed up to help. The gardens are the result of a partnership among Friends of Way Park, the Cannon River Watershed Partnership, and the City of Northfield, plus grant support from the Northfield Area Foundation.

Rain gardens do a remarkable job of filtering water and keeping it in the ground, and thus limiting run-off and the silting of rivers all the way to the Mississippi. These are demonstration gardens intended to inspire homeowners. For more about rain gardens and building your own, visit the Maplewood Rain Gardens web page.

Benefit Concert Raises over $4200!

Last weekend's benefit concert was not only a fabulous night of music, but also a great fundraiser for Way Park. The generosity of attendees, along with matching funds from FWP board members and others, brought in over $4200 to help move us closer to a fully-realized park. Huge thanks to all the performers, volunteers, donors, and attendees for another wonderful community event!

Enjoy this gallery of 22 photos from the event:

May 12: Benefit Concert for Way Park

The Friends of Way Park invite you to a benefit concert for Way Park on May 12 at Northfield's First UCC Church. The music of Edvard Grieg, and the Vestlandet and Telemark fiddle styles that inspired it, will be performed by Andrea Een, Hardanger fiddle and violin, and Sonja Thompson, piano, along with guest fiddlers from the Lars Skjervheim Spelemannslag of St. Olaf College. The concert will be followed by a dessert reception.

Saturday, May 12 at 7:30pm. First UCC Church, Third and Union St. Doors open at 7pm.

Suggested Donation: $15 general admission, $10 students, $5 children 12 and under.  Total donations up to $3500 will be matched dollar for dollar!

Give to the Max for Way Park!

Today is Give to the Max Day for Minnesota nonprofits. All donors contributing funds through the GiveMN.org website are eligible for hourly drawings that add $1,000 to your donation. Please help Way Park as we work toward the completion of the Way Park Master Plan.

Visit Friends of Way Park on GiveMN.org or our Donate page now (or any time) to make a tax-deductible contribution. Thank you!

South End Progress

This has been an exciting summer in Way Park! Working with the City, we have been able to regrade and seed the south half of the park, build an amphitheater, add paved walkways, and plant 18 maples and oaks donated by Leif Knecht. FWP board member Mary Steen has been documenting the progress over the past two months in this series of photos.

Groundbreaking Celebration Photos

Dozens of park neighbors, along with members of the Friends of Way Park, the Northfield City Council, and the Parks and Recreation Advisory Board, celebrated the beginning of construction in the south half of the park at a ceremonial groundbreaking. Here are a few photos from the event....