Elmwood, WI

Elmwood sits along the Eau Galle River in western Pierce County, in a valley of farm fields, wooded slopes, and small roads between the Twin Cities and Eau Claire. The village’s post office has operated since 1885, and local tradition says the name came from a grove of elm trees near the original town site. That gives Elmwood an old-fashioned beginning, but the village has also made room for one of Wisconsin’s more unusual civic traditions: UFO Days, a four-day festival held each July since 1978.

The festival grew from reports of strange lights and encounters around the area in the 1970s, and it has become a fundraiser for the Elmwood Area Community Club, with proceeds returning to local projects. That playful streak sits alongside the ordinary institutions of a village: an Eau Galle River setting, a K–12 school, a downtown gathering area, and the roads that connect Pierce County’s western communities. The 2020 census counted 820 residents. Elmwood works because both sides of its identity are genuine — the river valley and old post office on one side, the flying-saucer parade and summer festival on the other.