CHEW: "Dane County Farmer's Market," Sept 3rd @ 7:15 PM

Culinary History Enthusiasts of Wisconsin (CHEW)
http://www.wisconsincooks.org/chew

September 3, 2008: Speaker Mary Carpenter. History of the Dane County Farmers Market. Meeting begins at 7:15pm in the Community Room of the Willy Street Co-op. See below for details.

The Dane County Farmers’ Market has become one of Madison’s primary tourist attractions, rated as a top market by both Food and Wine and Good Housekeeping. Mary and Quentin Carpenter have been vendors at the Market since 1983, and they have managed the market for 11 years. They co-authored the book, The Dane County Farmers' Market -- A Personal History, published in 2003. In her presentation, Mary will describe the evolution of the Dane County Farmers Market, from a fledgling operation into the largest farmers' market in the nation. Her presentation, based on over 20 years of insight as a market participant, will trace the emergence of trends at the market, such as organic foods, heirloom products, new processing techniques, and the growing connection to area restaurants, whose chefs are often among the market’s early morning foragers.

Mary and Quentin own a farm near Fort Atkinson. Besides farming, Mary teaches high school English and Quentin teaches at the UWisconsin–Madison. Carpenter last spoke to CHEW in June 2002.

"In a sense, the…history of the market is played out every Saturday on the Square for those patient and observant enough to notice the changing landscape."—Mary Carpenter

Place for all meetings: Willy Street Co-op Community Room, 1221 Williamson St, Madison WI 53704
Important: CHEW meetings attendees may not park in the Willy St. Coop lot; that is reserved for customers. There is on-street parking on all streets surrounding the co-op. The meeting is open to the public.
To get on the mailing list, or for more information, e-mail joanp@ginkgopress.com, or email Paul Lyne at pwlyne@wiscmail.wisc.edu

Thanks for posting this Cathy2!

As evidenced by Brandon's pics and other good words on this site, the Dane County Farmer's Market is the premier food attraction in this wide area. If you are passionate about food, you should visit this market. Of course, there is no market in the Chicago area in close to this in size. The amount of vendors is truly staggering, and frankly for some, too staggering. It is common not to make the whole loop. Quantity is something but what about quality?

Know what, I cannot even say that the Madison market has it all. Dairy state be damned, the market, this market has no milk or yogurt (both can be had instead the Sunday Northside market). It has almost all. Meats, grains, baked goods, poultry, fish (trout), organic veg, speciality veg, maple syrup, honey, jams and jellies, and, and...cheese. I do not know of any place better to obtain cheese than this market. Some of the guys, you will only find at the market. I have never sampled a fresh goat cheese as good (and as fresh) as that sold by Fantome Farm. Good luck finding her stuff anywhere else. Not only can you find BleuMont Dairy's award winning cheeses, you will find, usally, its cheesemaker, Willi Lehner. These are some of the more famous cheeses and then lesser known ones like the sheep's milk cheeses from Butler Farms. They are all good.

Beyond the plethora of cheese, there are a plethora of farmers from all types of backgrounds. There are many Hmong who bring to the market both the expected as well as the exotic. There is the hippy guy who forages, stocking his table each week with stuff just as exotic. There are specialists, Butter Mountain, which is pretty much all about potatoes; Tomato Mountain, the tomato (OK, Tomato Mountain can be found in IL), and Snug Haven, their spinach. There are also giants, the equivilants of our Nichol's, like Harmoney Valley and Driftless Organics.

Great food is birthed on farms and by dedicated producers. The best place to intersect with these guys is at a market. There is no better market to do this, that I know, than the one about two hours from Chicago. Do consider a visit.

I should add, as an epilogue, that Madison is an outstanding food town beyond the market. You can get your array of local dairy including outstanding Sugar River yogurt and Sibbey's organic ice cream at the Willey St. Co-op. The co-op has a decent selection of cheese too and Fromagiation on the square has an even bigger selection.

Here is a link to a report I made about visiting this awesome market back in 2005. Even now, 3 years later, it remains one of my most memorable visits to any market:

Dane County Farmers' Market Report - 2005

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