Mequon - things to do? (Milwaukee, Madison: houses, neighborhood, best school) - Wisconsin (WI) - City-Data Forum

leaving_chicago · 05-14-2018, 02:46 PM

We're considering a relocation from Chicago, and are currently exploring Madison and MKE as potential spots. We love the houses and large lots in Mequon (closer to the lake), and have a young elementary aged child so the great schools are a huge plus. BUT...what is there to do in Mequon? Are there any great restaurants/bars/amenities near by? Preferably farm-to-table/locally sourced. Same question about grocery stores/local boutiques -- are there many? We will obviously do some scouting to check out the area, but any tips would be great! We're used to driving upwards of 30 mins to go 4-5 miles in Chicago, but would prefer to not have to drive to MKE every weekend.

We also have been looking at Whitefish Bay and Shorewood, but those property taxes...yowch!

damba · 05-14-2018, 05:40 PM

See my other post. The stuff you crave is generally not in Mequon

Milwaukee City · 05-14-2018, 07:55 PM

Ok local Mequon expert here, Mequon surprisingly has a lot of things to do. The best Nepalese food in the city is in Mequon, the best falafel in the city is in Mequon. Year after year the best or 2nd best school system in the state, very low property taxes, always rising home values, extremely safe. I will say this as a affluent city you do have a lot of stay home moms so there is a lot of things to do but sometimes they are during the day in the middle of the week. IE the farmers market, it's on Tuesdays from 9-3, clearly not geared towards those who work all day. A few places close at 5 which makes us 2 D.I.N.K.S hard to get to during the week. Nightlife, not much but this city of 25,000 has great restaurants and golf courses with great social memberships as well.

The Milwaukee river runs through it, so there is fishing and kayaking there as well. A ton of wildlife here, because of it's rural/estate setup there is plenty of space for deer, turkeys and coyotes. Depending where you live in Mequon Cedarburg is a great little picturesque town with a lot of little shops and antique shops and restaurants and only a few minute drive. The quality of people here is great, people are so friendly and respectful, being a more wealthy town it's not snob town like River Hills or Chenequa might be, even the blue collar people in Mequon carry themselves very well and you won't run into too many jerks at all. It acts more like a small town than a suburb which I did not expect when I moved here 3 years ago. There is a lot of neighborhood groups on nextdoor and facebook that have get togethers an people offer help and where to find it.

People always described Mequon as lacking a community feel because when you drive through it, it's so spread out and everyone drives everywhere but that's an opinion from people who don't live here. It's surprisingly close knit. There is a great bike trail where you will always run into neighbors and most subdivisions have connector trails linking the subdivisions so there is no need to bike or walk on busy streets. It's a really busy biking city, the ozaukee interurban trail links up with the Oak leaf trail and Sheboygan's trail as well. There is a nice hockey rink here and a summer league baseball team as well. A ton of hospital services and investment firms and to no surprise of anyone a lot of plastic surgery places as well. The "Northshore Nancy's" need some places to go too

It's a great town and I moved here not knowing anything about Mequon, I just moved here for the 1-5 acre minimum lot sizes and low property taxes. I didn't think I would like it as much but I love it. One thing that does suck, is lack of big box stores, Mequon doesn't allow any. So for Target, Home Depot Meijer's or Costco you have to go to Grafton or Germantown/Meno Falls which is a 15 min drive either way you go. We do have good grocery store options though as well as an Outpost which has great organic and wholesome foods and supplies. We have a lot of good food eatery's and not a lot of fast food.

Mequon is the size of San Francisco or Boston with a population of 25,000 so there is plenty of space to roam as well as the Mequon Nature preserve and a ton of parks and nature areas. Plus Gathering on the Green every year.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mequon,_Wisconsin

leaving_chicago · 05-15-2018, 06:52 AM

So you do find there is a sense of community, even though it's somewhat spread out? We want our 7 year old to be able to make friends and spend time with them. At the moment he can have conversations with the little girl two houses down from us by yelling to her over our fence ��. I want to make sure that, wherever we move, there are young families that spend time outside getting to know each other...

brrabbit · 05-15-2018, 12:15 PM

Things to do in Mequon ? Live quiet private life on your piece of land.
If bored, drive to Milwaukee or Chicago for a day worth of fun and do so until tired.
Repeat.

Whitefish Bay for its taxes keeps a title as "best school district in WI". It may be worth a few pennies if you have kids of a school age. Besides, it has its appeal.

Shorewood is nice in its own way. Mostly because you don't have to drive to Milwaukee to have fun (and its school system is as good as it gets I heard).

To each his own - I am big fan of Wfb, but I happen to have children of school age.

damba · 05-15-2018, 02:58 PM

I guess some of us get bored quicker than others

Vegabern · 05-16-2018, 10:04 AM

Mequon is a little too sleepy for me. Plus I wouldn't like all that driving.

Have you considered Bayside or Fox Point? Their lots are a little larger lots than WFB or Shorewood and are a little closer to Milwaukee. They definitely feel like suburbs but not as remote as Mequon.

For what it's worth, we love Shorewood. Our kids are close to the same age as yours and they're outside playing with neighborhood kids every day after school.

brrabbit · 05-16-2018, 11:37 AM

The beauty of Mequon is in low taxes. Fox Point / Bay Side have arguably higher taxes than Whitefish Bay / Shorewood.

Vegabern · 05-16-2018, 12:32 PM

According to this

https://patch.com/wisconsin/milwauke...village-ranked

Here are the highest tax burden city/villages out of 596

5. Brown Deer
27. Shorewood
57. Bayside
70. Fox Point
95. River Hills
250. Whitefish Bay
578. Mequon

I had no idea what the taxes were like in Mequon. I never considered living there. I have a good friend who grew up in Mequon and didn't care for it. She says it was ok just kind of boring and too far from things. She now lives in Shorewood.

leaving_chicago · 05-16-2018, 01:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vegabern

Mequon is a little too sleepy for me. Plus I wouldn't like all that driving.

Have you considered Bayside or Fox Point? Their lots are a little larger lots than WFB or Shorewood and are a little closer to Milwaukee. They definitely feel like suburbs but not as remote as Mequon.

For what it's worth, we love Shorewood. Our kids are close to the same age as yours and they're outside playing with neighborhood kids every day after school.

This is what we want!! I think we're pretty much sold on Shorewood or WFB...it's just a matter of finding the house we want at the time that we are ready to make the move...