The Daily Aggressor

Saturday, April 19 is the opening day for the Dane County Farmers’ Market for 2008. The market has been in existence since 1972 when then Madison mayor Bill Dyke saw a need to unite Madison’s rural and urban cultures. The way to do this was to host a large farmers’ market every Saturday during the spring and summer months where local farmers could come and sell their goods on the Capitol Square. A culture of trading and bartering in local parking lots was already present, but the stage of the Capitol Square lured farmers to the spot to sell their wares. The first Saturday there were 5 farmers at the market, but by 1974 farmers would park their cars overnight near the capitol in order to get a good spot in the following days market. This system was soon replaced with season passes for locations in the market. The primary rule for vendors at the market is that all goods sold must be Wisconsin grown. The market has grown incredibly since its inception in 1972 and the Dane County Farmers’ Market has opened up three other markets during the week, as well as a winter market when the whether is too poor for an outdoor market:

Additions to the Saturday morning market inclue 1) a Wednesday morning Market, held in the front of the County Courthouse on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, 2) an Early Winter Market, held in the Monona Terrace Convention Center, and 3) a Late Winter Market, held in the Madison Senior Center. Both the Wednesday and Saturday Markets run from id April to early November. Hours on Saturdays are from 6:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. and on Wednesdays from 8:30 a.m. until 2:00 p.m. Times and dates for the Winter Markets vary. See the When & Where page of this website for details. (http://www.madfarmmkt.org/history.asp)