Things to Do in Menomonie WI
Traveling through Wisconsin by bus has opened my eyes to cities along the way that are interesting, and great to visit, even without a car. One of those bus stops as I was making my way from Minneapolis to Eau Claire was Menomonie. During that bus ride, I didn’t get to walk around Menomonie but saw a bit of the downtown area and the university from the bus. Little did I know, I’d get a chance to visit the city as part of a FAM trip from TBEX Eau Claire. Here’s how to spend a day in Menomonie Wisconsin.
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What is Wisconsin known for? Cheese. The cheese in Wisconsin is so good (US Standards, of course). Even fans of the state’s American Football Team are called Cheeseheads. I had to try this famous Wisconsin cheese during my trip, and luckily, the first stop on our tour was Ellsworth Cooperative Creamery, a co-op that produces cheese curds and various other cheesy products.
Ellsworth Creamery is in an industrial park on the outskirts of downtown Menomonie. You can see how they make cheese in various windows when you go in the store, but you may not be able to have a guide to tell you exactly what they’re doing. Since we were a group of travel writers who visited, we had a guide who worked in the creamery to tell us what they were working on through the windows.
The milk comes from 200+ producers, a low from the previous peak of 500+. The dairy industry (and farming in general), is slowly getting smaller, given the constraints with producing and making a livable income from the industry. It’s a sad but true dilemma we are now in. Fewer people want to farm and stay in more rural areas, and younger people prefer to migrate to families to make a living from more sedentary jobs (office jobs, more like). The milk from cows then gets processed into the cheese we love and enjoy.
American cheddar cheese is yellow, but that’s not the true color of cheese. Like milk, cheese products are typically white, with some cheeses dyed yellow to create distinctive cheese types, like cheddar. But don’t fear, the dye for cheddar comes from an organic product, so no artificial food coloring goes there!
After the tour of how cheese and curds are made at Ellsworth Cooperative, we then had a chance to browse the store. There was a charcuterie board set up where we sampled some of the cheese on offer. The store has a wide variety of products in the store aside from cheese and curds.
There are the branded Ellsworth Cooperative goodies ranging from toys, clothing, and home goods. Then you have the jams, chips, and other local food items that are great to stock your pantry with. There’s the obligatory meats and cheeses that you’ll add to a charcuterie board and ice cream! You can go to the cashier and try out locally-produced ice cream in a cup or a cone.
We got a chance to select items that we liked ($10 each), and I ended up with a cute little branded stuffed cow to bring home to my son. And of course, I can’t miss the cheese curds. I got a box of cheese curds to bring home, thanks to the Visit Eau Claire CVB, and they kept us well-fed with cheese constantly available during the TBEX conference in Eau Claire. I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend visiting this store or picking up any Ellsworth Cooperative cheese items in Wisconsin if you find it!
Situated at an old train depot, Brewery Nonic’s building has a very rich history to it. The owners wanted to build a craft brewery where they were from, Menomonie. The owners then found the building and fixed it up.
Nowadays, the brewery has indoor and outdoor spaces, with an outdoor fire pit for those colder nights. There are also a large number of rotating beers on tap, a lot of them are European-inspired. After our tour at Ellsworth, we went to Brewery Nonic and got two tickets each for an alcoholic beer. Brewery Nonic had a lot of beer on offer. I asked if I could get a sample flight instead of a pint, so I could try out different beers. The beer names are cool and original but makes it a bit harder to remember what types I got. Thank goodness for photos and the handy board that explains what types of beers are available that day.
Here are the beers I got:
Some of the beers available are seasonal. If you do visit, some of the items I have tried may not be available. For reference, we visited in July. Summer is one of the best times to visit this part of the United States.
When we got whisked to Lucette Brewing Company from Brewery Nonic, we didn’t know what to expect. We were ushered into the event space, and my word, it was pretty. There was a big wood oven located on the other end of the room. That wood-fired oven then cooked our pizzas, and on the other end was the bar. The bar has beer on tap, created locally, as well as non-alcoholic treats like root beer. There are so many to choose from that it’s hard to select just two.
The event area was set up like a beer hall in Germany. The hall had long wooden tables and chairs where big groups of people could gather to eat, and drink. I had a great time getting to know the fellow travel writers in our group, thanks to this stop.
Some of the places I mentioned in the sections below are only shown to us through the bus ride. Our host then gladly told us the history and other points of interest in the city.
C&J’s Candy Store is located on downtown’s main street. It sells candies and ice cream. It’s perfect for those who are traveling with little (and not-so-little) ones that need a reprieve and keep them occupied. They have vegan ice cream available. It’s perfect for those who are lactose intolerant but don’t want to miss out on the ice cream fun (like my husband). They also sell candy from all over the world. You might pick up a new favorite or a previous one you tried before.
When you drive through the main street (or coming in from the Coach USA bus from Minneapolis), one of the first things you’ll see as you exit to Menomonie from the interstate is a big lake. Lake Menomin is huge, and there are multiple picnic areas and boat launch sites dotted around the lake. It’s also a reservoir for fresh water in the area. It’s worth strolling around the lake for a bit just to have a bit of peace and quiet before moving on to the next destination on the day trip.
You won’t miss this beautiful building called the Mabel Tainter if your bus just rolls into Menomonie. The theater looks like a castle from the outside. It was originally built in the Victorian Era (late 1880s) by a lumber baron who lost his teenage child to an illness. While in the city and there are shows, go get a ticket so you can view the ornate interior. I didn’t have time to look indoors since our tour didn’t technically include a stop at the theater. I mostly gawked at it from the road and managed to take photos when we passed by the downtown area.
The theater offers tours on Fridays and Saturdays between 12 PM to 3 PM, with the last tour leaving at 2:30 PM. If you can’t make the tour times, you can visit the speakeasy at the basement of the theater, open from Thursdays to Saturdays from 4:30 PM onwards.
The Devil’s Punchbowl Preserve is a beautiful natural site highlighted by a waterfall and a small creek running through the middle of the ravine. It is a quick hike out to see the waterfall. It’s less than a mile round trip, and you can go down to the creek below using stairs. I wish our trip included a stop here. This seems like a must-see if you are in Menomonie (and if you have a car). It reminds me a lot of the Devil’s Millhopper in Gainesville, which has the same waterfall and sinkhole feel and shares the devil reference in the name.
Did you know that Menomonie has its own sculpture tour? Done in collaboration with Eau Claire’s sculpture tour, there’s a total of 7 sculptures dotted around the city. Head on over to the Explore Menomonie website to get the addresses where the sculptures are. You can also see them virtually through photos on the site.
Surprisingly, for a small town, there are plenty of things to do in Menomonie, Wisconsin. Ranging from foodie options to arts and culture, and nature. Let me know if I forgot anything on the list, or if you have any other suggestions. Hopefully, this post helped convince you to visit Menomonie if you happen to be in the area!
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