Your Daily Guide

☀️ Sunburst Chairs Go Back Into Hibernation Monday: You’ve got just one more weekend to park in a metal sunburst chair on the UW-Madison Memorial Union Terrace this year. The union announced that the 2,000 chairs will be packed up on Monday and won’t return until next spring. [FOX47]

🏗️ West Side Project With 578 Apartments Approved: The Plan Commission unanimously approved rezoning property on Westfield Road north of West Towne Mall to build a four-building mixed-used development with 578 apartments. The three-story UW Health administrative office building on the site would be demolished. [Cap Times]

⚾ Keep Tabs on the World Series at Badger Games: Madison sports fans are getting ready for a busy weekend, as Friday’s Badgers volleyball game overlaps with Game 1 of the World Series featuring the Milwaukee Brewers, and Saturday’s football game at Camp Randall conflicts with Game 2. Wisconsin Athletics officials say they’ll keep Badger fans who attend both games updated on the score.

• Want to watch both games at once? These Madison sports bars have lots of TV screens to keep every stripe of sports fans happy. [WMTV, City Cast Madison]

📚 Madison Reading Project Launches Book Drive: Aiming to put over 100,000 books in the hands of kids this holiday season, Madison Reading Project will launch its annual Community Book Drive on Nov. 10. The nonprofit takes donations throughout the year, and is a partner with Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library. [Madison Reading Project]

🚗 Free Parking at Public Market For the Holidays! Thanks to an anonymous donor, the Madison Public Market is offering free parking through the holiday season. [Instagram]

🍜 Moom Thai Opens on Park Street: The former Asian Sweet Bakery space at 1017 S. Park St. is now home to Moom Thai, a grab-and-go restaurant from the owner of Monsoon Siam on Atwood Ave. The menu is smaller than at Monsoon Siam and includes some new Thai street-food items, including a puffy, fried Thai omelet.

• New restaurant roundup! On the City Cast Madison podcast today, host Bianca Martin is joined by Cap Times Food and Culture Editor Lindsay Christians to dish on the many new dining spots that have opened, or are about to open, in Madison! [🔒WSJ, 🎧 City Cast Madison]

A surprise new change to federal grants has Wisconsin cheesemakers worried that some small dairy operations might not survive. Here’s what makes them nervous, and why Democratic U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin and industry leaders are calling on the United States Department of Agriculture to immediately undo the change.

🧀 What’s at Stake?

The Dairy Business Innovation Initiative (DBII) was created by Baldwin in 2018 as part of the federal Farm Bill. The program funnels federal grant money to help dairy farmers and producers through four distribution centers, including one at the UW-Madison’s Center for Dairy Research.

The money goes to help small dairy makers upgrade their equipment, diversify their products, and increase revenue streams. Since it was enacted, the program has distributed over $106 million in grants to 911 businesses in 41 states, mainly to support small businesses. This year, a total of $12.65 million in federal funds has been made available through the DBII. [WPR, Center for Dairy Research, WCMA]

💸 A Sudden Change

In September, without advance warning, the Department of Agriculture announced that those distribution centers must provide 25% matching funds in cash for all grants. That would equal over $3 million – and the distribution centers say they don’t have the money, which would force the program to end.

Bob Wills, owner of Cedar Grove Farms in Sauk County, said the federal grant money helped him pay for a new wastewater treatment system and to market the farm’s cheese curds. While the awards are relatively modest, he said, they can be crucial for small producers like him to compete with major producers.

One of the cool things about being a City Cast Madison Neighbor is the chance to sing the praises of something you love about Madison. Our members send us Neighborhood Shoutouts celebrating a business, event, or some other cool thing they think the rest of the city ought to know about.

📣 Molly M. wants to hype up Ledger Coffee! “Ledger Coffee is a really nice coffee shop that recently opened a new location in the Atwood neighborhood.”

📣 Anna L. wants to shout out Three Treasures Martial Arts! “Congratulations to Three Treasures Martial Arts for four years! Come for the martial arts, stay for the community building! So happy to have found a supportive and loving community.”

📣 Deb N. wants to shine a spotlight on Waunakee’s Groundlings Theater, Inc.! “Staged reading of Agatha Christie's Murder at the Vicarage 10/29-11/1 for (a ridiculous) $5 ticket!"

Have a Shoutout that you want to send to Madison? Become a City Cast Madison Neighbor!