The city of Madison kicked off a project Tuesday to create a permanent public market that would feature diverse food, music and art for the Madison community.
Community members gathered at the Overture Center to hear the project’s consultant, Project for Public Spaces, present its plan. Phase one includes four months of brainstorming and community outreach.
According to PPS Senior Vice President Steve Davies, public markets are aimed at reaching public goals, operating in public spaces and serving local businesses. To start the process of collecting community input, PPS set up stations at the meeting where community members interacted with PPS personnel, wrote their wishes and concerns for the project on sticky notes and posted them on poster boards.
“Our hope and our job is to help you realize your hopes and dreams in a realistic, doable way,” Davies said.
City Food and Alcohol Policy Coordinator Mark Woulf said high turnout made the meeting a success.
“Tonight is exciting because it feels real,” Woulf said. “This is important, and I’m excited because it’s the first time for the public to really influence where this project goes.”
Woulf said feedback from stakeholders leaned toward broadening the market from a standalone, retail business to an aggregator and distributor of public services. For instance, stakeholders suggested the market host banquets and connect area restaurants with local producers.
Madison residents Nick Guggenbuehl and Zach Foster both voiced their excitement about the public market. Foster said he hopes the center will become the “giant community element” he feels Madison is missing.
However, Guggenbuehl said he is skeptical about the implementation of the project and feels the plan needs more details and a smaller scope.
“It seems like this is something that the city has tried to do, maybe for the last decade or so, and I’d really like to see it happen,” Guggenbuehl said. But, he also said It’s truly important that they understand Madison.”
Phase one is set to be completed in February, followed by phase two, which includes exploring possible sites for the market. Once located, the last phase includes creating a business model and planning how to best infuse the market into the community.
