True North happens on the field at the Mallards Duck Pond. We had some field damage last year and have adjusted the layout to avoid that this year, adding an access road along “vendor row”. This layout also allows us to use the Duck Blind areas for VIP accommodations and allow more activations on the field like our vintage market, kids market, and art vendors. This is subject to change but here is current site map.

No vehicles are allowed to drive on the field grass unless approved directly by the Mallard’s.

YES! Your restaurant will have a total amount of space of 20×10. We will confirm your exact location soon but here is a layout example for your planning purposes.

Half of that (10×10) will be on the customer side located within a 80×10 large span pole tent like this ….but with dividers between each restaurant.

Behind your serving space will be another 10×10 uncovered back of house space that will sit on top of a temporary road that we are bringing in from Event Essentials. You may bring your own 10×10 tent for the back of house area.

For those that used the chalets last year, many found those to be cumbersome for service so we are going fully tented this year. Thanks for understanding.

Gates will open at 1pm on Saturday, September 26. Please plan to be ready to serve at this time. Food vendors are required to serve until 8pm, and we encourage you to stay open until 9pm. Live music will run from 1:30pm to 10pm. Our headliner, Langhorne Slim, will go on at 8:30pm.

Unless otherwise discussed and agreed to, restaurants must offer one item priced between $5 and $7 and one item priced between $10 and $13. Dessert item is strongly recommended but not required. Final menu selections must be sent to matt@lolasmadison.com by August 7th.

Please refer to email from Matt for your individual restaurant, and feel free to reach out if that is any confusion.

You will have a 20-40 amp circuit available for your tent or cart/trailer. Please let us know if you will need more than that or have specific questions or concerns about this. You will need to provide your own extension cords, power strips, etc.

We are strongly encouraging restaurants to show up the day/night before (Friday, September 25th) to load-in, walk-thru the area, check equipment etc. 

You may arrive and set-up between 9am and 5pm on Friday or Saturday 8am to 11am.

The Mallards have ample walk-in cooler and freezer space, so you are welcome to keep things there overnight.

You may begin loading out any time after 9pm on Saturday night.

Unless otherwise agreed to, no beverages are allowed to be sold from your booth/cart.

Additional tents, tables, table cloths, extension cords, trash bags, disposables, etc are your responsibility to provide.

If you do not have food truck, cart or trailer you will load-in at a vehicle entry gate near center field as seen on the map here. You will be directed to your space upon entry. Please do not drive on the temporary outfield road until you have found someone to guide you in. If you can’t find anyone or have questions when you arrive on please call Vern at 608-575-4267.

No cars are allowed to drive on the grass unless approved directly by the Mallards!

Once you have loaded in, vendors will park in the Mallards general surface lot just outside the stadium.

All vendors are required to bring their own POS. You may also take cash. There is an ATM on-site you can direct people to if they need cash.

To connect your POS to the Mallards network please use:

NETWORK:  Mallards Secure PASSWORD: Mallards2021

Yes, this is required of all vendors. Please list the Madison Mallards, LLC & Mendota Hospitality, LLC as additional insured on your insurance policy and provide to Vern by September 1st: vern@mallardsbaseball.com

We will begin providing weekly ticket sale updates starting in September as well as portion estimates based on those numbers and what we saw last year. For your current planning purposes, 250-300 portions of each menu item is recommended.

We are expecting a total attendance of at least 4,000.

This is a “rain or shine” event but we will communicate with you consistently throughout the event about weather conditions. If there is dangerous weather in the area we will postpone until the weather clears.

Last year was our first year. We were surprised how many folks were there when the gates opened and ready to eat. The peak hours of service last year were between 5 to 8pm, as expected. Please staff accordingly to maximize sales!

VIP guests will be receiving VIP wristbands with tabs (pictured here) with tabs labeled “SNACK” or “ENTREE” which will be redeemable at your booth.

Please compile your tabs and at the end of the night we will pay you 75% of your retail price for all items served to our VIP guests.

VIP guests do not have “skip the line” privileges at any booth. We will provide portion estimates for this at the beginning of September based on sales and data from last year.

The festival will provide (cohesive, festival color) restaurant name signs and menu boards mounted at the top and sides of each booth. We will be in touch about those designs separately, and will send menu proofs before they go to print.

Carts and trailers will be positioned on the 3rd base side of the stage. Please coordinate location and entry plans directly with Vern: vern@mallardsbaseball.com or 608-575-4267.

The Mallards have a 10 fryer trailer that will be positioned in the outfield area. If requested, restaurants may use the fryer trailer but please note, you may need to run food back and forth as some tents may have more than 100 feet of distance between your booth and the trailer. If you would rather have our own fryer directly behind your tent we recommend contacting Event Essentials for rental. Please let us know if you choose to do that as we can likely assist in delivery coordination.

Matt Gerding: 608.469.0748

Evan Dannells: 608.213.0172

Vern Stenman: 608.575.4267