WINONA, Minn. — For the third year, the Sandbar Storytelling Festival is continuing Business and Immigrant Stories of Winona, featuring local businesses and organizations that have helped to shape our city.
This series, in partnership with the Winona County History Center, showcased Bloedow Bakery (May 16) and Peerless Chain (June 6). Yet to come are the stories of Wenonah Canoe (July 11) and Project Fine (Sept. 17).
All presentations begin at 7 p.m. at the history center, 160 Johnson St.
Come and hear the story of Wenonah Canoe where owner Mike Cichanowski built his first canoe in 1965. He was born to paddle. He grew up on the banks of the Mississippi River, where he cultivated a love for the water and an insatiable curiosity to explore it — first with his father’s canoe and later with wood-strip canoes he built as a teenager. Fiberglass models soon emerged from the family garage. The roots of those same designs are still evident today in some of Wenonah’s most iconic canoes. Through the years, they’ve watched competitors sell to holding companies and move manufacturing overseas to the lowest bidder. Cichanowski’s team in Winona still convenes shareholder meetings at the kitchen table and sneaks out early on Fridays to paddle the Mississippi. It’s been a philosophy and way of life at Wenonah Canoe for over 50 years. Their website says it all, “If you’re lucky enough to be a paddler, you’re lucky enough!”
Admission is free for these events; however, reservations are encouraged online at sandbarstorytellingfestival.org (under event schedule) or by calling 507-703-6001.
Refreshments will be served, and the opportunity for a free-will offering will be available.
