Clear Lake, WI

Clear Lake is a Polk County village on U.S. 63, sitting beside the Town of Clear Lake and linking northwest Wisconsin's lake country to the Twin Cities. The village park covers 260 acres and holds two small lakes, a boat launch, beach, camping, trails, shelters, a softball field, and an archery course. That park is the clearest landmark on the local map, tying the village's homes and businesses to the surrounding water and woods.

The village's other strong thread is memory. The Clear Lake Area Historical Museum keeps the local stories of Senator Gaylord Nelson and Baseball Hall of Famer Burleigh Grimes, while the cemetery's All-Veteran's Memorial commemorates about 1,700 area veterans on six granite monuments. Heritage Days brings a parade, street dance, demolition derby, carnival, and other homegrown rituals each June. Clear Lake also has an industrial park and main-street businesses, so the town's map includes work, school, recreation, and veterans' history, with the park and U.S. 63 holding it together.