The glory of Madison's

So, the campaign is all but over (fund raising's done, now it's just campaign wrap-up tasks), and the whole thing was a fair success. It looks like our total will end up somewhere in the range of last year's - well short of our goal but around where I realistically hoped we'd be.

Every year I am amazed and bewildered at how many things happen during the campaign that I could never have imagined. Some of this year's highlights:

• An anonymous donor dropped off a cashier's check for $2500 on the last day of the campaign.
• Our 5k made almost $2000 and was won by a guy who won the Flying Pig marathon in 2005.
• I have come to envy and be angry at the Girl Scouts who have a monopoly on nearly every store in the Cincinnati area from Feb 17^th through March 17^th.
• And Madison's Market in Glendale is a wonderful place.

Madison's Market is a small grocer in Glendale Square - about a mile and a half from PHS. Until this fall, I'd only seen the place from the outside, glancing at it when I was at the Glendale Pub or on the Square for one reason or another.

This fall, one of my students who happens to also work at Madison's convinced me to stop in and try their gelato which turned out to be absolutely revelatory. I'll admit to just a bit of a sweet tooth, sure, but the gelato really is outstanding. They make the gelato by the Madison's folks - don't know if it's done on site or out at their Adam's Co. farm - and is absolutely fabulous. All of the half dozen flavors that I've tried - Madagascar vanilla, cinnamon, blueberry, peach, strawberry - have been wonderful, and I've been eagerly awaiting the return of the longed for tiramisu gelato.

Madison's also was generous enough to sponsor our 5K t-shirts - making them the first business to sign on as a sponsor for our new-this-year t-shirts - and to provide a table or two for us to use at our finish line this year. One of our volunteers at the race was generous enough to give Madison's a few bucks in advance so that the two race co-coordinators could have lunch on her, and I managed to venture away from the sweets into Madison's paninis - fresh mozerella, basil, tomato, and red onion on mine, thanks for asking - which turned out to be every bit as wonderful as their gelato.

The Glendale location - awesome store, poor website - is the second store that Matt Madison has opened up in the Cincy area - the first being his Findlay Market location. Both of the stores sell produce that is locally and organically produced and about as fresh as is available anywhere.

Madison's is a perfect example of a store that we should all be patronizing for lots of reasons:

• The food is fabulous.
• The owners are generous and civically minded.
• The produce is grown locally (to save fossil fuels in transport costs) and organically (better for the environment).
• The stores are in the neighborhood, promoting mixed-use development, something that keeps cities healthy and vibrant.

I know I'll be spending more of my time and money at Madison's in the coming years...