Madison Street Festival to affect traffic in and around downtown area

MADISON — The 38th Madison Street Festival begins tomorrow at 9 a.m., and MSF President Kyle Mumaw advised citizens about road closures and other traffic reminders in a recent letter.

Setup for the festival begins today, and Mumaw said crews will be “as unobtrusive as possible.” At 5 p.m., however, Main and Wise streets will be closed to allow tents, vendors and entertainment stages to begin moving in. Mumaw also asked drivers to clear the parking lots on those streets before 5 p.m.

Beginning at 5 a.m. tomorrow morning, the following streets will be closed to all drivers and become vendors-only areas: Arnett, Buttermilk, Church, Front, Maple, Martin and Sturdivant. Mumaw said there will be “limited motor access” to homeowners on Arnett, Church and Sturdivant streets, but homeowners on Front street will unfortunately have to wait until the streets reopen Saturday night to regain motor vehicle access to the road.

This year’s Madison Street Festival will kick off at 9 a.m. with a parade. According to Mumaw’s letter, the parade will begin at Skate Park Drive before heading down Mill Road, then Church, Front and Sullivan streets. The parade will conclude at Madison Elementary School, which is located at the corner of Sullivan and College streets.

Mumaw said there will be shuttles running to and from parking at the Madison City Schools stadium and CrossPointe Church, but he noted that the shuttle will not service parking at CrossPointe during the parade. For those that arrive between about 8:30-9:30 a.m., he advised parking close to the stadium.

“We appreciate your patience as we bring this free family fun day to our beautiful, historic downtown Madison,” Mumaw said.

Madison Street Festival is free for all to attend and will last from 9 a.m. – 4 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 6.