Sustainable Community Solutions

I (and about 175 other guests) had a great time at my niece Birch Carlson’s wedding this past Saturday. Birch (resplendent in traditional white) married fellow Northfielder Locke Perkins (dashing in full Scottish regalia, including a kilt, sporran and sgian dubh) in a beautiful ceremony in the backyard of parents Randy and Lois Perkins (at left in photo below).

In a true small-town touch, virtually the entire assemblage processed from the Perkins’ backyard to the reception in the backyard of my sister Gwen and Birch’s step-dad Dave Hagedorn (upper row middle in photo), with percussion instruments of all descriptions in full throat. (Also in the photo are Birch’s father Richard Carlson and step-mom Natalia at right.) I had the great honor of driving the newlyweds the roughly one mile from the wedding to the reception at the head of the procession, pedaling a betjak (an Indonesian variant of the cycle rickshaw). This amazing rig was rented from Ryan Billig, who fell in love with these traditional conveyances while living and studying the gamelan in Indonesia, and had the betjak shipped back to Minnesota upon his return. Ryan is a Minneapolis musician who plays in the Brass Messengers with my brother Scott.

I can just see a fleet of betjaks cruising the streets of Northfield, with drivers plying passengers with tales of historic Northfield…