Farmers' Markets Open Tomorrow

Even surer than the beginning of the baseball season, the opening of Madison's farmers' markets signals the real end of winter.  Last year, I cited some of the differences between the big Dane County Farmers' Market at the Square, and the Westside Community Market, on whose Board I serve as its only non-vendor:

I don't drink the stuff myself, but others enjoy the fact that the Westside Market offers free high-end coffee.  You can buy lattes and other fancy drinks from the many vendors across the street from the Dane County Market on city property.

Some foodies like the fact that the high-end produce is available later on the Westside, whereas at the Dane County Market, the restaurants often buy up the scarce and choicest stuff before 8 am.

The Dane County Market is an event, with musicians busking and crafts sold, both across the street on city property. It's the place to take your out-of-town visitors. The Westside Market is the place to meet your middle-aged friends from Middleton on their way to Borders.

The only thing I have to add is that at the Westside Community Market we allow people to walk in any direction they choose, rather than only counter-clockwise.

This year there's a great new tool to find your way around the Dane County Farmers' Market: The Wisconsin State Journal created a useful page that shows locations for all the area markets and an interactive map of the Square with vendors' locations and specifics. Congrats to WSJ editor Sandy Kallio and her team for showing us how newspapers can use the Web to create resources that supplement the dead trees rather than supplant them.

There's also the old standby for finding area farmers' markets and their farmers: the REAP Farm Fresh Atlas. The wonderful print version is available free at both the Westside and Dane County markets, and a whole lot of green and crunchy other locations around the area.

Either way, print or digital, you can't use the excuse that you don't know where to buy and eat local.

- Barry Orton

Comments

[Blah]

Ooohhh, flash. An online version of an old-school CD-ROM toy is sooooo Web 2.0. I guess pompous profs are easily impressed.

[Charlie]

What's YOUR problem, Blah? Step outside and buy some local produce.

[Barry Orton]

Blah, you gotta remember that this not very cutting edge little Farmers Market widget comes from the State Journal. Give credit where it's due. It's a big deal for them to do stuff like this.

And I am very easily impressed when it comes to local food producers, who work far harder than some code monkey commenting on a blog at 9:24 on Saturday night.