Ripon Is the Best College Town to Visit in Fall in Wisconsin

I will never forget the first day I set foot on the Ripon College campus. I knew without a shadow of a doubt that I had found my second home. Lush and bright, the campus looked like a postcard. Heck, the entire town is like something out of a Hallmark film. Gilmore Girls fans, eat your heart out: This is my Stars Hollow. With a quintessential Midwestern, historic downtown lined with mom-and-pop shops, Ripon epitomizes small-town Wisconsin for me. Other than to attend my beloved Dickens of a Christmas, there is no better time to visit than the fall when Ripon's delightful autumnal splendor never fails to take my breath away.

It's normal for a college town to go a little quiet in the summer. Yet for Ripon, the absence of students was felt as soon as commencement happened. An influx of tourists would appear in the hot months, flocking to Ripon and nearby Green Lake. But it wasn't the same. I know that for sure because I spent the summer between junior and senior year in Ripon, splitting my time between working for the local TV station, The Ripon Channel, and painting houses. So, when students came back as autumn leaves began to dot the town's trees, you knew Ripon was coming back too. Maybe that community spirit is what makes it one of Wisconsin's best college towns—or the best in my mind.

One of the best ways in town to experience nature at its brightest is to visit Ripon College's Ceresco Prairie Conservancy. This 130-acre native prairie is where we would go to get away from it all. Although the college is its caretaker, the prairie welcomes everyone. You might see flowers in their final moments as the autumn chill sets in or wildlife gathering food and nesting materials for the coming Wisconsin winter. Depending on when you visit, you might also see some first-year college students finding their port in the storm for the next four years.

Since I was a triple major, I was usually caffeinated. My go-to haven, MUGS, can still be found on Ripon's main stretch along Watson Street. If I couldn't be found in the theater, my dorm, or anywhere else on campus, I was probably at MUGS. Now known as Mugs and More, this coffee shop is a mainstay in Ripon. With cozy vibes, cozier chairs, and coffee concoctions galore, MUGS is still a must-visit any time I'm back in Ripon. To this day, 11 years later, nothing else says fall sweater weather like walking Watson with a Minty Mocha in hand. Nutty Squirrels are also an acceptable alternative.

Between popping into shops, noshing on J's BBQ or Roadhouse Pizza, you have to visit Campus Cinema. Located on one end of Watson Street, across from City Hall, is the very first Marcus Theatre. It opened in 1935 and is still going strong all these years later. Campus Cinema still has just the one screen, but that embodies how special the town is: a place where, even as a student, people know your name, and a place that can keep even a one-theater cinema open nearly a century later. Ripon is forever one of my favorite places and is, without question, the place to be in the fall for a Wisconsin weekend getaway.