HISTORY: The downtown gazebo and the Madison Street Festival

MADISON – The Madison Street Festival is a key community- building event in Madison and in some cases, it has taken that responsibility literally.

In 1992, the Madison Street Festival committee, with the city of Madison, built the downtown gazebo. The committee provided the funds to build the gazebo through money raised at the Madison Street Festival.

A 2003 street festival walking tour guidebook explains, “The structure was constructed by Jordan Construction, Inc. The Madison Street Festival Committee used funds from their annual Madison Street Festival to build the Gazebo.”

Thereafter, the gazebo became a local landmark. It was used as a stage for Concerts in the Park for many years before the stage at Home Place Park was built, and it is still used as a setting for photography sessions.

The gazebo hosted the Bob Jones High School Band and Chorus for the structure’s first concert on May 18, 1993.

The gazebo sits on the village green north of the railroad tracks on Front Street, just a few yards away from the Roundhouse, another Madison Street Festival building project.

A 1992 newspaper article announcing the groundbreaking described the gazebo, “The 24foot, octagonal structure will be about 150 feet west of the Roundhouse. The gazebo will match the 1890s motif of the Roundhouse.”

Today, the gazebo has been maintained jointly by the city of Madison and the Madison Station Historical Preservation Society. In 2025, the two launched a refurbishment project for the gazebo that repaired the roof, foundation, handrails, and front steps.

The gazebo is now fresh-faced and ready to welcome street festival goers once again on October 3.