Tucked Away: Milwaukee County Winter Farmers' Market

State Fair Park is known as a three-season bastion of discount electronics expos, Halloween Express, farm animal competitions, and cream puff aficionados. In winter, it becomes the home of West Allis’ largest, most conspicuous parking lot. But on the edge of the park, inside the Tommy Thompson Youth Center at Gate 5, sits the best reason you’ll ever find to visit State Fair Park in February: The Milwaukee County Winter Farmers' Market, which brings the joy of Wisconsin-grown produce, heirloom fruits and vegetables, and locally processed meats to the dead of snow season every Saturday.

From heritage poultry to farmed elk to grass-fed buffalo, fans of free-range meat are in luck; pet owners even have a choice of beef bones or elk antlers to bring home as chew toys for Fido. Bolzano Artisan Meats, based out of Great Lakes Distillery's old home in north Riverwest, sells small-batch dry-cured pork bellies (pancetta) and pork cheek (guanciale). Fromage lovers, take heed: A handful of dairies (Saxon Homestead Creamery, Farmhouse Bakery/SommHerr Dairy, and Hidden Springs Creamery) provide an array of sheep, cow, and goat cheese wedges, spreads, and dips in both raw and pasteurized forms. Wisconsin's oldest mushroom farm, River Valley Ranch, has a selection of picture-perfect fresh and pickled 'shrooms alongside an assortment of high-octane artisanal salsas that will brighten the day of any fungi fan. 

Two apple orchards, both located 40 miles from Milwaukee—Ela, in Rochester, and Brightonwoods, in Burlington—sell bottled cider and around a dozen types of apples, including heirloom cultivars like Willow Twig (an obscure Virginian strain dating back to the 1800s) and Roxbury Russet (first discovered in Massachusetts in the 17th century). Organic rainbows of winter storage vegetables—squash, cabbage, daikon radishes, potatoes, onions, shallots, and carrots—are offered by a variety of area farms, while homemade pastas (Mia Famiglia), whipped wildflower honey (Viola's Honey), and gourmet caramels (Becky's Blissful Bakery) are available to round out the starch- and sugar-heavy portions of your diet. Business is bustling, so head over early until the market closes April 24.