[6] Fontanet is part of the Terre Haute Metropolitan Statistical Area.

Each year on the last weekend in August, Fontanet enjoys the Annual Fontanet Bean Dinner Festival, a tradition stemming from a Civil War veterans' picnic first held in 1890.

The festival was originally held on land near the DuPont Powder Mill.

[8] Fontanet, two miles west of Coal Bluff, was also an important mining town worked and operated by the Coal Bluff Mining Company.

The mining company had a large general store, and in 1890 over 300 miners lived in Fontanet.