Sunday, November 8, 2009

Juxtaposition


For the first time, our farmers' market has moved indoors for the winter, specifically into the old Congress Theater, which in its heydey was a movie house where locals would dress up fancy for an evening on the town.

More recently, the Congress has survived the way many old theaters survive: by becoming a concert venue for folks our grandparents would have found appallingly underdressed and badly behaved. We saw Fugazi at the Congress once, and many a Mexican wrestling fan has enjoyed a La Lucha Libre match there. Insane Clown Posse played a show there last week, and rabid fans in clown make-up snaked their way around the block.

The farmers' market is a kinder, gentler use of this aging but elegant lobby. I wish I could capture sound here as well as image, though, because while we were browsing the arugula and beets today, a teenage battle-of-the-bands was underway in the auditorium. Our cider sampling got punctuated by driving guitars and shrieks of pubescent masculine angst.

Even the Wisconsin artisanal cheese vendor had to concede: It was fantastic.

4 comments:

tracy said...

This IS fantastic! What a cool all-community use of the historic building. And, boy, would I like to get my hands on one of those big, beautiful cabbages in that first photo...

Hey, do you think we could perform "Fugazi Girls" in this theater during a farmers mkt??

Christy said...

If those teenage bands are any indication, we could play anything we wanted during a farmers market! :-)

leslie said...

You girls need a Mason jug band act

Diana Sudyka said...

That's so exciting to hear about the Congress being used for this. I saw Fugazi there too. Great show, but these days getting a jar of locally produced honey is way more appealing to me.