Farmers and Artisans Market Tomorrow, next Friday, and Sunday, 12/13

Angela is a long-time customer (Schwartz and now us) who is full of ideas. Having a previous life as a foodservice rep, she now sells plants and soap and other goodies at farmer's markets. To me, she's like Milwaukee's own Maryjane Butters (alas, I show a picture of the jacket of the Maryjane book for reference, but we don't have a copy in stock).

Though I passed for this year on selling books at one of the local farmer's markets, her thought to bring a market to our store seemed to interesting to pass up.

With the local market season coming to an end, there were a lot of vendors who had no place to sell their wares. And from selling at Zeidler Square, Brookfield, and other markets, Angela had the contacts to put this together.

We've got maple syrup, mittens, jewelry, handmade cards and more. Ela Orchards will be set up outside in our vestibule. All vendors have their market certifications and permits, and use to-code coolers when necessary.

Not every vendor could do every market, so for example, Scott Buer of Bolzano Artisan Meats will only be at Friday's market, sampling Speck prosciutto and other dry-cured meats, in conjunction with our talk/slideshow from Eric Dregni, based on his book Never Trust a Thin Cook.

Oh, and here's another thing. Like the Dwellephant program last spring, we're not charging booth space or taking a percentage of gross. Not that I don't need the revenue, but so do these folks, and I'm taking the chance that this will build traffic, community, and relationships. And hey, we've got the space. We'll see if it works!

If you're thinking of making a day of it, you might want to go to the world-famous Art Vs. Craft program at the Humphrey Rites Masonic Center on Van Buren Street, on the northeast corner of downtown. Faythe Levine, the organizer, is force behind the documentary Handmade Nation. Hey, we've even still got a few signed copies of her book.

And if you're going to Art Vs. Craft from out of town, we're pretty much a straight shot northeast along Prospect, a little over 2 miles away. Back when I lived on Juneau and Van Buren, I used to walk to Downer Avenue pretty regularly. It's about 45 minutes. Obviously, it depends on the weather. We're also on the same bus line, the 30. But it's only door to door if you take the "Downer" 30. The "Maryland" 30 (they alternate) means a 5 minute walk east on Webster Avenue (where you'd get off, it's the stop after Bradford. Ask the driver.)

Just to sum things up, here's when we're hosting the vendors:

Saturday, November 28th, 11 AM-4 PM

Friday, December 4th, 5 PM-8 PM

Sunday, December 13th, 12 Noon-4 PM.