Over the course of my career, I’ve done the pre-meeting chit chat routine with hundreds of different people. Whether it was my accent, the topic of football, someone complaining that 50 degrees was cold or my cell phone area code (yes, I kept the same number I got at 14), conversation naturally veered toward the topic of my hometown. 

I had my typical lines – “Yeah, a small town, 30 minutes north of Milwaukee. Blink and you miss it. I think it’s up to about 6,000 people now…a lot bigger than when I moved there as a kid and the population was 1,200.”

That was my quick summary, but there is so much more to Slinger than that.

The Location

Slinger is located in southeastern Wisconsin, 30 miles north of Milwaukee and 40 minutes south of Fond Du Lac right off of Hwy 41 in Washington County. It is set in the picturesque Kettle Moraine – for those of you that weren’t complete nerds like me in middle school science class – that means the area contains hilly terrain and glacial landforms, such as kettles, kames and eskers. This location makes Slinger both beautiful and easily accessible. 

The Community

For its size, Slinger packs quite the punch. We have restaurants, FroYo, and even an organic juice bar. Along with some of our bigger draws:

Little Switzerland Ski Hill – The skill hill opened in 1941. It boasts 200 vertical skiable feet, 18 runs and three terrain parks. I learned to ski and snowboard here and now my kids get to as well. 

Parks – We have Community Park with its ball diamonds and Rotary Park with the playground, splash pad, sledding hill and plethora of games to keep kiddos entertained.

Ice Age Trail – You know the Kettle Moraine I mentioned earlier? Well because of that we have a section of the 1,000 mile Ice Age Trail that runs through the heart of town including a fun boardwalk section. 

 

The Slinger Speedway It  is a quarter mile paved oval automobile race track with 33-degree banked corners. The track is billed as the “World’s Fastest Quarter Mile Oval.” From April to September, racers and fans come into town for Sunday race day. I remember hearing the cars and watching the fireworks from my front lawn as a kid and even attended a few races as well.

Slinger School District – If you have heard it once, you have heard it a thousand times. Young families move here for the schools. The Slinger schools consistently rank in the top 10% of all Wisconsin schools. The community supports our schools in an absolutely amazing way. Go Owls! I’m a proud graduate of Slinger High School Class of 2005.

The Neighbors

To our west, we have Hartford. Home of Pike Lake State Park, the Mineshaft Restaurant, a super cute downtown, the Schauer Arts Center and the closest Starbucks. 

To our north, and just outside the village limits, we have Big Cedar Lake. During the summer, it is alive with jet skis and boats pulling skiers. During the winter, shanties keep ice fishermen from freezing. 

West Bend, Richfield, Germantown, Menomonee Falls, Mequon and Cedarburg are all within 20 minutes. 

So that’s Slinger, but honestly, you have to visit to truly understand! Hope to see you soon!