Orton Park

I love this park. I remember pushing my brand new baby cousin in a baby swing here when she was just itty bitty, long long ago. I have pictures of my grandparents as a young couple playing party games here at my grampa’s company picnic. We took our new puppy Paisley here back in the day, for his first meet and greet at the Orton Park Festival. Some of the oldest, hugest, most beautiful shady trees in Madison live here. Lake Monona is a stone’s throw away, visible from the park. Great restaurants and shopping on Willy St. is a stone’s throw in the other direction. The park is surrounded by beautiful old Victorian homes, but without the usual pretension of such. The gazebo adds to the charm. The yearly Orton Park Festival is not to be missed, a celebration of all that is classically Madison. In summation, and sincerely, again, I love this park.

For a 1-​square block park in the middle of the Willy Street neighborhood, it’s a pretty cool little area. Big trees, the infamous gazebo, some basketball courts, a small playground area, the sidewalk that cuts-​through on the diagonal… No restrooms, a small drinking fountain (aka «bubbler») area. Seems to be well kept — clean and maintained at all times. During the summer months, I ride my bike or run through here at least 5-​times per week.
For Orton Park Fest, it’s awesome. I ventured over to catch The Mustache on Friday night. Even at 7pm it was well into the 90s with nearly 100% humidity and no breeze. But the festival was as cool as a cucumber. Probably helped that it wasn’t heavily attended due to that aforementioned heat…
Food vendors were perfect, efficient, and reasonable. Beer trailer never had a line, offered a nice selection of brews, and was just ever-​so-​slightly-​overpriced at $ 6/​beer. I also noted the presence of a Meade and wine vendor, a nice touch. Trash and recycling bins were everywhere.
Entertainment was spot-​on. Excellent sound quality, perfect volume, plenty of complimentary seating, and a great crowd.
So, while I don’t see myself spending a ton of time in the park outside of Orton Fest, rest assured I’ll never miss another festival here again. The organizers of this festival should be commended.

I haven’t seen this place in the daytime yet. Went with the roomies to catch a free festival the other night. Some jammy hip-​hop reggae group was playing. It started raining, the concert was called off, and it started pouring. We ran home sopping wet screaming our lungs out at the sky. So, Orton Park as a catalyst is pretty good, I guess I gotta visit sometime when its light out though.