Madison Public Market, located in the old City Fleet Services building on First Street, celebrated its soft launch Wednesday, inviting Madisonians into the renovated sections of the new building for the first time. More than 20 vendors, including Yallah Dips, Amours Sweet, and Blue Bear Studio, presented a variety of local art, jewelry, and food on temporary tables.
“They were very generous with the sampling,” said Ally Brous, a shopper at the pop-up market. “It was very fun to see the uniqueness of different booths. We were eating cheese, tabouli, and kefir, you have a diversity of artists here”. Shoppers weaved through the businesses and mingled through the large, open event space. In the other half of the building, construction of permanent vendor stalls remains in progress.
Despite a severe thunderstorm, the Market kept its doors open for the community.
“With the weather I thought it was going to get cancelled,” said shopper Lillian Jenkins. “But the turnout is calm enough where you can experience the space, but I feel like it’s a good amount to interact with vendors”.
The buzz surrounding the market has drawn many curious about the progress of the building. Shelli Lee, owner of Ziggy & I, a “funky and eclectic” business that will be part of the Market directory, came to check out the soft launch.
“After the wait I am stoked about it,” she said. “I feel like this is comparable to the Milwaukee Public Market and I am excited for Madison to have something unique like that.”
Art is integrated throughout the building, from the large murals that frame the entrance, to art installations on the ceiling; even the bathrooms integrate art into them.
“The Market is an extremely industrial space,” said Steph Hagens, the artist who created the stream-like ceiling installation, titled “The Wisconsin Dairy Colorwhey. “The art adds a livelihood, color, and storytelling which is really important for Madison. It helps transform the building from just a cold, empty building to a warm, welcoming environment”.
Lee shared a similar sentiment: “Life is boring without the arts. Art is culture. Here we have Indigenous and African American art. We need that representation in public art to exist.”
Madison Public Market will be a year-round indoor public market. “This space feels like a very welcoming homage to how Madison’s community spaces are building right now,” said Lilliana Kous, another Market shopper. “You’ve got examples like Garver Feed Mill which integrate artwork and keep the integrity of the structure. Seeing these elements combined in the building is a really cool opportunity to show a little of Madison history that was here before the Public Market was built.”
This praise for the opportunity for local business, arts, and public spaces doesn’t come without concerns. The Madison Public Market has been on the minds of Madisonians since it was announced in 2020, and over these five years it has experienced several delays and worries about public spending.
“We are in a time where third party spaces are dwindling and I feel a large part of how the community finds each other is being able to be in spaces where there is not a lot of pressure to spend money,” Kous said. “There’s wonderful things about including BIPOC vendors and having so many different things. But at the same time, there’s always this pressure for young people, especially with prices going up, to spend money in a place like this. And even though it’s local, where can we find that place without spending lots of money? There’s been a lot of talk about how much money has gone into this space, like city budgets and losing funds to things. How will The Public Market stay alive without expecting vendors to raise their prices? It needs to be accessible.”
There are still hopeful attitudes towards the future of The Public Market, though. “I want to acknowledge that it is a lot of work to work with multiple vendors and artists to really get the results we want,” Brous said. “In the end that’s what matters to me. It’s going to be a great space for people to gather and hopefully a place where folks are able to develop their businesses and hopefully lower costs for the space. But now we’re here, I’m very excited and hopefully everything keeps going forward from this point.”
The Madison Public Market will officially open its doors on July 23. Pop-up markets will be held 3:30 to 7 pm every Wednesday until July 1.
