50 Years Of Thriving

FiftyNorth was founded in 1976 to promote connection, fitness and learning for older adults in greater Northfield, Minnesota.

For 50 years, FiftyNorth has grown and evolved to meet the changing needs of each generation of older adults. Today, our community serving nonprofit is a Northfield institution, and has a national reputation for engaging older adults with meaningful and relevant fitness and community programming. 

  • Two women smiling and hugging in an indoor setting with light blue walls and framed artwork. One woman has short gray hair and glasses, wearing a red jacket and orange shirt with a name tag reading 'LIN Bruce'. The other woman has curly blonde hair, wearing a black top and earrings, with a name tag on her chest.
  • Close-up of two people with their legs touching; one person wearing black and white two-tone shoes with white socks, and the other wearing black jeans and black-and-white shoes, standing on a tiled floor.
  • Smiling older woman with short gray hair wearing a dark zip-up jacket, sitting in a room with colorful wall decorations, and a man in the background wearing a cap and using a mobile phone.
  • A smiling man and woman stand together outside next to a vintage blue car with a white roof, in front of a brick building with large windows and a sign that reads 'FINDING' and some other text. The man wears a black leather jacket and jeans, and the woman is dressed in a pink satin jacket, a polka dot dress, and a headband with polka dots.
  • A smiling man with glasses wearing a blue jacket and striped polo shirt, standing next to framed artwork of a vintage popcorn cart on a wooden wall.
  • A woman with gray hair, black glasses, and a green top, smiling in a coffee shop setting near a counter with coffee dispensers, cups, and snacks.
  • Two elderly women standing on stage, one wearing a green leafy scarf and the other a cream feathered scarf, both looking to the side.

We serve nearly half of all older adults in our area, and are proud to engage more than 2500 people a year in more than 4000 fitness classes, 100 community programs, 40 social events and 12 trips. We work with more than 75 instructors per year, and these experts come from near and far. Our classes are taught by a wide variety of experts– artists, musicians, dancers, authors, craftspeople, historians and college professors, as well as professionals in healthcare, nutrition, mental health, grief, hospice, business, investing, retirement, taxation, real estate and tech. Our members share some big common life experiences and we provide relevant programming to meet those important needs. From how to downsize, to dementia education, balance, memory, strength-training or accessible travel– we target human needs with care, education, and support.

Learning and growth are lifelong, and the adventure continues at FiftyNorth.

We measure our community impact every year with an Annual Report.

Please visit our Annual Report page to learn more about our progress.

FiftyNorth is pretty famous in greater Northfield!

To learn more about how we collaborate in our community, check out our News & Media page.

Two smiling people standing close together in an indoor setting, with their arms around each other. The woman on the left has short gray hair, wears glasses, a white knit sweater, black pants, and white sneakers. The man on the right has a beard, wears a black hat, a black T-shirt with a blue and white logo, a gray zip-up jacket, black pants, and blue shoes.