Harvest Evasion 2016 in Madison WI, Day Three: Farmers Market day, with a martini and taqueria for good measure.

Monona Bay. 

Saturday morning dawned cloudless and pleasingly chilly, with temperatures in the forties. The itinerary stipulated coffee and muffins at Barriques, followed by a walk to the Dane County Farmers Market, which surrounds the state capitol on all four sides, with people, wares and merriment spilling into nearby streets -- especially State Street, pointing the way to the University of Wisconsin.

Somehow, in a way that defies native New Albanian logic, Madison's premier farmers market thrives entirely on its own merits, completely absent "infrastructure improvements" that serve mostly as window dressing for organizers and mean nothing to the vendors or their customers. There isn't even a Port-A-Let that I'm aware of, and market is well-attended, even in October.

So, as always, I found the squeaky cheese curds.

As always, delicious.

With a Food & Dining Magazine writing deadline looming, and my story about Louisville's new HopCat beer bar due the following week, it seemed reasonable to have lunch (with beers) at HopCat Madison for the sake of comparison. It's a few blocks down State Street from the farmers market. This is where we met Fred Swanson, as detailed here. Beers and snacks were just fine, and the conversation superlative.

Later in early evening, after the (now warmer) walk back and a recuperative nap, Diana suggested a cocktail at the Sheraton Madison bar -- for old times' sake, as we stayed there so many times during the Great Taste of the Midwest. A full account is here.

Saturday's final stop was dinner, and required the commute on foot of approximately 25 yards from our lodging. We'd already investigated the Taqueria Guadalajara, and Fred offered a recommendation. Super stuff, and my dish came with a roasted pepper that brought tears of joy to my eyes. I'm surprised we couldn't smell the taqueria from the house.

Have I mentioned how much we enjoy Madison?

Multitudinous farmers market. Zero permanent infrastructure.

It's the Saturday morning Dane County Farmers Market in Madison, Wisconsin.

It surrounds the state capitol on all four sides, and both wares and merriment spill into surrounding streets.

Note the complete absence of permanent infrastructure.

As in, absolutely none. Not even a Port-A-Let.

And the farmers market in Madison is jammed tight with people.

This is because of the quality of the market itself, nothing more.

Someone tell Develop New Albany, please.

Maybe we can use that $300,000 where it's really needed.

The farmers market in Madison WI lacks facilities. No one goes there any longer because it's too crowded.

Yesterday: DNA can come out of the farmers market dust-up smelling like the proverbial rose. All it needs to do is follow this script.

For almost a decade, NABC has joined in the fun at the Great Taste of the Midwest each August in Madison, Wisconsin. The festival takes place in the afternoon, giving the crew time to visit the Dane County Farmers Market during the morning hours.

As noted oft times before, the farmers market in Madison occupies all four sides of the landscaped area around the statehouse. Looking at the photo above, the street lies behind the viewer, with urban landscape behind the street. My experience with farmers markets is by no means exhaustive, but it is fairly clear that Madison makes the most of the physical setting it has; the statehouse occupies the highest point between two lakes ... and the farmers market "occupies" the statehouse.

There is no permanent farmers market infrastructure in this picture. Nor does any exist elsewhere outside of this picture. Vendors bring their infrastructure -- they put it up, and they tear it down.

In New Albany, it is not possible to argue that the current location of the farmers market matches the aesthetic grandeur of Madison's. It isn't even possible to argue that we make optimal use of what urban grandeur we have; if so, we'd have espoused the idea of multiple use and folded a farmers market design into Bicentennial Park, or used the monies spent on Bicentennial Park (and allocated for farmers market expansion) and actually finished the Riverfront Amphitheater instead, because the closest thing we have to impressive physical presence is the Ohio River itself.

Either an Amphitheater duly embraced, or what became Bicentennial Park, might have been the perfect integration of farmers market into bigger ticket project. Now we are asked to accept the notion of another big ticket for the farmers market.

Meanwhile, Madison's farmers market is "big ticket" in every conceivable sense of the phrase ... and possesses no big ticket infrastructure in terms of cash. And did I mention, packed with people every Saturday?

How is this possible?

Madison, WI: Pleasant memories of baseball, a Farmers Market and the Great Taste.

On Friday night, we attended the Madison Mallards game. The team belongs to an upper Midwest college summer league, and its home games utilize every last trick in the Bill Veeck promotional playbook. The Duck Blind is especially popular. A ticket covers admission, unlimited ballpark grub and as many craft beers as one might choose to sample. Above, Graham returns with bratwurst from the concession line, and following the game, the empties are loaded for removal.

The Dane County Farmers Market remains a must-visit. On Saturday mornings in season, it surrounds Capitol Square on all four sides.

Our reason for commuting to Madison each August is the Great Taste of the Midwest, a beer festival staged for the past 26 years by the city's homebrewing club. Shown above are two friends named Fred: Fred Bueltmann (left) from New Holland Brewing Company in Michigan (dressed as a zombie), and Fred Swanson (right), one of the Great Taste's chief organizers. There's more on the Great Taste at my Potable Curmudgeon blog.