Faircrest

Mineral Point Road leads to major retail and restaurant centers

Faircrest sits on Mineral Point Road, putting shopping and dining right in the neighborhood. “There’s a lot of different grocery options, a lot of retail options. There’s everything from a department store to a boutique or specialty store,” Gabrielse says. “It’s definitely a hot area.” Popular stops include:

• Otto’s Restaurant & Bar, a Mediterranean fine dining venue housed in an 1870s farmhouse
• Oakcrest Tavern, the local spot for Friday fish fries
• Gordon Food Service Store, the closest grocery option
• West Towne Mall, which has Metcalfe’s Market and many other big-box retailers.
• The Westside Community Market, which sells local produce, cheeses, baked goods and more during the warmer months

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Both hikers and wild turkeys can roam freely in Faircrest's parks

Green spaces sit around every corner in Faircrest. “The thing that I was really surprised to find when we moved in was how intimately close to nature we are,” says Max Magee, the vice president of the Faircrest Neighborhood Association. “On a daily basis there are flocks of turkeys parading down the street, jumping over fences in the backyard, and deer, coyotes and hawks constantly in and out of the neighborhood as well.” Nautilus Point Park offers a playground and walking paths next to Marbella Condominiums, while, west of the neighborhood, Mineral Point Park has paved trails popular with students at nearby Ezekiel Gillespie Middle School and Vel Phillips Memorial High School. The 40-acre Garner Park has space for pickleball and football, a playground, garden paths and wintertime ice rinks. North of the neighborhood, the 100-acre Owen Conservation Park has activities for every season, including permit-free cross-country skiing during the snowy months.

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Community events and the occasional opera concert liven up Faircest

There’s often something going on in and around Faircrest, thanks to community groups like the Faircrest Neighborhood Association. “We have our annual Faircrest Halloween Fest and various local neighborhood socials but our proximity to Parkwood Hills means that we frequently attend each other’s events,” Magee says. “Parkwood Hills has an Easter Egg Hunt that my daughter has participated in since she could walk.” Neighbors can also mingle over “Summer Coffee” in June and spread holiday cheer at Holiday Hot Chocolate & Sledding in mid-December. The Madison Opera hosts a free “Opera in the Park” event each July, bringing orchestral music and opera singers to the nearby Garner Park. “A lot of the local parks do have music, and that is very popular in the summertime and the beginning of fall,” Gabrielse says. “A lot of the parks, during the winter, will have either sledding or ice-skating rinks put in.”

Students can attend Madison public schools or nearby private options

Students are zoned to attend the highly rated Madison Metropolitan School District, including the neighborhood’s own Stephens Elementary School. The state’s school choice policy allows students to apply for schools outside their attendance zone as well as charter and voucher-backed schools. Next to Stephens Elementary, Charis Classical Academy offers a unique Plato-inspired twist called the trivium: Students from kindergarten through fifth grade cultivate their grammar skills, while grades 5 to 8 focus on logic and upperclassmen learn rhetoric.

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Faircrest isn't far from Downtown Madison or health care

Though Faircrest is well into Madison’s West Side, Downtown Madison is easily accessible with a 6-mile drive or a 30-minute ride on Metro Transit’s A-line bus. UW Health’s Science Drive Medical Center is about a mile away.