Thanks for the clarification.
I think I can hep you a
little. My parents' place is in Cumberland (a 15-min. drive west of Rice Lake), so a lot of what I know is in that direction. Also, FWIW: we keep looking for things to do/places to shop in Rice Lake, but constantly strike out. Maybe we're just clueless...but it does seem as though it's not a very NFL-friendly (or in fact, family-friendly) place to hang out.
As far as I know, there are no natural foods stores in Rice Lake, only a supermarket. And the restaurants are all chains or very conventional family diner-like places. But the family-owned Mexican restaurant there is very tasty -- worth the drive from Cumberland. It's called Casa Mexicana.
Island City Food Co-op in Cumberland is a lovely little member-owned natural foods store. We shop there every time we visit, and I think they have a good selection of foods/products for their tiny size. They also have an attached bakery/cafe. Everything it serves is either made right there or made locally. See
http://www.islandcityfoodcoop.com/.
Other decent restaurants in the Cumberland neighborhood....
Five O'Clock Club (
http://www.the5oclock.com/): I doubt its food is all from scratch. But it is pretty darn tasty. There are lots of good grown-up selections and a big kids' menu too. We like going there because it's got something for everyone in our gang. My parents like the old-fashioned supper-clubbiness of it. We think the food and wine are decent. The place has several large fish tanks and nautical tchotchkes, which our kids love to ogle. When the weather is nice, there's live music on the huge deck. There's also a big landscaped back garden for getting the wiggles out, when our kids get antsy. And a walking path through the woods to the nearby lake. I took my son for a walk along this path last summer and we encountered 2 black bears!
Bistro 63 in Barronnett (just north of Cumberland on Hwy. 63) is surprisingly good. This review (
http://www.yelp.com/biz/bistro-63-barronett) about sums it up. The place doesn't look like much from the outside, but the chef is really quite talented. I bravely ordered scallops there, and they were awesome. My DH had the puttanesca -- and it was yummy! He couldn't stop mmmmmm'ing. The servers were very sweet and helpful, esp. with our kid-related needs.
And other destinations....
Peter & Annie's is a coffeeshop attached to a large (and pretty interesting) gift shop and art gallery. Have no idea about the TF-ness of their food, but it's a good place for a snack and some puttering around. (
http://www.peterandannies.com/) The gallery next-door is called the Dancing Bird (
http://www.dancingbirdartstudio.com/). All its work is by local artists. We liked it enough to actually buy something there recently (which is rare for us).
If you like movies, Cumberland has beautifully restored its old movie theater on Main Street (
http://www.isletheatre.com/). The movie (it has only 1 screen, of course) changes weekly. The matinee is always a kids' movie. Rice Lake has a movie theater too, but it's your typical mall-based multi-plex.
Here are a couple of Rice Lake commerce/tourism links. I don't see a lot I would do, but that's just me! Maybe you'll find something you'd like, or a groovy gig on the calendar of events.
http://www.ricelaketourism.com/summer.asp
http://www.rice-lake.com/
The Pioneer Village Museum (
http://www.barroncountymuseum.com/) sounds nice. Never been to it yet, but we've been trying to find our way over there. I see it hosts a bluegrass festival in July with some good-quality performers. If you happen to go to that, there's a very good chance you'll see us there.
(we're bluegrass lovers/musicians)
Toddler-friendly fun: There isn't much besides parks and lakes. But luckily you'll be there in the summer, so outdoor activities will be plentiful.
I hope this is helpful. Sorry, again, that I can't give you much useful info about Rice Lake. But hopefully you'll get some good ideas from this. Have a great trip!