Union of Youth

The adult and skateboard crew were at it again this past Wednesday the 29th during the evening, loading near-completed ramps, boxes, a pyramid, and other skate essentials onto a long trailer to bring out to the new temporary skatepark location located next to Culver’s along highway 3. There’s still a little work to be done. The pyramid needs completion and some of the ramps need a little bracing underneath, but all in all we’re close. Once again we see how a community of adults and youth can come together for a common cause. Northfield could use a little more of this. More photos here.

The Northfield Union of Youth teamed up with Twin Cities rapper and spoken word artist Kristoff Krane for a special educational workshop for participants of the Summer Plus program. Summer PLUS is a summer-long academic and recreational program for elementary and middle school students and part of the PRIMEtime Collaborative. Kristoff Krane led two one hour sessions, loosely titled “So you Wanna be a Rapper,” but was more focused on finding the passion to write for oneself and how to do so. About 10 members of the The Key came along to assist Kristoff in his endeavors. Many youth spoke and rapped their final piece (or their work in progress) in front of the others or had staff and members of the Key perform their pieces for them. A huge thanks to Jenny Kramm and Tim Hollinger for being such a big help in making this happen. For more photos click here.

This posted by Zach Pruitt from Healthy Community Initiative, originally found at http://northfieldhci.org/weblog/post/834/

If you heard hammers and electric screwdrivers at work on Pepper Ridge Knoll on Friday, you were listening to the sounds of a neighborhood coming together to help local youth.

Led by the amazing Jimi Brown, Mike Plank, and John Schad, neighbors on this street spent much of the day and night (and weekend!) helping to construct equipment for the temporary skate park. The adults worked side-by-side with local youth skaters. Neighbors even made food for the volunteers at work — including homemade cookies! It was a moment that made one proud to live in a town like Northfield.

The temporary park is set to open soon at Babcock Park (near Culver’s).

Many thanks to these fantastic volunteers — and to Jordan Taylor, who has been working with the youth this summer on this project!

Check out some photos of some of the awesome volunteers at work!

Another board retreat, another bonding experience. This year we camped at the County Park along the highway between Faribault and Northfield, grilled out with burgers, brats, and veggie equivalents, ate smores, played various games, and talked about The Key’s future goals. Not a bad showing either, especially from the new board. I’m just glad I brought my headphones.

More photos here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/thekey/tags/board/

Come see Riley McGillivray and Friends for a Winter Solstice show, Dec. 21st at 7:00 pm! Twill be quite the event!

Next up is Dewi Sant’s CD release show, Sunday Jan. 3rd at 7:00 pm. Feel privileged to be exposed to the greatness…..