🐕 This adorable puppy needs heart surgery

💸 Middleton Food Hall For Sale, Facing Foreclosure

• The future of a once-vaunted food hall and apartment complex in Middleton is uncertain as the entire development is up for sale, leaving eight of nine food vendors who signed leases in limbo.
• Middleton Market Food Hall was billed as a European-style food hall with 15 vendors, as well as 263 apartments. Now the bank will take over the property if a buyer can’t be found by the end of the month.
• The Kickback Arcade Bar and Mane Hair Salon are the only two commercial tenants in the space, and the apartments are about 75% occupied. [Cap Times]

🏫 MMSD Unveils Designs For New and Upgraded Schools

• Construction will begin next March on the first phase of the Madison Metropolitan School District’s ambitious plan to reconstruct or renovate 10 schools, funded by a $507 million referendum approved by voters in November 2024.
• Last week, the district showed designs for the renovated Blackhawk Middle School and Gompers Elementary School at a community feedback session. The new building will separate learning spaces for elementary and middle school students, incorporate geothermal engineering and solar panels, and add a new drop-off area.
• Feedback sessions for schools involved in the second phase of the project, Orchard Ridge Elementary School, Toki Middle School, Cherokee Heights Middle School and Sennett Middle School, will be scheduled later this fall. [WMTV]

🛶 Rutabaga Owner Has Change of Heart About Closing

• Rutabaga Paddlesports owner Darren Bush, who announced that he would close the Fitchburg-based store in December to become a hospital chaplain, now says he is looking for a buyer to keep the business going.
• In a post on Facebook, Bush said he got such a warm response from fans of Rutabaga, including several prospective buyers, that he reconsidered his decision to close for good. “My hope is that this transition will allow Rutabaga to thrive for years to come, even as I step into my new calling.” [Facebook]

🍽️ Madison Restaurateur Jane Capito Dies at 80

• Jane Capito, the Madison restaurant owner behind Mickey’s Tavern and Greenbush Bar and the namesake for Lazy Jane’s Cafe, died Oct. 11 at 80. Capito started her restaurant career as a dishwasher at the old Ovens of Brittany, and went on to create a series of restaurants that reflected Madison’s love of comfort food and locally-sourced ingredients.
• Her son, Ben Altschul, and stepson, Gil Altschul, have also created their own restaurants in town. Ben Altschul said a memorial service for his mother will be announced soon. [Isthmus]

If your bookshelf is looking a little bare heading into the colder months, relax. The Wisconsin Book Festival, put on by the Madison Public Library and the Madison Public Library Foundation, is hosting its Fall Celebration from Oct. 23-26, with 55 free events at the Madison Public Library Central Branch, Arts + Literature Laboratory, UW Discovery Building, and more locations around town.

On the City Cast Madison podcast today, festival director Jane Rotonda gives host Bianca Martin a preview of who’s coming to this year’s festival, and why readers keep coming to the festival.

Finding the four-day schedule a bit overwhelming? Here’s some tips for every kind of reader about book events this week to check out.

Editor's note: The Wisconsin Book Festival is an advertiser of City Cast Madison. This article was written without their involvement.

🎸 For Music Lovers

If you love ‘90s alternative rock, check out music journalist Selena Fragassi talking about “Alanis: Thirty Years of Jagged Little Pill” (Oct. 24, 7:30 p.m., Discovery Building). If you like a little more twang, Tamara Saviano discusses “Poets and Dreamers: My Life in Americana Music” (Oct. 24, 4:30 p.m., Discovery Building).

Or if classic rock and R&B is your thing, UW-Madison professor Doug Bradley’s memoir “The Tracks of My Tears’ (Oct. 24, 6 p.m. Discovery Building) could be your jam.

🧀 For Food Lovers

Say cheese! “The Wisconsin Whey” (Oct. 24, 4:30 p.m., Central Library) celebrates 12 cheesemakers from the Driftless region. If you want to start baking your own bread, “Let’s Bake Bread” (Oct. 24, 6 p.m, Central Library) is a combo comic book/cookbook that makes it easy. “The Cook’s Garden” (Oct. 26, 1:30 p.m. Central Library) will help you start your own garden and incorporate homegrown produce into your cooking.

🧒 For Kids and Parents

“Digital Girlhood” (Oct. 26, 10:30 a.m., Central Library), examines how social media affects tween girls. Bring the kids for “Quijoteres!”, (Oct. 25, 10 a.m., Central Library), Dragoncillo Puppet Troupe’s bilingual reimagining of “Don Quixote.” Celebrate young authors at the authors’ reception for the winners of the “WE READ Youth Voices Writing Contest” (Oct. 25, 9:15 a.m., Central Library).