There are so many things to do in Hayward Wisconsin, most of which solely depend on your budget, and purpose of travel.
Hayward is a small city located in Alameda County, California, in the East Bay subregion of the San Francisco Bay Area. Smaller cities have a charisma about them you won’t find in larger cities.
Make a list of all the fun things to see and do in Hayward before you travel so you can have a memorable travel experience.
Thus, today you’re going to find out what really makes Hayward tick and the very best things to do in Hayward, WI for fun.
Best & Fun Things to Do in Hayward, WI
Below are the best things to do in Hayward, WI.
1. Freshwater Fishing Hall of Fame
The six-acre plot, developed in 1960, is home to the Freshwater Fishing Hall of Fame. Although, the construction continued until seven buildings covering an area of 25,000 square feet were erected in 1976.
The Freshwater Fishing Hall of Fame is an American hall of fame in Hayward, WI, dedicated to promoting freshwater fishing.
This hall of fame hosts about 10,000 visitors every year, and it’s best known for one of its buildings, a jaw-dropping Muskie statue that measures a thumping length of 143 feet, making it the world’s most giant muskie sculpture.
The lower jaw of this fish serves as an observation deck for up to 20 individuals and is at times used as an event space as well. The museum itself is home to exhibitions featuring 400 mounted fish and 300 freestanding outboard motors.
Individuals are often inducted into the Hall of Fame. The induction is in four categories; Enshrinement Programs, Legendary Anglers, Fishing Guide Recognition, and Organization Recognition.
There have been 78 individuals inducted as Legendary Anglers for their impact on at least a regional level, 68 individuals under the Enshrinement Program for their national and world effect on freshwater fishing, 24 organizations for their contributions to the sport, and 15 for their work in the field as fishing guides.
2. Out-of-the-woods Winery
Founded by Richard Halajcsik and was initially named the Hook Stone Winery, which had a long and successful run until the name was later changed and saved from being forgotten by the MacLaughlin Family after the death of the previous manager in January 2017.
It became rebranded and was named Out-in-the-Woods Winery.
Out of the Woods Winery is a MacLaughlin Family collaboration. Presently, they offer wine tasting from their vast selection of worldwide cedars, delicious wines, and meads- by the glass or by the bottle.
They have HookStone wines in stock and a selection of wine, cider, and mean from Wisconsin, California, Germany, France, Italy, and Argentina.
They also offer nibbles and a small food menu for those who feel impish. They also have a selection of olive oil, gourmet chocolates, and balsamic vinegar to sample and purchase.
They provide great wines, great food, and great company, all for a great price. You can always stop by and check out their take on life’s simple pleasures.
3. Wilderness Walk Zoo and Recreational Park
Keeping your children entertained should be one of your priorities when visiting Hayward. Wilderness Walk is a family-oriented, fun day.
You can take the trail around the park to see all kinds of Wisconsin wild animals, plus exotic species like the Siberian Tiger, ring-tailed lemur, and more in natural setting cages. All the white deer roam around freely throughout the park and varieties of birds and waterfowl.
You could also visit the farmyard and enjoy and even feed all kinds of domestic farm animals, both large and small. On the backside of this attractive park is an informational walking trail, where you get to see the fawns and more deer roaming in the woods.
The western town area is also a picnic area, with a video arcade, maze, and even a mystery house for everyone to enjoy. There is also a boardwalk filled with a museum of a blacksmith shop, country store, undertaker, taxidermist, seamstress, and of course, “the jail.”
A playground with swings, a sandbox, and swing bridge towers would offer the kids a place to have fun. Visit the Wilderness Walk Zoo and Western town and experience the animals close up and all the fun.
4. Scheer’s Lumberjack Show
Located on the bay of Lake Hayward, the Lumberjack village is an enjoyable place to spend some family vacation time. The Scheer’s Lumberjack Show is a lovely family entertainment show with world-class athletes performing ten different events. It is a combination of history, sports, and comedy.
The Lumberjack show is performed in the Lumberjack Bowl, the same arena used by the Lumberjack World Championships, which is located one mile east of Hayward on Highway B; you will surely know you have arrived when you see the towering climbing poles.
The show thrill audiences with events as seen in the ESPN Great Outdoor Games.
The Hayward early show opens late in May, and the late-season continues to early September, with five shows per week in peak season.
You can do well to plan your visit around an afternoon or evening lumberjack show or stop by to enjoy lunch and dinner, or maybe engage in playing 18 holes of mini-golf, and then treat yourself to a double scoop at the Namekagon Cone.
With facts, there is plenty to do at Scheer’s Lumberjack Village. This village is an excellent place to visit if you want a nice family vacation day.
5. Park Theater
The Park Theater is a regional performing arts center in Hayward, offering various musical and artistic performances. This theatre was built in 1948. It was known as Whitten Park and served as a gateway to Hayward for over sixty years.
Historically, it had always been a movie theatre, with its first-ever showing being the Technicolor film “Romance on the High Seas.” Still, it became reorganized as a performing arts center in 2007.
Notwithstanding, the theatre has been rebranded and promoting arts for the past ten years by providing a central and home base for local performance groups. They particularize in educating the community about the importance of arts, especially in embracing multi-cultural themes and ideas.
The Park Theater possesses a state-of-the-art digital audio board with live recording capabilities. The high-end sound system renders quality sound for live events and high-quality live 32-track recording capabilities for the artists.
Though, the theatre is now often used to exhibit local visual arts. Some famous artists who’ve performed in the park include Randy Sabien, Michael Gulezian, and Charlie Parr.
6. Northwood’s Humane Society
At Northwood’s Humane Society (NHS), they have made it a commitment to providing a sheltered and caring home for abandoned and unwanted animals, that is, to find them the perfect forever home they deserve.
For about 30 years, the society has been serving the animals and people of the county and the surrounding areas.
The NHS initially began as an unsheltered humane society, entirely depending on foster homes to serve the animals in need. In reaction to the increasing number of animals that needed housing, the organization built its shelter building outside of Hayward, Wisconsin, opening debt-free in 1996.
In 2018, the society was voted the 8th Humane Society in Wisconsin in the top 10 list compiled by American Towns Media.
The Humane Society works inexhaustibly to train and socialize timid and naughty animals where necessary and provide medical care to bring them back to total health and increase pet success in a home situation.
The purpose of humane society continues to grow and respond to the needs set before them, especially educating humans on animals’ proper and humane treatment.
Northwood’s Humane society actively promotes responsible pet ownership, accentuating the need for castrating and sterilizing pets. The humane society is excited to accept volunteers to help run such significant allegiance.
The organization also runs its fabulous thrift shop which provides its primary source of income.
7. Spider Lake Lodge Bed and Breakfast
Spider Lake Lodge creates a casual and romantic atmosphere, and a Northwoods Lodge Flair, which was built by hand in 1923 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the lodge comprises eight distinctively designed guest accommodations split between two levels.
The main level of the guest accommodation consists of four guest suites plus the Kitchen, Great Room, Living Room, and Lake Porch, while the lower level consists of two guest suites and two guest rooms plus the Club Room and Sauna.
All the guest accommodations comfortably sleep two people. There is also a Ted’s Treehouse Cabin and Carriage House Cabin, which provide even more space for those who desire it.
The lodge provides a unique, casual, and romantic lodging experience in an authentic, beautiful, and historic log lodge.
There is no opportunity for service or daily maid service, but when met by the keeper of the lodge upon your arrival, be sure to expect a friendly greeting and a story or two, and also, a favorite combination for a good dinner.
Accommodations are also available in comfortable log cabins with access to a swimming beach. While the lodge offers some means of amusement, like kayak/canoe rentals and sunset campfires, the load is for you to keep yourself busy and entertained.
After you have enjoyed some of the best the area has to offer, we invite you to return to the lodge to a comfortable bed and a hearty breakfast the next day.
8. Golf Capital of Wisconsin
Hayward, WI, is not just about fishing, but it is also forward about casual and professional golfing. With its nine trimmed and groomed golf courses spread across a 30-mile range, the city wins its nickname as the Golf Capital of Wisconsin.
They have some of the finest Midwest golf courses here in Wisconsin, including the age-old gangster courses, a Pete Dye course, a historical course with the Scottish influence, natural courses with the environment, traditional and modern courses, and family-run courses with superb customer service.
The courses are set amongst the natural beauty of the Northwoods, with its wide-open skies, calm and serene lakes, and abundant wildlife. You will surely experience breath-taking wooded fairways, rolling hills, majestic northern pines, and beautiful lake views.
Just so you know, whatever your skill levels, you will indeed find a course to match it here, with the best part being the excellent value. With diverse choices, you can either play a quick round or have a challenge in the championship course.
The famous golf clubs in Hayward include the Hayward Golf Club and the Big Fish Golf Club. The former also sponsors the Hayward Open, a two-day annual event organized at the start of summer.
If you are ever in the mood to tee off or spot a budding Tiger Woods and you are around Wisconsin, Hayward is the best place for you.
9. The Moccasin Bar
Hayward is also a famous hunting town many tourists do not realize until the end of their trip. It is hard to miss this in the Moccasin bar, with its unapologetic celebration of fishing and wildlife taxidermy.
This bar is also where the locals brag about their hunting feats amongst chips, inexpensive drinks, and super-fast service.
The bar is home to the world’s third-largest “muskie” the bar also has a great zoo of taxidermized animals getting up to all manners of noisy merrymaking.
Among the many scenes enclosed in the glass boxes that cover nearly every inch of the bar’s wall are a woodland poker game with a cheating rabbit, a courtroom with a judicial wolf as judge, and even a boxing scene that see a beaver declaring the winner.
The bar is the best-loved by the local anglers who are always trying to hook a fish that will knock the Moccasin’s prize catch down to the third-largest in the world.
With cheap drinks, and nearly every kind of small forest animal stuffed and mounted, the only thing the Moccasin Bar doesn’t provide for its patrons is pink elephants.
10. Angler’s Bar and Grill
Boasting a rich history as a premier spot in Hayward, the Angler’s Bar and Grill was established in the early 1930s by the Johnson Brothers; Cully, Oscar, and Buck.
The original anglers featured a lower-level basement bar and an upper-level gas station and garage. In 1936, the gas station was renovated into a bar and bowling alley, which is still present today.
In 1977, the Fuller Brothers, Larry, Alan, and Brian bought this historic building. And in 1978, construction began on the outdoor beer garden and increased indoor seating availability.
Since then, there have been continuous expansion, remodeling, and renovations to create the current Angler’s Bar and Grill.
Then in 2017, the bar and grill were then Pat and Billie Sabin for their thirtieth anniversary, and they now run it with the hope of continuing the rich legacy of the Angler’s name.
hey sell delectable and juicy burgers, homemade pizzas, and specialty Mexican dishes, and they cater to many tastes and preferences.
11. Cable Natural History Museum
The Cable Natural History Museum is an aquarium mixed with a zoo. It provides a home for reptiles, amphibians, and many other exciting birds of prey.
With that born curiosity to know, children will undoubtedly love this museum. It has virtual tours for animals unavailable in the museum and a naturalist learning program for adults.
Naturalist-led hikes, river, and forest explorations, bird watching, engaging lectures, and even live raptor programs are just a few of the educational experiences they provide to residents, visitors, and vacationers in the Cable Area.
Also, with the museum housing a collection of Northwood natural history with over 4000 specimens – you will be sure to see some wildlife during your visit.
You can bring your family over to the Wayside Wanderings Natural Play Area to delve into the short trails, play amongst the trees, and also check out the Treehouse.
Also, do not forget to pay a visit to the Museum Gift Shop, where you will find items for nature lovers of all ages, including games and puzzles, puppets, reference guides, toys, maps, books, cards, jewelry, and more.
12. Sherman and Ruth Weiss Community Library
The Sherman and Ruth Weiss Community Library is a publicly funded and managed library. The library is magnificent, and it’s a place where both adults and children can enjoy some quiet reading amongst the bounty of nature.
As a tourist, the last place you are likely to feel inclined to visit is a small-town public library, but this library has a few magic tricks up its sleeve; this includes outdoor movie night, the closest thing to a drive-in in this millennium.
This community library serves about 12,000 residents, with the library’s collection containing about 33,873 volumes and the circulation of 129,360 items per year.
The library always welcomes people of all ages to feed their lives through educational and leisure activities.
They provide books, audiobooks, magazines and newspapers, movies, access to online databases – including help with resumes and job searches, free Wi-Fi, 11 computers for the public, summer reading and other great community programs, and so much more.
13. Downtown Hayward
Situated in a central location and heart of Hayward, you will find a prosperous downtown lined with booming businesses, vibrant arts, and the deep roots of the town’s rich history.
Tourists and residents alike enjoy the small-town atmosphere that touts big-city benefits – making it a unique haven for family fun, fine dining, fantastic shopping, exciting nightlife entertainment, and more.
Tourists are tied to familiarizing themselves with Hayward’s downtown area during the weekend visit, and the results are not bad at all.
Whether you are passing through with the family or coming into town to make exciting memories with friends, you’ll indeed find what you are precisely looking for here in Hayward.
The downtown at Hayward is the best of various mixes of vintage and designer boutiques, charming antique shops, and fishing equipment. Downtown Hayward is also a place to quickly get a fuss-free plate of fish and chips.
14. Sawyer’s County Fairs
Hayward has its local county fair in the Sawyer County fair that runs every summer in August.
This yearly Sawyer County Fair encourages education, agriculture, the arts, and entertainment through an annual fair and associated events, with this fair being in existence for over a hundred years.
Families, youths, and adults can enjoy different programs and activities that promote cheerful child and young adult development.
The fair showcases all the must-have small-town attractions. It hosts a rigorous list of amusement parks, agriculture displays, live music, animals exhibit, delicious food, funnel cakes, campfires during summer and barbeque, and lots of bonhomie among locals and tourists.
15. Quiet Lake Crawl
You can also consider getting an hour’s worth of quiet contemplation time, perhaps visiting Hayward’s “quiet lakes.” In this peaceful lake, they do not allow any form of water sports and hence offer a more lonesome atmosphere.
You can have this solitary experience at Teal Lake, Ghost-lake, and Lost Land Lake in Hayward. Try this for yourself, and you may find it easier to go home with a deep sense of peace, the kind that nature gifts through its absolute bounty.
16. Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest
If you feel influenced to reach more into nature, you can visit the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest. This forest is a monolithic spread of 1.5 million acres of wooded land in Wisconsin, and the small city of Hayward has access to a notable portion of it.
The Forest Service manages the land for multiple uses, including forestry, wildlife habitat, outdoor recreation, special forest products gathering, fisheries, wilderness, and natural areas.
The forest park provides a mountain fire lookout tower to take in the magnificent sights, a forty-acre cathedral pine grove, and plenty of lake whiskers with fishing holes to celebrate its wilderness.
17. Farmstead Creamery and Café – Barn-Housed Bakery
If going about with nature has left you hungry and you are not momentarily craving fish, then you can get to the Farmstead Creamery and Café. At Farmstead Creamery and Café, they are committed to the best of local foods, building community, and fostering creativity.
The café is an agreeably surprising farm-to-table restaurant located inside an actual barn. It makes delicious traditional cuisine like salad, gelato, wood-fired pizza, pie, and plenty of sugary treats to keep you warm.
The goodies from the French-certified chef are indeed unique, making this of Hayward’s most popular food joints.
Our E-store is a go-to place for online orders, and it is also populated with 1000+ items updated daily. Don’t worry because the platform is straightforward to use, and you can pre-order fresh greens, sheep’s milk gelato and A2 cheese and diary, smartly sourced organic produce, and more.
18. American Birkebeiner
In February every year, running for about 45 years annually, loosely 10,000 skiers take part in the Birkie skiing event. The Birkie Trail System in Wisconsin stretches along 100+ diverse kilometers, enticing professional and amateur athletes and letting them participate in its feats.
It is the largest, longest, and most popular North American cross-country skiing race, and it’s made up of two distinct parts; a 55km classic race and a slightly shorter 50km freestyle event. One of the main features of the Birkie race is that it symbolizes a survival situation.
To participate, skiers must carry a pack containing the equivalent weight of an eighteen-month-old child and other food, warm clothing, and survival gear, which marks this event different from other standard races.
19. Angry Minnow Brew Pub and Restaurant
An 1889-built restaurant and brewery offering a casual dining experience, the Angry Minnow takes pride in the heritage of its building and the service that it can provide in this modern day.
This bar offers a selection of their finest homemade beers, from Honey Wheat to McStukie’s Scotch Ale.
In the meantime, their snug restaurant offers a diverseness of frequently changing dishes at lunchtime and dinner time to excite or tease the grouchiest of taste buds, with daily specials available as well.
The property itself has a number of its original features, including the original exposed walls, archways, and high ceilings that were desirable in properties at its creation.
20. Runamuk Rides
Are you looking for an activity to engage in during winter?
What do you think of an exciting, adrenaline-filled northern Wisconsin snowmobile excursion?
Whether you are a hardcore rider or just out for a leisurely trip through the thick forest coursed with miles and miles of winding trail, we can suggest specific routes, stops, and equipment.
At Runamuk Rides, you are offered guided and unguided excursions that are a perfect activity to increase your family vacation, couples getaway retreat, family reunions, or corporate events.
They will ensure that you and your group have fun. They will also help find suitable accommodations and restaurants and recommend various on and off trails and water activities.