Two fountains on the lagoon at Menominee Park in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, under a blue summer sky
|

The Menominee Park Zoo: A Free Little Zoo on Lake Winnebago in Oshkosh

ByJamie Dolan

I have driven past Menominee Park in Oshkosh more times than I can count, usually on my way to somewhere else. Last weekend I finally pulled in and walked over to the little zoo that is tucked inside it, and I am glad I did. It is small, you can see the whole thing in about fifteen minutes if you do not dawdle, and it is completely free. Free in the way that makes you double-check the sign on the way in, because these days almost nothing is.

A free zoo, and the couple who made it that way

The Menominee Park Zoo has been here since 1945, right on the shore of Lake Winnebago. What makes it stand out is the price of admission, which is nothing. It was not always this way. Back in 2006 a local couple, Tom and Penny Harenburg, stepped up and covered the entrance fees for a whole year, and admission has stayed free ever since thanks to them. I love that. A gift like that quietly keeps a place open to every kid in town, whether or not their family has ten bucks to spare that afternoon. You walk in, you look at the animals, you walk out. No ticket booth, no upsell.

The animals

It is a compact zoo, and it leans heavily toward animals you would actually run into around Wisconsin, plus a few you would not. The city says it keeps somewhere between 30 and 50 animals during the season. Here is what I saw on my walk.

A red fox with a pale summer coat walking along the fence line at the Menominee Park Zoo in Oshkosh, Wisconsin
First up was the red fox, working the fence line like he had somewhere to be. His summer coat had gone pale and a little scruffy, nothing like the deep rust you picture in winter, but that long white-tipped tail gives him away every time.
A young elk pressing its nose to the chain-link fence at the Menominee Park Zoo
The elk walked right up to the fence to say hello, or more likely to check whether I had any food. No antlers on this one, so I am guessing a cow or a younger animal. Either way, a big set of eyes and those tall ears leaning in a few inches from your face is a good way to make a kid’s whole day.
Cayuga, a bald eagle, perched on the ground at the Menominee Park Zoo in Oshkosh
The bald eagle was the one that stopped me. His name is Cayuga, and he came to the zoo in 2021 from the wildlife health clinic at Cornell University in New York. Birds like this usually land in a place like this because an injury means they cannot make it in the wild anymore, so a permanent home at a zoo is the kind alternative. He is a striking bird up close, that white head almost glowing against the dark body.
A dark donkey with long ears eating hay from a wooden feeder at the Menominee Park Zoo
Over in the barnyard section, a couple of donkeys were nose-deep in a hay feeder and had no interest in anything else.
Close-up of a donkey eating hay, with a second donkey's legs visible behind it
Big ears, gray muzzles, completely unbothered. I stood and watched them chew for longer than I would like to admit.
A peacock with an iridescent blue neck and green wing feathers preening at the Menominee Park Zoo
And then the peacocks, which are the show-offs of the place. The blue on their necks does not really come through in a photo the way it hits you in person, this deep electric blue that shifts to green depending on how the light catches it.
Close-up of a peacock's blue head, crest, and neck through the enclosure wire at the Menominee Park Zoo
A couple of them roam the grounds loose, so do not be surprised if one struts across the path in front of you.

I did not get to everything. The zoo also keeps gray wolves, an American black bear, a pair of river otters, a couple of tortoises, chinchillas, hedgehogs, skunks, a macaw, and a turkey vulture, among others. Most of it is native Wisconsin wildlife, which I appreciate. It is a nice reminder of what actually lives out here, in the woods and marshes we drive past every day.

Getting there, and the rest of the park

A few practical notes. The zoo sits right inside Menominee Park at 520 Pratt Trail, so it is easy to find and easy to get to. It was fairly busy the afternoon I went, which is a good sign, but there was still plenty of parking and I had no trouble finding a spot. It is open seasonally, roughly late May through late September, daily from 9 in the morning to 6 at night. Bring the kids. The whole thing is built for them.

The lagoon at Menominee Park in Oshkosh with two fountains and a paved path under a blue summer sky
After the zoo I walked out along the lagoon, which is the heart of Menominee Park. Two fountains were running, the water was flat and still, and the whole thing sat under a big Wisconsin summer sky.

The park has a beach, a playground, and plenty of paved path to wander, so the zoo is really just one stop on a bigger afternoon. It sits on the same lake I look at from the other side over at High Cliff, which is a fun thing to think about while you are standing there. Same water, completely different view.

If you go, do yourself a favor and finish the trip with a treat. It is about a five to ten minute drive over to Rhapsodies Gourmet Frozen Custard on Oregon Street, and frozen custard is the correct way to end a warm afternoon in Wisconsin. You earned it after all that walking, even if the walking was only fifteen minutes.

The Menominee Park Zoo is not big, and it is not trying to be. It is a free, easy, genuinely pleasant little stop, the kind of place a community is lucky to have. I will be back, probably with somebody smaller than me who wants to see the fox. If you like these free local spots, I have written up a few others lately, like the day I spent out at Horicon Marsh.

Have you been there? I'd love to hear your favorite spot.

Your email address is never shown. If it's your first comment here, it'll show up as soon as I approve it.

Similar Posts