Liam Beran
Protesters brought donations from home or bought from vendors at the farmers’ market.
Jeff Stobbs stands in front of the Forward statue, wearing a hi-vis vest and sunglasses — a good call on a bright, mid-50s April day. He is explaining today’s “Buy Out the Market” demonstration to four protesters.
Protesters will walk around the Capitol Square, Stobbs says, buying food products from vendors as they see fit. Then, they’ll walk down Hamilton Street toward James Madison Park, where a group of volunteers with local nonprofit Healthy Food for All will help distribute that food to local households in need.
By the time the April 19 protest is set to start at noon, Stobbs says he’s helped guide about 100 people through the process.
In Madison, protests against President Donald Trump called by the national 50501 organization have typically occurred on Saturdays at the Capitol. But spring’s warm weather brings a new wrinkle — thousands of customers now pour into the Dane County Farmers’ Market every Saturday to shop for fresh produce and spicy cheese bread.
The shopathon could, then, be an ongoing compromise. Organizers say it also taps a vital need — boosting local farmers’ sales when the agricultural industry faces steep challenges from Trump’s tariffs.
“Tariffs are affecting them, so we don’t want to get in their way of being able to sell their product to the people in Madison,” says Stobbs.
Save for a wayward sign, it can be hard to tell who is protesting and who’s just enjoying the market, though around 12:15 p.m. a stream of people start to trickle down Hamilton Street. They walk to James Madison Park, drivers in passing cars honking in support. The hundreds of protesters in the park are chanting; some are playing drums.
A tent is set up with plastic crates. One after the other, participants in the market-buyout kneel on the grass, unzip their backpacks and place donations in the crates. Some have brought donations from home as well. Healthy Food for All volunteer coordinator Joe Mingle, a 40-plus year organizer, darts from volunteer to volunteer, helping direct the flow of food.
Among the donations is spinach from Westridge Organic Farm in Blue River, and whole grain loaves of bread from Cress Spring Bakery in Blue Mounds.
At the tent, demonstrator Alison Forbes, who drove from Milwaukee, is dropping off food. She’s furious at the state of the nation and recent federal actions.
“I don’t know if I can even name a specific subject anymore as to why I’m down here,” she says. “It’s everything all at once. It’s this complete degradation of everything I’ve always been taught America was about.”
She encourages those similarly in shock to take action, no matter how small: “One phone call to a Congressperson is better than no phone call to a Congressperson. One sign in your yard is better than no sign in your yard. Sometimes the thing you do makes somebody feel stronger to do the thing that they can do. Even if you’re not changing something on a national or a global scale, you might change things for one person.”
Another protester, Mara Ansfield, donated onions and “a good, organic peanut butter” from the market.
“They say that’s the top thing to donate,” she says. Ansfield is a fan of the decision to turn the protest into a market-buyout: “I loved it. I think that we should do it every week.”
Protesting is a rare activity for Ansfield.
“This is my second in my life,” she says, emotion in her voice. “And I’m 60.” Trump’s attacks on democracy, she says, forced her to come out today: “Our democracy, it’s such a beautiful thing. I mean, I know it has its flaws — many flaws — but I know there’s a quote somewhere that says ‘Democracy is the worst, except for everything else.’”
What was collected, approximately:
2,000 pounds total goods:
• 1/3 canned/dry goods
• 1/3 eggs, cheese, meats, honey
• 1/3 produce and bakery
• “Enough bagged spinach and other greens to fill a standard pickup truck’s bed!”
