Insider Blog

Finally, it’s warming up and spring is here. Well maybe finally. We all know Mother Nature has a wicked sense of humor, and there has been more than one daffodil whose dreams have been crushed by several inches of snow in past years. And to be honest, it was about 20 degrees outside yesterday as […]

It’s winter. I know — it’s the kind of season that makes you want to hunker down under a blanket to watch a good movie. Well, here in Winona, we like to hunker down too, but we do it together at the Frozen River Film Festival, and we don’t just watch one move — we […]

First of all, WELCOME to my new little corner on Visit Winona’s new digs. I hope you take a look around, because there are some cool updates, and Visit Winona is rocking a pretty sweet website right now. Also, if you are one of my old-school followers who are subscribed to the blog from before […]

If you’ve ever been within 50 miles of Winona in the fall, than you know this city absolutely could not look more sensational than it does right now. Turn-of-the-century streets are lined with the brilliant hues of autumn, and a riot of color 500 feet high has swept across the bluffs. The parks, the trails […]

You know, living here right next to the Mississippi River, it’s pretty easy to begin to take for granted just how freaking fantastic it is. I mean seriously, it’s the fourth longest river in the world, and a U.S. geologic survey says it is the main conduit of the chief drainage system in North America […]

Let’s face it, Winona is kind of the epicenter of everything that’s good about the Midwest. Sound like puffery? Not a bit. And let me tell you why… I had this epiphany during a conversation with a smart guy I know named Andy, who also happens to be the executive director at the Minnesota Marine […]

Spring has sprung, and if you are at all familiar with Winona’s annual event calendar, you know that means it is the start of a delightful whirlwind of events that most of us sit huddled over a fire and dream about all winter long. OK, that’s a lie. Spring has NOT sprung quite yet – […]

Let’s face it: We all like food. We eat it all the time, and we prefer for it to be good. But when traveling, eating used to mean driving around a town until you saw a place that seemed to be a restaurant, and trying to judge from the style of the sign and how […]

You have to admit – it’s kind of amusing that the thing making Winona (and the rest of Minnesota) famous right now is the fact that we can survive. In case you haven’t heard, it’s been a little cool in these parts lately. OK, that’s kind of a lie. Saying it’s been “a little cool” […]

So Winona had an exciting run in the spotlight for the last couple of months – its dazzling scenery splashed across six million television sets a couple of times a week while music played and its virtues were extolled in a voice over. From a camera perched high on the bluffs, viewers saw the Mississippi […]