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| What Madison's Talking About |
|  | The new $58 million YMCA shown in this artist’s rendering is scheduled to open in spring 2028. (YMCA of Dane County) |
| 🏗️ Construction Starts on New YMCA in Fitchburg: Ground broke Monday on the new 97,000-square-foot YMCA on Spoke Drive in Fitchburg. When it opens in spring 2028, the $58 million facility will replace the Lussier Family West YMCA on Whitney Way as well as include a new Access Community Health clinic. [Cap Times] | | 🎃 Here’s When To Go Trick or Treating: Get your costumes and your plastic pumpkin ready, because News 3 has posted trick-or-treating hours for communities in Dane County. (Did you know kids in Lake Mills go trick-or-treating on Oct. 28? Me neither.) | - Madison doesn’t actually have designated trick-or-treating hours, but kids are encouraged to make their rounds on Halloween between 4 and 8 p.m.
- Still need a costume? We’ve got some Madison-themed ideas for you. [News 3, City Cast Madison]
| | 🛑 City Marks Progress in ‘Vision Zero’ Safety Plan: Madison has completed 160 street safety projects since it launched its “Vision Zero” plan in 2020, aiming to eliminate traffic deaths and severe injuries on city streets. Improvements include high-visibility crosswalks, green bike lane markings, and lowered speed limits on over 50 miles of streets. [City of Madison] | | 🌋 Ride the Volcano Vortex in Wisconsin Dells: Wilderness Resort’s Wild WaterDome Waterpark, which has been closed for renovations since August, reopened last week with a new waterslide, the Volcano Vortex. The water park also made improvements to its kids’ zone and dining area. [WMTV, Wilderness Resort] | | 🧭 The Audience Writes the Ending to ‘The Compass’: For a new play that runs Oct. 15-25 at UW-Madison’s Mitchell Theater, the audience doesn’t just watch the performance. It decides how it will end. The play is constructed as a trial of a tech-obsessed young defendant, and the audience serves as the jury, asking questions and ultimately rendering a verdict. [UW-Madison Arts] | | 🔬 Come Meet Us at Science on the Square! The City Cast Madison team will hit the streets tonight for Science on the Square, the Wisconsin Science Festival kickoff event in partnership with the last Madison Night Market of the year. Stop by and say hi, and learn how sound waves work! (Hopefully we won’t also learn how precipitation works!) [Wisconsin Science Festival, Downtown Madison, AccuWeather] |
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| | | The Wisconsin Science Festival runs statewide Oct. 15–25 with hands-on fun, inspiring talks, and events for all ages. Don’t miss this year’s lineup of amazing STEM author talks In partnership with the Wisconsin Book Festival. Featuring spooky rivers, young engineers, the wonderful world of parasites, and a look at the resilience of the human body. View the full schedule at wiscifest.org for more on this collaborative event! |
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| What Do Madison Beer Drinkers Really Want? |
|  | Garth Beyer, owner of Garth’s Brew Bar, has compiled a survey of over 350 Madison beer drinkers to see what they want in their beer scene. (Photo courtesy of Garth’s Brew Bar) |
| If you sit at the bar at Garth’s Brew Bar, you’ll feel soft felt lining the underside of the bar. Owner Garth Beyer put that felt there to muffle noise bouncing up from the concrete floor, so it’s easier to have a conversation. | | That wasn’t Beyer’s idea. That was yours. | | Before he opened the Monroe Street bar in 2019, he surveyed over 200 people about what they’d like to see in a craft beer bar, and reduced noise was high on the list. And now, seven years later, he’s going back to the people to find out what they think of Madison’s beer scene. | | “I thought it was time to reignite the Madison community about what beer ought to be,” Beyer said over a pint recently. “Especially post-pandemic, everybody got really reserved, and brewers weren’t reaching out to the community to ask what they wanted. They were brewing what they needed to brew to be able to survive.” | | In the last few weeks, over 350 people responded to a new, detailed survey Beyer created, answering specific questions about everything from what kind of beers they want to see to what they like (or don’t like) in a bar. | | In addition to giving him some tips on how he can improve his own namesake bar, he hopes the survey can be a resource for other bars, craft brewers, and even imbibers to work together to make the kind of local beer scene they want. | | Here are a few takeaways that Beyer gleaned from the results, which you can see for yourself here. | | More Vintage Styles | Madison drinkers want to see more classic beer varieties such as Extra Special Bitters and pilsners on the tap list. “I think in Madison we got into the notion of ‘Let’s just make some hazy variants, and produce more of what’s selling.’ But Madison’s been speaking up that they want more things like ESBs. I think of bars like Vintage that are able to knock it out of the park having a slew of different classic beers.” | | Bring Back Craft Beer Week | Beer drinkers responded that they want to see some sort of beer festival in Madison that’s not as massive as Great Taste of the Midwest, but bigger than a local brewery’s in-house event. Madison had a citywide Craft Beer Week for years, but that ended with the COVID-19 pandemic. “Folks are really missing that,” Beyer said. | | |
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| | We welcomed a lot of new City Cast Madison Neighbors in our recent fall membership drive, which means a lot of new Neighborhood Shoutouts! Shoutouts are just one perk we offer to our members, giving them the chance to celebrate a business, a nonprofit, or some other cool thing that makes Madison an even better place to live. | | 📣 Sarah C. wants to shout out The Cat’s Brew in Sun Prairie! “The Cat's Brew in Sun Prairie does a great job putting the cats first and have had over 100 adoptions. If we're hosting cat owners from out of town, we bring them here for a treat and the cat lounge!” | | 📣 DeeAnn M. wants to celebrate the Dane County Shamrock Club! “The Dane County Shamrock Club is All Things Irish in the Madison area.” They’re hosting a “Skies Over Ireland” event at Memorial High School’s planetarium on Oct. 26. | | 📣 Erica L. is shouting out the Pres House Apartments! “The nonprofit Pres House Apartments on East Campus Mall gives away over $150,000/year in rent scholarships and program funds to support residents' purposeful living!” | | We also want to welcome our newest City Cast Madison Neighbor, Jenevieve D.! Thanks for your support, Jenevieve! Become a member like Jenevieve and you can start sending us your Neighborhood Shoutouts as well! |
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| | | Returning to Overture Center for the first time in 10 years! Grammy-winning folk-rock duo Indigo Girls bring more than four decades of music, activism and unforgettable live performance to the stage. Through powerful songwriting and signature harmonies, Emily Saliers and Amy Ray first rose to prominence with their self-titled breakthrough album featuring hits like “Closer to Fine.” Don’t miss Indigo Girls with special guest Linda Perry in Madison on Tuesday, October 20! Get your tickets at overture.org. |
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