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Old and New Asian Food

After going quiet in late 2025, the small stand that historically housed The Short Stop and Rosy’s Tacos, a new sign announced a new restaurant on North Bridge Street. There has been a string of Asian eateries here, almost on an annual cadence. Ku’s Korean was followed by Temptasians (now located in Market on River), then House of Egg Rolls, which offered unique items for Chippewa Falls like Angel Wings and Hmong sausage along with Boba tea. Unfortunately, that business lasted less than a year and appears to be making way for The Teriyaki Bowl.

An Asian staple further south on Bridge Street, Mahli Thai also folded recently. At least, the new sign for The Teriyaki Bowl, shows sign of hope for the coming season of summer eating.

References:

Smiling Egg Rolls on Bridge Street

Food Trucks Return in Force

Since the food truck craze came to the Chippewa Valley in recent years, it has peaked in the warm months and gone a little dormant in winter. That said, trucks can be found in the dead of winter, like when On The Hook Fish and Chips appeared in the (now empty) Family Fare lot last December during single-digit weather.

In fact, if there is a new trend, it is seafood pop-ups. These aren’t necessarily locals like the regular vendors who have been selling tacos, burgers, sweets, bbq, egg rolls and sandwiches here for years. Cousins Maine Lobster, out of Minneapolis, showed up at DQ on Park Avenue in Chippewa Falls last weekend across town from Bubble’s BBQ, a staple vendor at Leinie Lodge. While Bubble’s entrees range from about $9-13, Cousins’ Lobster Rolls cost $26 with lower cost options like Lobster and Tots or Lobster Quesadilla at $22. Still a line formed for what Chippewa Vallians likely saw as an exotic treat. I only bought some Tots for $6 and received a generous portion.

Food trucks will be regularly featured at Leinie Lodge, River Bend Winery, Autumn Harvest Winery as well as many Farmers Markets, Fairs and events like BBQ Fest this coming season.

https://volumeone.org/articles/2026/04/16/386838-smoke-sizzle-summer-vibes-bbq-fest-is-back

Gordy’s Delayed End

Update: April 2. Family Fare closes on April 3, 2026.

After years of a grocery store on the Southwest corner of Grand Avenue and Bay Street in Chippewa Falls, the delayed fate of Gordy’s is coming to an end, at least for now. A smaller supermarket named The National preceded Gordy’s IGA, which expanded multiple times, resulting in the demolition of the Carnegie Library and the later closure of a block of Grand Avenue to improve parking.

When Gordy’s took on excessive debt to distributor Spartan Nash, the store went up for sale, only being saved for a few years by the takeover by Spartan Nash and conversion to Family Fare. Competition from Festival Foods which built an up-to-date store in 2023 on Chippewa Crossing Boulevard had an immediate negative effect on business downtown and the other Family Fare located near Lake Wissota closed recently. The downtown store’s closure was announced in February with a possible end date in April. As of March 2026, 20% discounts are running throughout the store and merchandise is closing out fast. It has been a slow-motion collapse since Gordy’s County Market operated stores across the state and also in Chippewa Commons which has been converted to storage by U-Haul. Down the street, long running Sokup’s market still brings in business on a small scale, but no other convenient downtown supermarket is left or forthcoming.

https://www.weau.com/2026/02/11/spartanash-lay-off-57-workers-family-fare-chippewa-falls/

Festival Opens Friday

South Side Drive-In Root Beer

2025 brought the long awaited debut of Dave’s Drive-In in Chippewa Falls which serves sandwiches, sides and, to no one’s surprise, root beer. Maryann’s Root Beer once stood on this spot on Elm Street, but it was not the only historical stand of its kind in town.

Falls Drive-In once stood on the South Side of town at 605 Park Avenue. I was lucky enough to grab a couple of black and white photos of it around 1997 before it disappeared forever. It is listed in the 1958 Phone Book and as late as the 1993 phone book. The owners, Howard Flint is listed as the owner in 1984 and his granddaughter posted family photos on Facebook from 1963 at the stand. She said Howard and wife Marie owned the stand and it appeared to be a great hangout for kids. A few social media commenters also refer to the stand as Tubby’s.

I had to edit the above picture heavily because of the quality of the original scan. It appears to be from a newspaper article from the 1980s. If someone has this photo in good shape, let me know. Like the photo, the stand fell into disrepair and was torn down shortly after I snapped my photos. In 2019, a new roadside restaurant called Anderson’s Chic-N-Fish was built and is still running as of 2026. Anderson’s offers fair foods like cotton candy, fried entrees and elephant ears.

Anderson’s Chic-N-Fish under construction in 2019

Root Beer Stand

https://volumeone.org/articles/2025/08/06/368731-daves-drive-in-brings-root-beer-back-to-chippewa-fallsv

https://volumeone.org/articles/2024/01/29/334700-fish-family-continues-efforts-to-open-daves-drive-in

All written content and some photos Copyright 2026, 2019 and 1997, the owner of Abide Chippewa Valley LLC. Please attribute ‘abide.news’ when sharing. Historic photos from Chippewa Herald and Deb Stone.

Chain Department Stores Downtown

Before malls and, more recently, online retail, local and national stores operated in downtown Chippewa Falls where people would come out to shop in large numbers. Sears had a small catalog store in a late 19th century building at the Southeast corner of Grand Ave and Bridge Streets (later the home of Shades of You).

Montgomery Ward had a substantial store on the Northeast corner of Grand Ave and Bay Street. There was still a catalog store there in the 1980s where my brother and I ordered a toy called the Tank Dashboard as kids. Like Touch of Class, the building is still in use (as B&G Liquor, named for Bay & Grand.)

Another store of years past was JC Penney Co. which was located in the Metropolitan Building on the corner of Bridge and Spring Streets. Later, a new store would house Penney’s on the corner of Bridge and Grand (across Grand from the Sears store). That location would become the Mason Shoe outlet.

The big department stores moved out of town and it was Prange Way, K-Mart and Shopko that would serve the Chippewa area during the 80s and 90s. The retail picture has changed further and none of those stores are still in operation. Downtown shopping has never died out in Chippewa Falls though and local stores fill the void left by these big national retailers of the past.

References:

All written content, Copyright 2026, the owner of Abide Chippewa Valley, LLC. CC-BY-SA License. Photo credits: Wisconsin History Society, Chippewa County Historical Society. Please attribute ‘abide.news’ when sharing to comply with the law. Thank you.

Sinkhole

At the end of August, a sinkhole on the East Hill of Chippewa Falls was brought to the attention of local police. Barriers were set up to protect pedestrians from possible misfortune. When viewing this hole near the corner of Rural and Central Streets from a safe distance, it was impossible to know if there was a bottom or if it lead straight to a mythical underworld. Luckily this kind of portal only opens up when weather conditions favor it.

David Macaulay wrote and illustrated a book about utilities below cities called Underground which I was fascinated by in grade school. In a college class on Mesoamerican Art, I learned about a natural opening to the supposed netherworld present at the Chichen Itza archaeological site in Yucatán called the Sacred Cenote. It is ancient and connected to pre-Columbian religious stories of the afterlife.

Coincidently, a sinkhole opened up in my yard after a heavy rain this summer when the excavator redid the septic field and failed to properly fill in the old cavity. If we had not been avoiding the new grass, any member of my family could have fallen into this dangerous trap. The hole has been filled (no thanks to the excavator.) Similarly the hole in Rural Street was filled within a few weeks of its appearance and Chippewa’s residents can hopefully avoid any unplanned trips to the Underworld in the near future. Luckily, the Sacred Cenote in Mexico can safely be visited by curious individuals in this lifetime.

References:

Macaulay, David. Underground. Boston : Houghton Mifflin, 1976.

https://web.archive.org/web/20220223000905/http://www.smm.org/sln/ma/cenote.html

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g150808-d153143-Reviews-Sacred_Cenote-Chichen_Itza_Yucatan_Peninsula.html

Little Sharing Boxes 2025

The idea of setting out food, personal hygeine items, books and anything else non-perishable to give away or swap has continued to take off, with new purpose-built boxes popping up around Chippewa’s streets. I have already updated my list multiple times and here is the latest, starting on the North Side of town.

Books on 86th Ave, Near Hwy 124 & Hwy S, Eagle Point (Residence)
Books at YMCA Early Learning Center, 630 Miller St.
Books at YMCA Fields on State St.
Books at Kids USA, 656 Lakeland Dr.
Books at Milestones Early Learning Community, 1300 Lowater Rd.
Books at Hope Village, Kennedy Rd.
Books on Water St. & Division St. (Residence)
Books and Food at Alexander McBean Park, Marshall St. and E. Grand Ave
Books at CVCA Heyde Center, 3 S. High St.
Books at Alexander Wiley Park, High St. and Spring St.
Books on East Birch St. (Residence)
Books at Harmony Courtyard, North Bridge St.
Books and Food at Christ Episcopal Church, Bay St.
Food at Trinity Methodist Church, 201 W. Central St.
Books and Food at Allen Park, River St. & Rushman Dr.
Books, Food and More at Barnabas Coffee House, 19 W. Spring St.
Books at Mason Park, Rushman Dr & River St.
Books at Bernard F. Willi Pool, 1 Bridgewater Ave.
Books at Marshall Park, 1 Bridgewater Ave.
Books at Macomber & Huron St. (Residence)
Books and Food at L.C. Stanley Park, Terrill & Dwight St.
Books at Knight & Ball Park, Loffler Ct.
Books and Food on the 600 block of W Spruce Street (Residence)
Food at Our Saviour’s Lutheran Church, 1300 Mansfield St.
Books on the 900 block of W. Willow St (Residence)
Books on the 700 block of W. Columbia St (Residence)
Books at St Charles Church, 810 Pearl St.
Books on Coleman St.
Food at Buchanan Park, E. Walnut St.
Books at Frenchtown Park, Bryant & Hebert St.
30. Books at Holy Ghost Church, Main & Greenville St.
Books on Woodward Ave. (Residence)
Food near Chippewa Manor on Chapman Rd.
Food at Faith Lutheran Church, 733 Woodward Ave.
Books at Halmstad School Pavillion, 50th Ave. & Joseph St.
Books at Happy Tails Park, 841 Chippewa Crossing Blvd.
Books at Wissota Green Pkwy, Wissota Shores playground, Near Hwy 178
Books at Head Start, Northern Center Forest Ave. & Hwy J.
Books at Bay Rd & N. Pine Harbor Dr., Anson
Books at Lafayette Town Hall, Town Hall Rd., Lafayette
Books and Food at English Lutheran Church of Bateman, Hwy X, Lafayette
Books on 196th St, Moon Bay West of Hwy K, Anson (Residence)
Books at 55th Ave and 197th St near Wissota Lodge, Lafayette
Books on 195th St between Hwy 29 & 50th Ave, Lafayette (Residence)
Books at 54th Ave and 190th St, Lafayette (Residence)
Books at 54th Ave East of 185th St, Lafayette (Residence)
Book Bus on 54th Ave, West of 185 St, Lafayette (Residence)

Little Giving Box Guide 2024

When the Circus comes to town…

The older residents of Chippewa Falls can recall when the train used to roll into the East Hill with exotic circus animals. Recently, ads for Circus Classic have appeared around town and set-up is underway at the Northern Wisconsin State Fairgrounds. The three day event is Aug 29-31 and in keeping with moderrn times will feature less exotic and dangerous creatures in a petting zoo.

References:

nwsfa.com

Service Station Becomes Restaurant, Becomes Church

You’ve got to fill her up with gladness
You got to fill her up with joy!
You got to fill her up with love

-Sting, Fill Her Up

The Fill-Inn Station at 104 West Columbia in Chippewa Falls was a well established spot for dinner or a Friday fish fry after it was previously well-established as a gas station. In March of 2025, the announcement was made that the restaurant would close and Grace Fellowship would take over the building. This fact was further validated by a new sign out front.

The structure was built in 1950 according to the Assessor Data website. Hank’s Conoco Station was listed at this address in 1958 and Gardener’s Blue Diamond Service Station was listed in 1976. In 1979, it was re-opened as a restaurant and the 1993 City Directory lists Dick Horstman as owner with 20 employees working there. One of those employees was Linda Roycraft who would purchase the business and run it until its recent closure.

References:

Opera House on West Columbia

https://www.gracefellowshipcf.org/

https://www.weau.com/2025/03/15/fill-inn-station-closes-after-46-years/

http://assessordata.org/Assessment?id=8697029598819&p=1

https://pp-chippewa-co-wi-fb.app.landnav.com/Search/RealEstate/PropertySummaryReport?propertyId=5866

https://genius.com/Sting-fill-her-up-lyrics

1958 Chippewa Falls Telephone Directory. Chippewa Falls, Oct. 1958.

Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin City Directory. Johnson Publishing Co.: 1976.

1993 Chippewa Falls, WI City Directory. Belmond, IA: 1993.

Fair Preview 2025

The Fair is back in town! As usual, early July means lots of activity at the Fairgrounds as the Northern Wisconsin State Fair comes together, this year with new leadership in the office and a new area called the Kid’s Corner. Workers and volunteers will work hard to make this historic annual event a success. Many rides and food stands are already set up.

Official dates are Wed, July 9-Sun, July 13, but there is judging on the farm side of the Fairgrounds on Tuesday and this is always a unique time to preview the event in its purest form, as a celebration of agriculture.