About Madison's Orton Park, Marquette Neighborhood

What an amazing weekend at Madison's oldest park: Orton Park's 45th annual festival is this weekend! What a crowd! So many amazing events and people watching that can't be beat. Beer tent, booths with beads, bandanas and free literature. The line was the longest at the Laotian Food stand for the squash curry but you could get everything from ice cream to crab Rangoon and fresh corn on the cob.

The Marquette Neighborhood is as proud and connected and diverse a neighborhood as you will see. Where else can you celebrate everything from A-Z towhere the A stands for an Aerial act actually performed in a mighty burr oak by Cycropia (you can see more in this YouTube video), and the Z is Curley Taylor and Zydeco Trouble?

A photo from Cycropia's website

I attended this evening and the considerable crowd went wild for the incredible Carolina Chocolate Drops. Their website is a fascinating read of this talented group performing "Genuine Negro Jig Available Now Everywhere!"

Below is a picture of Justin the fiddle (and jug) player. The rest of the pictures document the extraordinary people watching at Orton Park Festival.