Village of Rib Lake, Taylor County, Wisconsin: Place Profile

No hospital or clinic operating in the village was confirmed; the village lists health clinics among services in demand.

The village events calendar lists recurring Music in the Park dates, fireworks, a walleye tournament and trick-or-treating.

The municipality is the Village of Rib Lake, an incorporated village in Taylor County, Wisconsin (Census place GEOID 5567275).

Rib Lake is a village governed by a village president and a six-member Board of Trustees.

The village lies within, and is separate from, the Town of Rib Lake (Taylor County, GEOID 5511967300, 2020 population 763); it is also distinct from Rib Lake the 320-acre lake and from the Town of Rib Falls in Marathon County.

The Village of Rib Lake covers 1.743 square miles of land and 0.465 square miles of water.

The village's Census internal point is near 45.319514, -90.20224.

The village's own site places it about 20 minutes from Medford and one hour from Wausau.

The USGS-named populated place Rib Lake and the lake of the same name both fall inside the village's Census boundary.

The 2020 Census counted 935 residents in the Village of Rib Lake.

The Wisconsin DOA estimates the village's population at 915 as of January 1, 2025.

The Census Bureau's Vintage 2024 estimate for the village is 913 as of July 1, 2024, from a 2020 estimates base of 924.

The ACS 2019-2023 5-year estimate of the village's population is 878 (+/-107).

The ACS 2019-2023 median age in the village is 45.3 years (+/-6.2).

The ACS 2019-2023 median household income in the village is $55,813 (+/-$6,390).

The ACS 2019-2023 median value of owner-occupied homes in the village is $99,300 (+/-$11,693).

William Schreiner is Village President.

The trustees are Rocky Jones, Randall Budimlija, George Tesch, Jack Buksa, Bryan Marschke and Clifford Mann.

Kristin Lueck is Clerk-Treasurer (715-427-5404).

Assessment is contracted to Tamarack Springs Appraisals.

The Village Board meets on the second Wednesday of each month at 6:30 p.m., and meetings are open to the public.

Board meetings are held in the Community Meeting Room at 655 Pearl Street.

The village posts its board meeting notices and agendas, and minutes from January through July 2026, on the Meeting Agenda & Minutes page of its website.

The Village Hall is at 655 Pearl St, Rib Lake, WI 54470 (mailing P.O. Box 205), open 8:00 a.m. to noon and 1:00 to 4:00 p.m. weekdays; phone 715-427-5404.

The village's official website is riblakewisconsin.com, which doubles as its visitor site.

The September 9, 2026 Village Board agenda also took up bids for a new tornado siren, the trick-or-treating date and a recycling cooperative agreement.

Public Works operates from 741 McComb Ave.

At its September 9, 2026 meeting the Village Board approved an ordinance allowing golf carts on village streets.

The village posts a 2025 Consumer Confidence Report on its website, the annual drinking water quality report.

The Rib Lake School District covers the whole village.

Rib Lake School District (NCES 5512780) is a PK-12 district of 3 schools with 523 students in 2024-25, at 1236 Kennedy St; NCES codes its locale Rural, Remote.

The district's three schools are in the village: Rib Lake Elementary (1236 Kennedy St), Rib Lake Middle (1296 North St) and Rib Lake High (1200 North St).

The village states that Rib Lake Elementary was named a National Blue Ribbon School in 2022, and that the district has earned the honor twice.

The village names Great Northern Cabinetry, Rib Lake Health Services, Wisco Stone and the True Value hardware store as long-standing businesses, and calls Forest Springs Camp and Conference Center, just outside the village limits, the community's largest employer.

The village describes the timber industry as the foundation of Rib Lake's roots and still a strong local industry.

The village lists a grocery store, health clinics, a dentist and daycare among services in demand locally.

Taylor County had 482 business establishments and 6,986 paid employees in 2023, including 2,627 in manufacturing.

The Star News, a Medford-based Taylor County newspaper, covers Rib Lake; its feed carried two Rib Lake stories on September 17, 2026.

The Rib Lake Public Library is a public library outlet in the village.

The Rib Lake Fire Department's hall is at 654 McComb Ave, and fire is a standing trustee report on the Village Board agenda.

Village addresses use Rib Lake, WI 54470.

The Rib Lake Senior Center is at 725 Front Street.

Rib Lake, the lake, covers 320 acres with a maximum depth of 12 feet, and has two public boat landings and three wheelchair-accessible public docks.

The village lists musky, panfish, largemouth bass, northern pike and walleye as the lake's fish.

Rib Lake is an Ice Age Trail Community, and hikers can reach the Ice Age National Scenic Trail from the village; the village says Taylor County holds about 65 miles of the trail.

Lakeview Park, on a hilltop above the lake at 305 Park Row, has a rentable pavilion, a playground, showers and 27 campsites, open mid-April to mid-October.

Rib Lake Ice Age Park and Pavilion at 847 Fayette Ave seats 220 and is rented year-round; Tannery Creek Ball Park at 785 Fayette Ave hosts the Rib Lake Redmen and youth baseball.

The Gerstberger Pines Nature Trail, a three-quarter-mile trail through old-growth forest on Turba Road south of Rib Lake, is one of the village's promoted trails.

Ice Age Days is the village's festival celebrating its heritage and Ice Age Trail link, and its biggest community fundraiser, with a parade, street dance, flea market and carnival.

In 1881 J. J. Kennedy built the Rib Lake Lumber Company sawmill on the lake, and the settlement was first called Kennedy Mills.

The Village of Rib Lake was incorporated in 1902.

Fayette Shaw started a tannery in Rib Lake in 1891 that used local hemlock bark and ran until 1923.

A local history display is open to the public at the Village Hall during office hours, and the Rib Lake Historical Society runs its own website.