What is new for Northwoods Drifter in 2026
When the Rib Lake School District’s varsity boys basketball team won their first game on the new court 64-23, they weren’t just celebrating a victory over Chequamegon. They were christening what District Administrator Travis Grubbs calls a “crown jewel”—a modern gymnasium that represents everything a small Northwoods community can accomplish when it pulls together.
The ribbon-cutting ceremony in October marked the completion of phase two in a four-phase renovation project. For a rural Taylor County district where students once crossed parking lots in blizzards and staff juggled keys to unlock doors all day, this moment represented more than new paint and polished floors.
It represented trust.
Rib Lake isn’t exactly flush with tax revenue. This village of about 1,000 residents has roots in the lumber industry that shaped the Northwoods over a century ago. Today, like many rural communities, the district faces the same funding squeeze that affects small schools across northern Wisconsin.
Yet in April 2024, voters approved a $19.5 million referendum to fund a complete campus overhaul.
“I want to give tremendous thanks to our community,” Grubbs said at the ceremony. “Without our community being so supportive, none of this could have happened.”
Before construction connected the buildings, Rib Lake’s middle school and high school sat on opposite sides of a parking lot. Students crossed that asphalt gap every period—through rain, snow, and subzero January mornings.
Staff members shuttled between buildings too, creating a security headache that kept administrators up at night.
“Our staff was shared between buildings, so we had staff walking across,” Grubbs explained. “This transition caused staff to unlock doors throughout the day that would have normally been secure.”
“Ultimately connecting them with this hallway, we’re able to have a safe, secure transition for our staff and students throughout the school day.”
That new connector hallway solves problems most urban districts never face. In the Northwoods, where the nearest backup is often miles away, school security means planning for weather emergencies and keeping kids safely inside.
The old gym served Rib Lake since 1964. That’s sixty years of squeaky floors, cramped bleachers, and making do.
Blake Henderson, a member of the boys basketball team, didn’t mince words about the upgrade. “The old gym was definitely a little small and a little cramped,” he said before that first game. “This new environment is going to be a blast.”
The new facility isn’t just bigger—it’s functionally bigger. Large enough to host regional games and youth tournaments with two courts running simultaneously.
Here’s what the new gym brings to Rib Lake:
For a small Northwoods district, hosting tournaments means more than pride. It means visiting families filling gas stations, grabbing lunch at local restaurants, and seeing what Rib Lake has to offer.
Rural school funding in Wisconsin runs on referendums. State aid hasn’t kept pace with maintenance costs, technology needs, or the reality of aging buildings constructed when lumber was still king in these parts.
Rib Lake’s history reads like a Northwoods origin story. The village incorporated in 1902 after fires swept through timber camps. John J. Kennedy’s Rib Lake Lumber Company once ran a 12-mile logging railroad, and workers hand-dug a water hole in 1908 to ice roads leading to remote camps.
That same pull-together-or-perish mentality lives on when a community votes to tax itself nearly twenty million dollars. Families who might disagree on everything else find common ground in giving their kids a safe, modern place to learn.
The Taylor County area has long valued education. Historical records show a schoolhouse operating by 1895, and by 1936, county schools enrolled 4,548 students at a cost of $248,954.17—substantial money during the Depression.
The gym and connector hallway represent just half the vision. Two more construction phases lie ahead, each dependent on careful budgeting and continued community support.
District administrators are already planning the transformation of that 1964 gym into a new cafeteria. The old building served its purpose for six decades, but repurposing beats demolition every time in districts watching every dollar.
For now, though, Rib Lake is celebrating. Students walk between classes without winter coats. Staff keep security doors locked. And basketball fans pack new bleachers to watch games on a court that finally matches the community’s investment in its future.
The Northwoods has always been about making things work with what you have. But every so often, a community decides that “making do” isn’t good enough for the next generation. When that happens—when a village of 1,000 commits nearly twenty million dollars to its school—you get more than a new gym.
You get a reminder of why small towns survive.
Written by
Mike has been coming up or living in the Northwoods since his childhood. He is also an avid outdoorsman, writer and supper club aficionado.
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