Winona was abuzz for a few days this week, when first rumors, then sightings of Winona Ryder started being posted on social media. The star of many films, and most recently of Netflix’s hit show, Stranger Things, turned up in our Southeastern Minnesota City to make a commercial for Squarespace, according to The Winona Daily News.
Rachel Hutton, with The Minneapolis Star Tribune, writing on the events unfolding in Winona, says, “Tuesday evening, several blocks of Third Street were blocked off and a post on the Facebook page of the Erbert and Gerbert’s sandwich shop in that area suggested that the commercial was being filmed for the Super Bowl.”
The Winona Daily news reported that Mayor Mark Peterson, who was cast in the commercial, declined to offer more information about the filming, suggesting that he was not authorized to discuss it.
Winona Post reporter Chris Rogers writes that Anne Healy (of Anne Healy Locations), who was working on the commercial, said, “It’s a Super Bowl commercial. It’s a website company, and they’re building a website about Winona.”
Healy was also quoted by the Post as saying that the production company making the ad, “just loved the architecture and the town because every single building in town is just gorgeous… They liked the snow, they like the cliffs.” She also let on that some of the filming was done at a houseboat on the Mississippi River.
Rogers also quotes Mayor Mark Peterson as saying, “I think it’s exciting… I think anytime Winona can get on national television is a good thing.”