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| - I feel pretty lucky that Indianapolis provides me with a large selection of farmer's markets to choose from, a significant portion of which I have been a visitor of, but nothing comes close to the awesomeness that is the Dane County Farmer's Market. That being said, if a farmer's market only had one stand that sold one item, and it happened to be Stella's selling their spicy cheese bread, I would still think it was the best farmer's market in existence. More on that later.
After a slow start due to a member of our crew being almost entirely incapacitated by excessive drinking that was done on Friday night, we finally headed out the market. Madison is a very friendly city to those seeking to get places either by foot or by bike, and we had no trouble walking to the towering capital building sitting in the center of town. We were actually lucky enough to have picked a day to visit when they had a lot of State St. closed off for a car show. I don't know how often they do this, but it was a lot of fun to get to see on the way there. My visit was on the first weekend of June, and the weather was perfect and people were taking advantage of it. The crowd was kind of large around 11:30, but it wasn't too hard to get around in. The square of vendors lining the sidewalk around the capital building was pretty easy to navigate and see everything that they had to offer. It seems that the crowd arranges itself to have fast walkers on the outside and slow walkers next to the stands, and it worked out pretty conveniently.
There was a large selection of veggies at the time that we were there. A lot of these are the seasonal items that are in peak season, so many stands have the same options. I would recommend taking the time to walk around a little, because I noticed significantly different prices for the same items. Along with plenty of fresh foods included a plethora of bakeries, lots of butchers that sold both raw meats (including venison and emu) and cooked meats like jerky and meat sticks that you could eat while walking, all kinds of honey places, plenty of canned fruits and vegetables, and lots of plants and fresh flowers. This would be a great place to get potted veggies to transfer to a garden. There is certainly no shortage of foods to get from the local farms to satisfy your hunger on the spot, but if you want something more substantial, there are a ton of food trucks that are on the outside of the square and provide many more options. Once you get some food to eat, or if you just decide to enjoy the weather and take a break, there is an abundance of seating area in the huge grass lawn in the center of all of the vendor's tents. I'd suggest bringing a blanket, as it'd be a great place to have a picnic in the sun or under the shade of one of the many trees.
The pièce de résistance, at least in my opinion, came in the form of a huge loaf of soft warm bread stuffed with melty cheese and covered with red pepper flakes served in a plastic bag that was well worth waiting the long line for. I'd been told by many people that this couldn't go unpurchased if I made it here, and I'm glad I waited in the ever-growing line as they waited on a fresh shipment from the bakery to arrive. The place was called Stella's, and while all of their other items looked good, this artery clogging medley of carbs and cheese was the item I'd suggest getting, especially if you are trying to fight off a hangover.
I don't know what parking looks like around there, but I'd certainly recommend walking or biking if either of those is an option. I didn't see any ATMs set up at the market, but there was a Chase bank close to the location and we stopped there on the way to get cash. Make sure you bring a large bag, because odds are that you will leave with more than you expected to when you arrived.
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