Most villages this size do not get a birthday like the one Wrightstown is throwing on August 15. Between now and Labor Day, almost everything worth putting on a calendar here either leads into that Saturday or lands right after it.
If you have lived here more than a season, you already know the geography: the river cuts the village in half, Main Street runs east off it, and the newer commercial ring sits out by the U.S. 41 exit at County U. What is less obvious is how tightly the August schedule threads those three zones together this year. Below is the version a neighbor would sketch on the back of a receipt, not the tourism-office version.
The Saturday at the Center
This August, the Village of Wrightstown will celebrate a once-in-a-lifetime milestone, and the village has been building toward it for months. The 125th Quasquicentennial Celebration on August 15th will feature live music along with the rest of the day's programming that the village has been rolling out on its news feed. Sponsor announcements have named Community First Credit Union, Galvinsured Agency, Drexel Building Supply, Bryan McEwen Concrete, Robinson Heating & Cooling, and SD Wheel, which is a useful tell about who is actually organizing the tents and the sound.
If you want the commemorative shirt, the village has been selling 125th Anniversary T-shirts for $10 at the offices, and residents have been picking them up in advance. Plan for the block around the River District at 104 High Ct. to be the busiest it has been all summer.
The Two Tuesdays That Bracket It
The village runs a free summer concert series at the same spot, and the 2026 lineup was set up so the two August dates fall on either side of the big Saturday. That is not a coincidence, it is a schedule choice.
The River District Tunes on Tuesday runs 6 to 9 p.m. at 104 High Ct. as a free community event, and the two August nights are:
- August 11, Eddie Larsen. The warm-up crowd four days before the Quasquicentennial. Bring a chair.
- August 25, Him & Her. The wind-down, when the tents are gone and the riverfront looks like itself again.
If you have never gone, the trick residents already know is that the food and drink comes from local vendors set up along the walk, so you do not have to eat before you come. You can walk in from most of the older neighborhoods on the south side of the river without moving a car.
The Downtown That Refilled
The reason downtown Wrightstown feels different in August 2026 than it did in August 2019 is that a handful of long-vacant addresses have quietly filled back in. If you are trying to explain the village to a relative visiting for the 125th, this is the part worth pointing out.
Start at 505 Washington St. Lost Key Tap opened in March 2022 in the historic building that was once home to The Tigers Den Pub and Grill, revitalizing a decade-long vacancy in downtown Wrightstown. It sits exactly between Green Bay and Appleton and, on any given Friday or Saturday, is the closest thing the village has to a reservation-required room. It runs a shorter week than a diner would, so plan around it: Wednesday and Thursday 4:30 to 9 p.m., Friday and Saturday 11:30 a.m. to 9 p.m., closed Sunday through Tuesday. If the 15th falls on a night you were hoping to eat here, book earlier in the week, not the day of.
Two blocks over at 450 High St., La Toxica Taqueria & Bar runs 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. weekdays, which makes it the practical lunch stop during Quasquicentennial setup week. And on the river itself, Wrightstown's coffee shop right on the Fox River serves specialty coffee, espresso, tea, sandwiches, salads, soup, ice cream, bakery items, wine and craft drinks. That is The River Coffee and Cream, and it is the honest answer to where to meet someone before the parade.
The through-line worth naming: four years ago, downtown had gaps. It does not, now.
The Rooms Out at the Edges
Not everything in Wrightstown happens between Washington and High. Two of the more interesting food rooms are out where the village meets the highway, and one supper club just came back from the dead.
Out at Royal St. Patrick's Golf Links, Crosswind Grille opens daily at 11 a.m. April through early November, with a Classic Wisconsin Style Fish Fry every Friday night featuring Perch, Haddock, Walleye, Salmon and monthly features. It is the biggest room in the village, and residents use it as a business-meeting spot more than tourists realize. The dining veranda looks over the course rather than the river, which is the trade-off.
The supper club story is Ozzie's Skyview Club. Yelp reviewers noted that new owners reopened the location in spring of 2025, which is meaningful in a village where a shuttered supper club can sit dark for years. If you last ate there under the old ownership, the room has turned over.
Lucky's Pub & Grill at 2565 County Rd U is the late-night option. Lucky's runs 11 a.m. to 2 a.m. weekdays and 11 a.m. to 2:30 a.m. Friday, and the reason to mark the calendar is that Micro Wrestling comes to Lucky's Pub and Grill on Sunday, August 16 at 4 p.m., the afternoon after the Quasquicentennial. If you were wondering what people do the day after the big Saturday, that is one answer.
The WABCA Weekday Layer
There is a business-community layer to August that residents who do not work in the village sometimes miss. The WABCA Golf Outing runs July 8, 2026 at Mid Vallee Golf Course, and the Wrightstown Area Business & Community Alliance has been fundraising steadily for the 125th on the back of it. Two other golf outings share the same course this summer, the 2nd Annual GBAYHA Golf Outing on July 10 and the 18th Annual Freedom FFA Alumni and Supporters Golf Outing on July 13 at Mid Vallee Golf Course. If the tee sheets look impossible in July, that is why.
A Loose Week to Try
Not prescriptive, just a shape a resident might actually use. Substitute freely.
- Monday. Coffee and a sandwich at The River Coffee and Cream. Walk the Fox River edge.
- Tuesday, Aug 11. Eddie Larsen at Tunes on Tuesday. Eat at the vendors, not before.
- Wednesday. Dinner at Lost Key Tap. The room is quieter mid-week.
- Thursday. Lunch at La Toxica. Pick up your $10 anniversary shirt at village hall.
- Friday. Fish fry at Crosswind Grille. Watch the sun cross the course.
- Saturday, Aug 15. Quasquicentennial. All day at the River District.
- Sunday, Aug 16. Micro Wrestling at Lucky's, or nothing at all, which is also correct.
Two Tuesdays later, Him & Her closes out the concert series and the summer effectively ends.
What This Says About Living Here
The village is 125 years old and the reason the celebration works is that the room where it is happening did not exist in its current form a decade ago. The River District, the reopened supper club, the downtown addresses that used to be dark, the coffee shop on the water: those are the changes that make August 15 feel like a real party rather than a photo op. Residents who moved here in the last three years get to attend a milestone that older neighbors have been waiting a long time for, and the village looks the part.
If you own a home here, this is a good August to walk friends and family through the village on foot. If you are thinking about the next move within the Fox Cities or the stretch between Appleton and Green Bay, CENTURY 21 Ace Realty knows this village well and is happy to talk. Contact us when you are ready.
