Fond du Lac (transplants, living in, prices)

[formerfondygirl]

I moved to Fond du Lac in 5th grade. I just remember how excited my class was that I was from Iowa. I think I was one of the only kids to move from out of state. I made friends quickly. However, it was much harder for my mom. She hated it. Eventually, she made friends with the neighbors, who are all from out of state. People were nice to her, but no one wanted to be friends. My parents have lived there 20 years now and we will always be from Iowa. People still remember me as being from Iowa and I was born in Green Bay. I now live in Minnesota and have been here 10 years. People are much friendlier. My neighbors are half MN natives and half out of staters. Most of my friends are local St. Paul people and they have been nothing but nice. They just tease me from being from Wisconsin, which is funny because everyone in Wisconsin thinks I'm from Iowa.

There is a lot of drinking in Fond du Lac, but my parents find things to do that don't involve bars. Mostly they are drinking wine with the neighbors. Ha! Looking at it, all of their best friends are not from Fond du Lac. Also, Fond du lac has the worst restaurants. It drives me crazy. It’s so hard to find a good meal. However, we’re pretty spoiled in a big city.

I have to agree that Fondy isn't the friendliest and is very narrow minded. It's sort of stifling. There's no excitement or desire to learn. When I go back, I feel like I'm in a time warp. Personally, I need to live somewhere with more variety. It's not a bad place and I don’t think people are mean on purpose. They just don’t know what it’s like to be an outsider. The city is not for everyone. That goes for any city. I have family that hates the Twin Cities, they think it's expensive, too big, there’s no Friday Night Fish Frys and bartenders don’t know how to make a good Old Fashion. HA!

[WisconsinNative]

I've never been terribly impressed with FdL, but some of the comments I've read here have suprised me. It's not really such a bad town and there are things to do for all ages, though a little research might be needed. And not everything is centered around drinking, hunting, or the Packers although many might be. Fondefender listed quite a few in a post on the first page. As someone said it's centrally located so it's easy to travel to other places. The Little Farmer during apple season is quite a popular place.

There are surprisingly quite a large number of good restaurants in the area, including a few north of town on Hwy 151.

As far as "not belonging", that feeling is common for people who grew up in one area and have moved to another. Part of that is "cultural shock". One has a different "history" from those around you, beliefs are different. I felt it in Texas. When I shared my experience at a meeting, a businessman who had moved from Virginia to Wisconsin said he completely understood. Why do you think people of similiar backgrounds group together in a new environment? It really had nothing to do with people being unfriendly.

Friendships (or lack thereof)? If you are looking for deep friendships, they are developed over time through shared experiences and beliefs as well as shared interests. Sometimes the best we can hope for is friendly relationships.

Diversity? There are blacks, Mexicans, and Hmongs in Fond du Lac. Even Middle Easterners. Perhaps they are not that visible, but they do exist.

I was born and raised in a small village just north of Fond du Lac, attended high school in New Holstein and lived in Oshkosh while doing my undergrad studies. I lived in the greater Dallas area for my grad studies, then worked in a small town in deep east Texas. I've been living in Tehran for nearly 30 years now.

[KateDaum]

Agree with your post about not belonging. This is our 1st winter here. Reading this board last year people whined about the long winter, the lack of friendly people. But I wonder how many get out and participate in events in the area. We travelled to Door County/Green Bay last week end. This week end we are looking at going to Wausau.
People need to get out of the house and do things. I have only been here 2 months but have made many friends. I have gone with 2 different families to their vacation homes. It is up to you to make it work.

[twin.spin]

Dear I Hate Fond du Lac,
If your husband has a $60,000 job and you hate it and would rather him flip burgers, may I be smitten with that and never recover!

Try being unemployed since Nov 2006, never had a job paying $30,000+, own a home, raise a family of 6 in a town of 7000.
Whats worse - neighbors drinking in the driveway, or my former neighbor; a woman having 4 kids by 4 different men, her kids knocking on your door begging for food. The youngest child (5yrs old) getting lock out of the house at night, crying because nobody is home to let her in. The woman having the Welfare dept come and taking her children away.
How would you like to have your town having 1% of the population being on the convicted sex offenders list? Where you aware that under WI law anyone convicted under the age 18 as a sex offender his\her identity is protected - even the public schools are not told of that information. What about that 17.5yr old who has a locker next to your daughter ---- what am I to do?

If anybody knows of a $60,000 job with perfect neighbors, a city with no drinking, no sex offenders--- PLEASE EMAIL ME ASAP directly! I'll take on your affliction- for your sake. In fact I'll give you $5000/year, not knowing what to do with extra $25,000.

[twin.spin]

Sorry,
I didn't mean to set too high of standard..................
If you have a $60,000\yr job with neighbors who drink in their driveway, I'll take that low quality of life..........
...............but then fences make good neighbors, I'll just force myself to have a $60,000 job................

[donew/FDL]

I am sorry to admit this, but I have come to really dislike FDL too. I have lived here 3 + years. We moved here from Shorewood WI. I have done my best to try to appreciate it's better aspects, to convince myself that I like it here, but can't deny it anymore, it's awful. We had moved here for my job and felt terrible about uprooting so I had a real vested interest in making this work, but the general mindset here is something unlike anywhere I have ever lived (Chicago and surrounding suburbs, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, Georgia, Nevada). The best I can come up with to descibe it is self-rightous intolerance of others. I know you can find that everywhere and that there are also some very nice people in FDL. However, the prevailing atmosphere of the "town" is not progressive, most hold fast to "the good ol' boys" way of thinking. The amount of taverns and drinking is gross. Thing is, most of those people wouldn't be reading this list serve, because they could care less what others think. Those that do read this are most likely the more conscientous folks from FDL, who I am not referring to. I wish I had some ideas for what helps a town become more open minded, to embrace diversity, but I don't. Right now I'm sure some are thinking "well, we DONT want to change" and so it is... I am looking forward to moving. As far as the drivers here, incredibly many drive well under the speed limit. Heaven forbid you try to legally pass them though, they will speed up, even exceed the speed limit just so you can't. What's that all about? I know there are plenty of crummy drivers everywhere, but once again I am referring to the overall general impression I have, FDL has more crummy drivers than what I would expect for a town this size.

[Mpla]

Thank God, I came across this post, worst place I have ever lived, racial and people say they are nice HA! poliet to your face maybe, SCHOOLS SUCK AND IF YOU ARE A MINORITY get out. We are on a moving count down!

[sb30]

I have lived in fond du lac for 8 years now. I have 5 beautiful children, and they love it here. No matter where you go something is going to cost more. I would rather raise my children in these schools and around these people than where i came from. As for being an outsider, When i Moved up here i didnt have a husband or family here. Life is what you make it not what people make it for you. You have to understand if you are not happy that was because of a choice you made. If you dont like Fond du Lac dont come back. We will still like it.

[hank morgan]

Shoot, I grew up visiting FDL and loved it there. My grandfather engineered the engine sitting at Lakeside Park. He also made a birdhouse, an exact replica of the bandstand where my aunt and uncle used to play in the summer there. There used to be an old carousel we rode as children. My grandparents lived on a short, quiet street where the boys played catch and we went swimming in the park a block away.

When in high school and visited, I walked across town a number of times to 9th street to my aunt's house.

Ahh, yes, I loved visiting FDL... .

[Lookout Kid]

Originally Posted by Oaklander

Fond du Lac isn't a bad little town, but it is a little town, a very small Midwestern city and doesn't offer much in the way of culture or intellectual stimulation. What do you expect?

Neither does 98% of Minnesota for that matter, and that's where the OP was from! We can assume that she isn't from the Twin Cities since she was complaining about the "high cost of living" in Fond du Lac .

I would never move to Fond du Lac myself, but bad water and high cost of living just seem like completely false reasons to hate the town. I love it when people project their own unhappiness on to a place and all of its residents. You see it a lot on the City-Data forums.