Tell me what you know: Rice Lake, Ladysmith, Hayward (Eau Claire: Home Depot, employment)

[Great Lakes Pirate]

Hi. Ladysmith/Hayward/Rice Lake and surrounding: How are these areas for living? Schools? Recreation? Employment? whatever you can tell me... I'd like to hear.

Thanks!

[dreamhunter65]

Schools and recreation in Ladysmith is good.Ski hill and tubing near by,snowmobiling,hunting fishing,boating,water skiing.Parks ok in summer have Mardi Gras and county fair.
I just heard one of our big employers is laying off 100 people as housing market so slow windows and doors not going so well.
Trucking,logging and such still strong.
Smaller than the others looking at but Hayward more of a summer tourist town.
I know a little about Rice Lake but unsure on schools and employment there,but bigger town and not far from Eau Claire and such.
Need any more info on Ladysmith just DM me will answer what I can.

[Great Lakes Pirate]

thanks DH.
Can you or any others from that neck of the woods say anything about Housing costs? Like, what's a 3br, out-of-town on an acre or so run?

[dreamhunter65]

Talking buying a place anywhere between 75,000 - 125,000 some good places. Send ya a DM on where to look.

[powerfulpup]

Rice Lake is a fairly small town (about 9000 ppl) but it is the "big" town in the area. It has Wal-Mart, Menards (Target and Home Depot rumors, but who really knows), Applebees, Pizza Hut, all those types of eating places... a lot of stuff. It has a mall too, but the mall is kinda a joke. Based on the size of Rice Lake I'd say the odds of find work are better there, but I'm just guessing. I haven't lived there for awhile. As someone else mentioned, it is only an hour from Eau Claire, which is a decent sized town, and plenty of people commute that hour for work. Its all on a 65 mph hwy, so it goes pretty quickly if you ask me.

If you have no job, and nothing of that type lined up right now I'd give the nod to Rice Lake for the convenience it offers of various stores and shops, and greater job availability. Its easy to get a job that'll get you by while you wait for something better to come along anyway... Good luck to you!

[Flushingbride]

Ladysmith is the county seat of Rusk County. It has the highest unemployment rate in the state of Wisconsin. But I was born & raised here so I have learned to live with the depressed state of our economy. It is actually a pretty city but due to ancient ideas on growth it has not expanded much.