Taste of Madison ★ 4.5
Taste of Madison on Capitol Square, the Labor Day weekend festival since 1983, sets up 80-plus restaurants around the Capitol with live music and Wisconsin craft beer.
Focus: Wisconsin restaurant samples and craft beer
Food festivals in Madison worth planning a trip around, by month.
Festivals through the year
Madison Magazine Restaurant Week ★ 4.3
Madison Magazine Restaurant Week, the biannual prix-fixe dining promotion in late January and late July, runs three-course menus across 70 restaurants citywide.
Focus: Three-course prix-fixe menus across 70-plus restaurants
Madison Craft Beer Week ★ 4.4
Madison Craft Beer Week, the eight-day early-May celebration of Wisconsin breweries, runs tap takeovers, brewer dinners and tastings across breweries and bars citywide.
Focus: Wisconsin craft beer, brewery tap takeovers and tastings
Isthmus Beer and Cheese Festival ★ 4.4
Isthmus Beer and Cheese Festival at Alliant Energy Center, the January Wisconsin beer-and-cheese pairing event, runs 80-plus beer and beverage vendors with cheese pairings in tasting.
Focus: Wisconsin craft beer and Wisconsin cheese pairings
Great Taste of the Midwest ★ 4.7
Great Taste of the Midwest at Olin Park on Lake Monona, the Madison Homebrewers and Tasters Guild's second-Saturday-of-August beer festival since 1987, pours 200 craft brewers in one day.
Focus: Midwest craft beer festival with 150 breweries
Madison Night Market ★ 4.3
Madison Night Market on State Street, the downtown pedestrian market evening series with food trucks and craft stalls, runs one Thursday each month from May through October.
Focus: Food trucks, craft vendors and live music in pedestrian downtown
Marquette Waterfront Festival ★ 4.2
Marquette Waterfront Festival at Yahara Place Park, the east-side Marquette neighborhood June festival, runs live music, craft beer and Wisconsin food vendors on Yahara.
Focus: Wisconsin food vendors, craft beer and live music