🍎 River Food Pantry reopens to meet need

🍎 River Food Pantry Opens as Need Rises

• The River Food Pantry opened its new location on Packers Avenue last week to feed Madison’s hungry. The new $10.7 million facility, funded by grants and private donations, includes a much larger warehouse and kitchen space, an indoor drive-thru, classroom space, dining space, and a new lounge for its more than 3,000 volunteers.
• The additional space and facilities will help the pantry meet the increasing need for its services in Dane County. In 2025, the pantry served 21,326 unique users, up 13% from the year before, and served 135,308 take-home meals, up 7% from 2024. On the day before Thanksgiving, it served a record 557 Thanksgiving meals. [The River Food Pantry, 🔒 WSJ]

🚨 City Council Gets Briefed on Violence Prevention

• Several city agencies will come together on Feb. 3 to meet with the Madison City Council to discuss violence prevention efforts in the city. Public Health Madison & Dane County, the Madison Police Department, the Madison Fire Department, the Parks Division and the Engineering Division will all present updates on efforts to prevent violence in Madison.
• Those efforts range from the fire department’s CARES team to the traffic division’s Vision Zero program. The meeting is being called a “briefing,” which means that no action will be taken and while the meeting is open to the public, there will be no public comment session. [City of Madison]

🧪 These UW Researchers Are Dye-ing to Improve Environment

• Wisconsin’s cranberry producers may find a new market for its products beside juices and dried snacks – food dyes. As manufacturers phase out the use of synthetic dyes, a team of researchers at UW-Madison’s Department of Food Science is looking at ways to use natural food dyes from sources like cranberries.
• Professor Bradley Bolling has pioneered research of anthocyanins, natural pigments responsible for the vibrant hues in fruits like cranberries. Bolling has developed a process to naturally extract the pigments to use in protein bars, pudding and Wisconsin ice creams. [WMTV, 🎧 City Cast Madison]

Happy February! It’s the shortest month of the year, which must make it seem even more packed with stuff to do in Madison. On the City Cast Madison podcast today, we talk about our favorite things to see, do and eat this month, along with our suggestions on how to “spread the love” in Madison!

Get Outside!

Everybody should get out on a frozen Madison lake at least once during the winter, and the Frozen Assets Festival on Feb. 7 at the Edgewater Hotel on the shore of Lake Mendota is a perfect way to do so. Enjoy free ice skating and hot chocolate, watch large kites fly over the lake, try your hand at pond hockey and more. It’s a family-friendly event put on by Clean Lakes Alliance. (Frozen Assets Festival is a sponsor of City Cast Madison, but this mention is editorially independent.)

Down the shoreline at the UW-Madison Memorial Union, the Winter Carnival is taking place Feb. 5-7. It’s three days of free activities sponsored by the Hoofers, and a great way to try an outdoor activity (including skating lessons, ice fishing lessons, and ice climbing) or just enjoy a chili cookoff, a pancake breakfast, or a performance from the Wisconsin Singers.

Meanwhile, Madison parks will continue to offer plenty of winter fun, including ice skating, cross-country skiing and snowshoeing. Several parks also offer free equipment rentals, but only through Feb. 15.