Northfield: Trails, Market and Events

Northfield, Minnesota, offers a variety of reasons to stay: recreational trails, outdoor ice skating, a seasonal market, recurring events, and galleries. When planning your trip, it’s worth considering both the activities and when they take place.

Recreational Trails and Ice Skating

Several recreational trails in Northfield are designated for mountain biking, hiking, or mixed use. If you’d like to include some activity in your stay, you can make your preferred type of use the starting point for your plans. This way, the trails differ according to their intended focus rather than offering just a general recreational option.

There are six outdoor ice rinks and an ice-skating oval. All six rinks have lighting and warming houses. Operations may vary by season, so if ice skating is important to your trip, check in advance whether the facilities will be open during your planned visit.

Riverwalk Market Fair at Bridge Square

The Riverwalk Market Fair is a summer market at Bridge Square in Northfield’s historic downtown. It takes place on Saturdays and features locally grown produce, artisan foods, and juried art. This brings together different interests at the same market: both food and art are part of the offerings. Its seasonal schedule and Saturday date give you a specific point of reference if you’d like to include a market visit in your weekend plans. Seasonal offerings may vary, so check the latest dates and details before your visit.

Defeat of Jesse James Days and Grand Parade

Defeat of Jesse James Days takes place every September in Northfield and commemorates the city’s historic 1876 bank raid. The event’s Grand Parade travels through downtown every year on the Sunday of the weekend after Labor Day. For planning purposes, it’s helpful to distinguish between the two: September is the recurring time of year for the event, while the Sunday of the weekend after Labor Day is the specific parade date. If you’re traveling specifically for the parade, use this date as a guide and check the event dates for the year in question.

Art in Northfield

The Northfield Arts Guild has two galleries on-site in its building, as well as satellite galleries in the Northfield area. Art is part of Northfield in different ways: as part of the juried art selection at the Riverwalk Market Fair and through the Guild’s galleries. This distinction may be helpful if you’d like to separate the market as a seasonal event from a dedicated focus on galleries.

The dates also offer different points of reference: the Riverwalk Market Fair combines summer and Saturdays, Defeat of Jesse James Days takes place every September, and the Grand Parade is scheduled for the Sunday of the weekend after Labor Day. For ice skating, by contrast, keep in mind that operations vary by season. This can help you plan your stay around a specific event date, a market day, or an activity, depending on what you’d like to focus on.

Discover more destinations: Faribault, Lonsdale.

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