During the winter months, as hygge sets in, there's nothing greater than cozying up amongst fellow market goers at the Indoor Whitewater City Market with a cup of coffee and a morning pastry. Held every Saturday from 10a.m. to noon inside the Irvin L Young Memorial Library, you can expect to peruse locally produced goods from various vendors. You can also expect to make connections.

"[The market offers] an opportunity to form relationships with the person whom you purchase an item from, which offers confidence in how an item is made or grown as well as a unique opportunity to learn about an item more than you ever could in a traditional retail setting."

Lisa Dawsey Smith- Co-Manager of Whitewater City Market

It's About Community

For market co-managers, Dawsey-Smith and Kristine Zaballos, the market is about community. This creates variety. "The market is a place of community by the community for the community. It also provides a forum for local farmers, producers, and artisans to offer their products for sale," says Dawsey-Smith. Zaballos agrees and adds, "Also, the power of iteration and the inherently changing qualities of the market. Vendors come and go for all sorts of reasons. The vendor mix is constantly refreshing itself, which keeps people engaged. And many of the vendors themselves are consistently trying new things — like Kettle Moraine Honey testing their kombucha and eventually launching Komboocho Brewing. Or Wood Street Bakery bringing new bread options — which keeps it fresh."

It's About Fresh

Fresh is exactly how the market feels week in and week out. The second you walk through the doors, you notice a buzzing, positive energy you don't feel anywhere else. You're also hit with the smells of fresh-baked goodies and just brewed coffee.

"We want to provide as many 'grocery' items as possible that people might shop for on a weekly basis. So we always favor the vendors who are bringing greens, vegetables, herbs, bread, cheese, coffee, honey, kombucha, eggs, chicken, beef, granola, salsas, popcorn, and other food items. For nonfood items, our houseplant, jewelry, soap and hand-made card vendors are very popular too. We have monthly visits from people who make pottery, crocheted shawls, aprons and tote bags, books and other items too."

Kristine Zaballos- Co-Manager of Whitewater City Market

It's About Making Connections

The Whitewater City Market runs outdoors at the depot location May through October. After their first year, market goers wanted to continue to support local farmers and makers. After various trial runs at different indoor locations, the library enjoyed having the market operate inside their doors. Market-goers did too! "The library has been an amazing and supportive partner. We like to think our market-goers use the library more than they otherwise might have, including buying books at the book sale or contributing to the library’s Little Free Pantry," shares Zaballos.

Community, connections, being informative, and helping out are all values of the Whitewater City Market. That's clear in one lap around the cozy room. And for Dawsey-Smith and Zaballos, the market shows, on a small scale, what's possible on a large scale.

"If you picture the market as a radius of community spirit overlaid on a map, how do we expand those boundaries, and stretch that to encompass more?"

Lisa Dawsey Smith- Co-Manager of Whitewater City Market

At the end of the day, it's all about forging that connection between market-goers and local farmers and makers. That makes the market heart tick.

It's Special

"This kind of work has countless amazing rewards, mostly in little meaningful moments that add up to what, to me, community is all about. I’ll share an example: I asked Chris Kienbaum at Happy Mail, our local card maker, to make a special golden birthday card for my 11-year-old niece. Boy, was it special. Gold trim. A shaker panel full of shiny confetti that revealed her name. The whole nine yards. She showed me that card — the first of its kind she had made — and I showed some market-goers, one of whom immediately commissioned a card for a special 85th birthday. Making those kinds of connections, to me, is what community is all about. The market is just an excellent venue to do it, week in and week out."

Kristine Zaballos- Co-Manager of Whitewater City Market

We couldn't agree more. It's the perfect place to grab what you need in your kitchen. And the abundance of gifts available will make you linger longer on a blustery Saturday morning. The market always uplifts.

You can visit Whitewater City Market on Facebook for more information. Don't forget a reusable tote for your local goodies!