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.
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.
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:
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??
If those teenage bands are any indication, we could play anything we wanted during a farmers market! :-)
You girls need a Mason jug band act
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.
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