National Mustard Museum Curator Barry Levenson Receives Distinguished Achievement Award

MIDDLETON, Wis. — Barry Levenson, founder and curator of the National Mustard Museum, received Destination Madison’s Distinguished Achievement Award during the Summer Summit + 2026 Destination Madison Awards held June 25 at Overture Center for the Arts.

Each year, the Distinguished Achievement Award honors an individual in the Madison area who exemplifies the highest level of leadership, service and professional excellence in the hospitality industry. Recipients are selected based on professional excellence, values and integrity, and outstanding achievements that represent the very best of the destination.

Levenson founded The National Mustard Museum in 1992 in Mount Horeb, transforming a passion for mustard into one of Wisconsin’s most recognizable and beloved attractions. In 2009, he relocated the museum and gift shop to Downtown Middleton. Under his leadership, the National Mustard Museum has grown into an internationally known destination, welcoming visitors from around the world and housing a collection of more than 7,000 jars, tubes and bottles of mustards representing all 50 states and more than 70 countries, as well as mustard memorabilia.

“Barry has created an attraction unlike any other,” said Patti Bridges, owner of the National Mustard Museum gift shop, which is above the free museum. “I feel incredibly lucky to work with him. Every day I get to see smiles, laughter and pure joy when visitors learn about mustard at the National Mustard Museum. He has truly created something special from his passion for the king of condiments.”

Levenson’s enthusiasm and humor have made him a well-known ambassador for both Middleton and the greater Madison area.

“Destination Madison for me, it’s Destination Mustard!” Levenson said. “Mustard is what makes the world go ’round.”

Levenson was nominated by Visit Middleton’s tourism director, Mari Olson.

“Barry has turned a passion for mustard into a mecca for condiment lovers,” Olson wrote in her nomination letter. “His personality is infused into the National Mustard Museum and his enthusiasm is so contagious that this small museum in Middleton, Wisconsin, has achieved national recognition and boasts the largest collection of mustards in the world.”

In addition to serving as a year-round attraction, the National Mustard Museum hosts National Mustard Day, an annual festival held in Downtown Middleton on the first Saturday in August. The 2026 celebration will take place Aug. 1 and feature family-friendly games, food vendors, live music and mustard-themed fun that draws thousands of attendees each year.

“The National Mustard Museum … gives (people) a story, a hilarious memory, introduces them to an actual 7,000-jar world of something they took for granted each day, and brings out the wonder in visitors of any age,” Olson continued in the nomination letter. “Barry’s innocent and altruistic love for making people happy is the secret sauce to his success. And his success isn’t defined by money; it’s decades of doing something he loves and inviting others to experience it too.”

The National Mustard Museum continues to serve as one of the community’s signature attractions, introducing generations of visitors to the history, culture and joy surrounding the “King of Condiments.”