Hello Richfield

Where do the young, clever, moderately active, advertising up and comers go to play soccer? Richfield. Yesterday evening the Academy of Holy Angels played host to a six team soccer tourney. I am not sure who won as I only stayed for about twenty minutes, but a rollicking twenty minutes it was.

Young captains of advertising, Richfield welcomes you. 

Believe it or not Richfield used to be much larger than it is today. Reaching as far north as Lake st. and as far west as 169. It would probably still belong to Richfield if the yuppies wouldn’t have gentrified the area. We were Minneapolis before Minneapolis was cool, go ahead and keep Lake street, it is so two centuries ago. Pictured below is the old city limits with the present day boarders in thick black lines.

You might think that Richfield is a bit too small to have neighborhoods, you would be wrong to think that. We have two solid lines of coin crushing demarcation dividing East Richfield from West Richfield. What is the area in the middle? That is no mans land, anything goes in no mans land. The two roads that sandwhich the tracks are E Pleasant Ave. and W Pleasant Ave., obviously. I like to think that there is somesort of war among the adolescents like in the movie The War of The Buttons.

Its been a long time since the old Embers building has had occupants and just last week Andale Taqueria y Mercado opened its doors. I was very excited that a local restaurant was taking its place, the last thing that Richfield needs is more franchises. All of the food is made to order so it takes a bit longer to get but it is well worth the wait. I recommend the carnitas alambre, or if your feeling a bit conservative you can order the cow tongue taco.They have a pretty large market there as well with a deli and bakery. I know where I’m getting my pan de muerto this year!

When I was in grade school I loved making dioramas. I would start with a shoe box, cutting out construction paper to cover the insides, and my world would begin to take shape.

You start with blue, filling in the skies. As you move closer to the foreground, you add hills and valleys and maybe a little house in the distance. Creating depth is the key, no one wants to look at your forest diorama just to see a squirrel in a box. You want to tell a story, and part of that includes cramming as much stuff into that tiny box as possible. 

Woodlake is a diorama of how Minnesota once was. It isn’t very large, and compared to most other nature preserves it’s 150 acres may as well be a shoebox. Within that 150 acres wind over four miles of trails to explore this living diorama, the best of which is the ‘perimeter trail’. 

The trails start out as a paved blacktop path, I like to think this is used as a way to ease people into the wilderness and to prevent shock; a security blanket that says to them ‘don’t worry, civilization is still right at your feet.’ All five paths start from the same place and many intersect throughout the preserve, which makes it easy and fun to explore more areas. 

It isn’t long before the blacktop ends and the path is picked up by crushed limestone, which I am thankful for because there is something unsettling about walking in the forest without things crunching beneath your feet. The forest covers most of the outer edge of the park, creating a barrier from the noises of the city and 35W.

On the perimeter trail the forest first gives way to prairie, and as you emerge from the trees it feels as if this path has led you somewhere far away from where you started. If you walk up to the observation point and if you have a keen eye, you might see deer. I am still surprised when I see them, and am unable to control my reaction which is usually “OH! A DEER!” 

From the Prairie the path continues into the Marsh, walking on the limestone path the surrounding area is water surrounded by soggy land masses filled with cattails. There are little islands and a floating boardwalk that will bring you to the largest one.

          (A squirrel in a box artfully executed, as well as humanly I’m sure) 

There is a community building at Woodlake that is the meeting place for various activities for both children and adults as well as a few terrariums where you are able to see some of the smaller creatures that live in the park up close. In the back of the building they have created fairly large dioramas that are filled with taxidermied animals, not all of them are confined behind glass stuffed birds are hung from the ceiling and there are a few that are just sitting on pedestals ( I don’t know if you’re supposed to touch them but I did anyway)

Woodlake is an amazing place to go and explore, with the changing of the seasons you are able to prolong the excitement as even your most worn paths seems new and different.  

My name is Patrick, and a few years ago I moved to Richfield with my then girlfriend Carly. Since then Carly and I have been married, we have raised two mediocre dogs into two completely worthless ones, and we have slowly been rehabilitating our home. As a former Minneapolitan I had preconceived notions about Richfield and suburbs in general. I felt that Suburban living was beneath me and no suburb could convince me otherwise, least of lowly Richfield. Since living here something has happened to me, I have become a convert, Richfield has chipped away the anti-suburban veneer that so thoroughly clouded my judgement and I am proud to call it home.  

I decided to start this blog as a way to share all the wonderful aspects of my new hometown. This blog will showcase the Places, the Businesses and the People that make Richfield what it is. I hope that this blog will help show the rest of Minnesota what Richfield has to offer. If readers of this blog have any Richfield institutions they feel ought to be showcased feel free to let me know. 

Until next time Richfield,

-Patrick