Madison Chautauqua Festival

Love the Madison Chautaqua Festival One of the best displays of original artwork from throughout the surrounding states. Wine gardens and food everywhere lining the streets of Madison and the Ohio River! Of course I go for the art but there is one food vendor in particular that I have to visit and it's Miss Piggy's pork chop sandwiches! Without the best I've ever eaten..and the ribs are great too! It was a really hot summer day so I ate lightly and drank heavily! The wine garden had a delicious Sangria that made the heat tolerable, the more you drank the cooler the day ! If you really want a nice piece of original art this is the place! From stained glass, jewelry or Americana you'll find it here. The festival is great and so are the homes that line the roads of old Madison. Excellent preservation at its best! I never miss this event and I assure you if you go you'll return!

If you have never been to Madison, Indiana the 2 day Chautauqua Festival is like diving in the deep end of the shopping pool. You ask Why? Madison is a small, river town with a little more than 12,000 residents and the Chautauqua Festival brings in 50,000 - 60,000 people (depending on weather). If you enjoy shopping till you drop then the crowd is a welcomed challenge and the hot, humid weather is just a given. The Festival's main area focuses between Broadway and Vine Streets and along the Ohio River. Every inch of Madison has arts and crafts, food vendors, private yard sales, restaurants, shops, and vendors of all types from across the Country participating in this fabulous two day event. The City is surprisingly a little over 8 1/2 square miles with 55,000 people living within 15 miles of downtown Madison. It's a popular tourist destination being on the Ohio River with the amount of quaint, family owned shops and the sweet, friendly, southern hospitality shown to guests. We want to return soon just to try out as many of the deverse, family owned restaurants as possible in the Historic District. All of the shops will be busting at the seams with more holiday decor along with their everyday items.Madison has breathtaking views and is the largest city along the Ohio River between Louisville, KY and Cincinnati, OH. Everywhere you look are homes with amazing architectural features to the romantic, well manicured gardens surrounding homes, businesses or lining Main Street. I learned this weekend the downtown Historic Landmark District is 133 blocks and the largest contiguous National Historic Landmark in the United States. I had no idea. Oh, and their could be a ghost at Shooters!? So take a mini vacation only 1 1/2 hours from Indy and check out all that Madison has to offer. From hiking at Clifty Falls, hours of antiquing and shopping to 5 star restaurants you'll have a terrific time.

One of my favorite fall festivals in one of my all-time favorite small cities. Madison, Indiana is such a charming and historic city that is so well preserved and still vibrant. Located on a beautiful stretch of the Ohio River bordering Kentucky, Madison has so much going for it.I love the Madison Regatta, but the fall arts and crafts festival, the Madison Chautauqua Festival, combines two of my favorite things, fall and shopping. It is a juried art show that also has crafts, food, and entertainment. I like to go to the juried show first and then head down to the food and music on the riverfront. We always stop in at Lanthier Winery (a block away), which has tastings, food, entertainment, and booths of their own. After that, we head back up to Main Street to hit the shops and visit the craft booths at the other end of town. It's a full day.The weather is often beautiful for this annual late September event and yesterday was no different. We got there early and found a parking spot on the street and headed to Hinkle's for a late breakfast. We also like to walk the streets if we have any extra time and look at the houses. I live in a historic home and Madison is a great place to walk about and check out and appreciate architecture of days gone by. The festival is one of the best in the area and I even prefer it to St. James, which I used to live by and still attend annually. The Chautauqua is just as big and nice, but the streets are wider and it's a lot easier to move about. Plus, there's so many shops and the festival at the winery that adds even more. It's never on the same weekend, so I always do both. Madison is a great town to visit and the Chautauqua is not to be missed.