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It’s not often I have the opportunity to photograph a wonderful event such as Handmade Madison’s Indie Craft Marketplace – AND do some holiday shopping for unique gifts made by local artisans! The event, organized by Rachel Dolnick and Jackie Matelski of the Handmade Madison Indie Artist League, grew enormously since just last spring.  The great thing about this indie market is that with greater quantity comes greater quality in diversity of amazing work – the opposite of what you would find at many generic ‘big box’ stores.

This time around I caved and bought some awesome, geometric earrings for myself from dear darlington.  It wasn’t all about me though! I also got some great hemp seed lotion and body scrub for gifts from Cloud Nine Soap Co.  Check out the 2013 maker list for links to sites for the other amazing artisans – deciding which to patronize was the hardest shopping decision I made all year!

Wintersong 2013, the second annual holiday concert curated by Madison-area singer-songwriter Anna Vogelzang, doubles as a nice overview of Madison’s indie-folk music scene. The indie-acoustic local holiday showcase hosted by the Majestic Theater on December 6, 2013, featured Count This Penny, Dietrich Gosser, PHOX, Whitney Mann, Crane Your Swan Neck, Corey Hart and Paul Otteson.

The sold-out event was a huge success – raising thousands in funds for Second Harvest Food Bank. In addition to covering Christmas carols and other holiday favorites, some of the performers penned songs that reflect different facets of wintertime in Wisconsin. What a perfect way to celebrate winter, music, community and friendship!