Celebrate South Madison fosters connections, highlights local businesses

Ótimo Madison Brazilian Dance's summer workshop students perform at Celebrate South Madison. The students got the audience involved, teaching spectators several different moves (Kait Vosswinkel/Madison Commons)

The Labor Temple on South Park Street was transformed on Saturday, filling up with vendors, musicians and farmers for Celebrate South Madison.

The event was hosted by the South Metropolitan Planning Council, and was created to foster community support as well as growth in the business community.

Shellie Pierce was there representing South Madison Farmer's Market. From behind a mountain of sweet corn and eggplant, she made it clear that the event meant more than food and music.

“This is the fifth year of Celebrate South Madison, we've been a part of every single one,” Pierce said. “It's a way to get together and...figure out how we can help each other down the line.”

South Madison Farmer's Market uses events like Celebrate South Madison to educate the community about both the organization and the benefits of healthy organic food.

Through its community connections, South Madison Farmer's Market built a network of customers around the city including the Regent Street Co-op, L'Etoile, Graze, Steenbock's on Orchard, Bradbury's and Forequarter.

The market also partnered with Growing Power, creating a Madison branch, and works with EVPRobert Pierce, South Madison Farmer's Market's Manager, has been farming organically in Madison since returning from the Vietnam War. Today, nearly his entire family is involved in one way or another (Kait Vosswinkel/Madison Commons). Coffee, composting their grounds with any unsold produce in order to minimize waste.

Diverse business connections and events that tie the market to the community, like Celebrate South Madison, allow South Madison Farmer's Market's to continually provide affordable organic produce for low-income families.

“It's a full circuit that we do here,” Pierce says. “I've seen (the event) grow. Before, you'd see people here and there, but since then, all you see is more people coming to celebrate.”

Other groups who are newer to the event are also giving positive feedback. Cody Jussel, Choreographer and Co-Director of Ótimo Madison Brazilian Dance, was happy to support an area of Madison that is a little less traveled.

“It was really nice to be able to participate in something that is in Madison, but not downtown and not on the East Side,” Jussel said. “It's nice to promote areas in Madison that don't get a lot of attention.”

Each of Ótimo's Brazilian dance workshops culminate in a performance, and although the group normally ends up performing near the UW-Madison Campus or on the East Side - the upcoming fall workshop participants will perform at the Majestic Theater – Jussel says that she is happy to be a part of a broader picture of Madison.

“I feel like this area of town is much more representative of Madison as a whole,” Jussel said. “I had absolutely no expectation because I knew nothing about it, but it's nice. The performances have been amazing. I think it's a really great lineup."