Northfield Area Chamber Executives Highlight Picnic

Our twice a month visit at Professional Pride Realty in Northfield was shifted to this afternoon due to our AM Minnesota visits to the SCFF.  Professional Pride owner Pete Mergens typically joins us but could not be with us due to some business so the entire show was devoted to news from the Northfield Area Chamber of Commerce and Tourism.

Chamber President Lisa Peterson and Membership and Events Coordinator Jane Bartho were in the Conference Room of Professional Pride Realty to cover a number of upcoming events in the Home of Cows, Colleges and Contentment.

August 27 there is a Membership Appreciation Picnic at Riverside Lions Park in Northfield.  Hot dogs are being donated by Just Food Co-op so the ladies pointed out they will be grass fed and healthy.

Defeat of Jesse James Days (DJJD) the community celebration that is one of the largest in the state is always the weekend following Labor Day.

Peterson noted Clancy Dokmo is this year's Joseph Lee Heywood Distinguished Citizen Award recipient.  Dokmo has been heavily involved in the Northfield community and Peterson said the choice was an excellent one because, "He displayed the qualities the recipient needs to have."

The award is named after the man who refused to give the James-Younger Gang  attempting to rob the First National Bank of Northfield in 1876 any money.  For that Joseph Lee Heywood was shot and killed.  Heywood put the residents of Northfield and their savings above his own life.

At the time Heywood was the acting cashier of the bank, Treasurer for the City of Northfield and Treasurer of Carleton College in Northfield.  Heywood lived in Faribault and Minneapolis before settling in Northfield.  He was from the east coast and came to Minnesota after his discharge from the Civil War apparently for medical reasons.

He married Martha Ann Buffum in 1869 and they had a daughter, Lizzie May born in 1871.  Martha died in 1872 and Joseph, at his wife's request, married her best friend Lizzie Adams.

After his death Heywood was buried in the city cemetery.  His funeral was held September 12, 1876.  Five days following the attempted heist.