With a name that’s French for “bottom of the lake” and a location at the south end of Lake Winnebago, perhaps it’s not surprising that one of the biggest employers in Fond du Lac is a manufacturer of outboard motors. That would be Mercury Marine, which is headquartered here and also makes marine engines and snowmobiles.
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It and other industrial and health care–related businesses help keep unemployment low here, and job growth steady, while housing and other costs remain modest.
With a 19th-century heritage tied to the area’s once-booming logging and milling industry, Fond du Lac is home to a picturesque downtown and historic lighthouse.
Visitors arrive for such annual festivals as the Fond du Lac County Fair, Walleye Weekend, and Fondue Fest, but residents can enjoy outdoor activities year-round at the area’s largest park, Lakeside Park, with over 400 acres of open space on the edge of Lake Winnebago. —Sergei Klebnikov
