LAKE MONONA WATERFRONTW

RE-ENVISIONING THE FUTURE OF MADISON CITY’S WATERFRONT

A signature park in the making

The waterfront park will become a welcoming destination for all Madison residents and visitors. It will connect Downtown Madison to Lake Monona, enhance community connections, increase physical and visual access to the lake, improve Lake Monona’s water quality and aquatic habitat, celebrate Frank Lloyd Wright’s architectural legacy in Madison, and preserve Lake Monona’s cultural history from the Ho-Chunk nation to the present day.

Events

Be a part of Madison’s future! You can help develop and support the master plan by attending our events!

Two summer 2024 events you won’t want to miss:

Loop the Lake

Saturday, June 15

Ride the Drive

Sunday, August 11

THANK YOU!

Madison Community Foundation

Your funds will truly help us gear up in 2024. We are so excited to bring the Lake Monona Waterfront design to life!

The Ad-hoc Committee appointed by the mayor unanimously selected Sasaki to create the master plan for the waterfront. The master plan is now in the process of adoption by the Madison Common Council.

“Thus beauty and opportunity for health and recreation are wrought into the very structure of the city, the very life of the people; they are not on the surface, merely decorative and occasional—they are organic...”

John Nolen

This project is a touch point to incorporate thoughts on culture and history of people that came before us.”

Chloris Lowe, Jr., Ho-Chunk Nation

Visionary, Inclusive, Environmentally Healthy

The Friends of Nolen Waterfront (FNW) is a 501c3 organization. FNW is the private organization partnering with the City of Madison and leveraging philanthropic dollars from the community as we reimagine the Lake Monona waterfront along John Nolen Drive.

Learn more

“Our lakes are an incredible asset, this planning process is an opportunity to create a vision for better access to them, and to reorient this space away from cars and toward people. It’s an opportunity to create all sorts of connections, and to center equity and inclusion in the process.”

Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway

The Design Challenge

The Lake Monona Waterfront Design Challenge was a once-in-a generation opportunity to shape the future of Madison's urban waterfront. This was a competition to create a visionary, inclusive, and environmentally focused master plan for Madison's foremost public lakefront comprising 1.7 miles of shoreline and 17 total acres. Friends of Nolen Waterfront is proud to have partnered with the City of Madison by providing funding for the Challenge.

Our Vision:

Friends of Nolen Waterfront imagines the waterfront as a welcoming destination for all Madison residents and visitors. A waterfront destination that connects Downtown Madison to Lake Monona, enhances community connections, increases physical and visual access to the lake, improves Lake Monona’s water quality and aquatic habitat, celebrates Frank Lloyd Wright’s architectural legacy in Madison, and recognizes Lake Monona’s cultural history from the Ho-Chunk people to the present day.