MADISON

MADISON EVENTS


DANE COUNTY FARMER’S MARKET

Wednesdays & Saturdays April-November

CONCERTS ON THE SQUARE

Wednesdays, July-August

ART FAIR ON THE SQUARE

Second Weekend in July

TASTE OF MADISON

Labor Day Weekend

IRONMAN

September

OTIS REDDING MEMORIAL

Each December marks the anniversary of the date that soul singer Otis Redding’s plane crashed into Madison’s Lake Monona (visible from the upper floors of Park Hotel’s Main Street side). It was December 10, 1967 when Redding and six others perished during a flight from Cleveland for a show in downtown Madison at the Factory, a nightclub that also once hosted Jimi Hendrix.

Sittin’ on the Dock of the Bay, a song Redding had recorded three days before his death, was released in January 1968 and became an American classic.

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A short walk from the hotel is the memorial site for Otis Redding. The plaque and benches placed in Redding’s honor can be visited on the upper deck of the Monona Terrace Community and Convention Center. The building that housed the former Factory nightclub where Redding was to play that night is still in use. Now a bookstore, the building can be found at 315 W. Gorham Street just off of State Street.