Irvine Park Chippewa Falls: Free Zoo, Creek Trail & Lights

Irvine Park Chippewa Falls packs a free zoo, a creek trail with a brewery cave and 318 acres of picnic ground into one stop on the north side of town. Most visitors start at the zoo, which has no admission fee, and find the rest of the park by following the path along Duncan Creek. This guide covers how the park began, what the zoo is and is not, the trails, the Christmas lights, and the fairgrounds and ice cream shop that sit close by.

How Irvine Park began

The park dates to 1906, when lumberman William Irvine and the Chippewa Lumber and Boom Company gave 163 acres to the City of Chippewa Falls. Irvine was born in 1851, came to town in 1865 and managed the lumber company from 1885 to 1911. The park has grown to 318 acres since. The county's visitor listing says the park still reflects Irvine's goal of keeping it beautiful and open to everyone. The zoo began in 1909 as a bear pen.

The zoo: free, small and best taken as a walk

The Irvine Park Zoo costs nothing to enter and sits in the middle of the park near Duncan Creek.

The county's visitor listing names black bears, hyenas, bobcats and bison, plus a red barn petting zoo in summer. Reviewers describe being a few feet from a red fox, a hyena, a lemur and a bald eagle, and one called the whole place a treasure they return to often. Others are more measured: one counted about a dozen species in the whole zoo, and another said each enclosure held a single animal and hoped for more funding. Treat it as a short walk with animals along the way, not an afternoon of exhibits. The county listing says the zoo runs daily in season, typically 10 AM to 3:30 PM on weekdays and 10 AM to 4:30 PM on weekends, while Google shows the grounds open 8 AM to 6 PM every day. One reviewer found an indoor area closed when the website said it was open, so call 715-723-0051 before you drive far.

Duncan Creek, the beer cave and the sandstone ledges

The trail along Duncan Creek is where the park earns a second hour. A walker's account of a loop through the southeast corner of the park, written in 2015, measures it at about 1.1 miles on pavement, crossing the creek into the zoo and then following the water past small cascades. The same account describes sandstone walls on the left, a small cave you can enter and a set of tiered rocks about 60 feet past the cave that you can scramble up, in sandstone roughly 500 million years old. The county's listing also puts 60-foot sandstone ledges and a small bear cave on the Duncan Creek trails.

The cave has a past as a beer cellar. The owner of Schmitmayer Brewing Company bought the cave and about seven acres along the creek in September 1871, then enlarged it and added an iron gate. The cool rock kept his beer through warm months, and a hole in the ceiling that once served as a vent is still visible. It is open to look at year-round, and the Chippewa County Historical Society is nearby at 12 Bridgewater Ave.

A newer link in the path network is the Bluff Rapids Trail, about 0.13 miles of tree-covered path that opened in June 2023 between Irvine Park and Erickson Park. It lets you see Duncan Creek from several heights, and you can pick it up from the Bear Den bridge. Wear shoes with grip, since the rock and creek bank can be wet.

Picnics, grills and the main pavilion

For a picnic, the park has the ground to spread out: Travel Wisconsin's listing counts picnic shelters, restrooms and a concession stand among its amenities.

The kitchen sits beside restrooms in the Activity Building, which makes it a practical base for a family reunion or a birthday. Google lists a free parking lot, a wheelchair accessible entrance and wheelchair accessible parking. Visitors mention barbecue grills with tables, playgrounds for small children and a tree-identification path with a stairway that one reviewer called a nice one-mile walk. The pavilion is about 0.04 miles from the zoo, close enough that the two work as one stop. Ask the city parks office about reservations before a big event, as the listing does not say how shelters are booked.

Christmas Village, the park in lights

From Thanksgiving Day through New Year's Day, Irvine Park turns into a Victorian-themed Christmas Village with more than 100,000 lights and 100 displays.

It is free, with a donation box in the village. In 2023 the opening night began with walk-throughs from 5 to 6:30 PM, then opened to pedestrians and vehicles from 6:30 to 9:30 PM, and regular hours that year ran from 7 AM to 9:30 PM. A visitor review calls it a drive-through or walk-through display at no cost, so you can see it from the car or on foot. Costumed volunteers played historical characters on a single evening in December 2023, so ask about a repeat before you plan around it. Hours change from year to year, so check the current schedule at 715-723-0051 before you go.

Across Edward Street: the fairgrounds

The Northern Wisconsin State Fairgrounds sit directly across Edward Street from the park, about 0.3 miles from the zoo.

The fair itself dates to 1897 and runs in mid-July; the 2026 edition ran July 8 to 12 with more than 30 rides. During Northern Wisconsin State Fair week the streets around Edward Street fill up, so arrive early if the zoo is the goal. Guests at motorcycle rallies have camped on the grounds, and one reviewer remarked on the free zoo right across the street. Campers there report clean grounds but few showers for a large rally, and one noted that lights stayed on overnight.

For Leinenkugel beer outside fair week, the Leinie Lodge on Elm Street pours more than 15 of them.

Ice cream first, then Lake Wissota

Olson's Ice Cream is the usual sweet stop after the park, about 0.7 miles south of the zoo at 611 N Bridge St.

Its own site calls it a family tradition since 1944. Visitors praise the milkshakes, caramel corn and root beer floats, and one out-of-town visitor called the portions generous. Google lists hours of 11 AM to 8:30 PM daily, a free lot and free street parking, though it also notes the entrance is not wheelchair accessible. Reviewers say it gets crowded on hot days, with lines wall to wall.

If the park leaves you wanting a bigger walk, Lake Wissota State Park lies about 4.8 miles northeast of the zoo on the shore of a 6,300-acre man-made lake.

A vehicle admission sticker is required, unlike Irvine Park. Visitors praise the clean showers and well-kept trails and the Beaver Meadow loop, and warn about ticks and weeds at the beach. The park's number is 715-382-4574.

Before you go

Entry is free and the grounds are open year-round, so the practical questions are what to wear and when to come. The county's listing says the trails work for walking, running, snowshoeing and cross-country skiing in winter, so the park does not close down when the zoo slows. The park's main address is 125 Bridgewater Ave. Bring a jacket for the creek and allow two hours for the zoo, one trail loop and the cave.

A day here pairs with a night nearby, and the lodging options are easy to compare before you book.

The rest of the day has plenty of company in the town's other attractions.

Come for the free zoo, stay for the creek and the cave, and Irvine Park will cover the afternoon.