Winona, Ontario

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Winona ( 43°12′29″N, 79°39′04″W) is a small community in southern Ontario.

Winona is home to these internationally known entities:

1. The Winona Peach Festival began in 1967 when it was just a local street festival organized to raise a little money for local charitable organizations. By 2003, it was run by more than 2,000 volunteers, had attendances over 230,000 and generated about $3,730,000 that stayed in the community. The Festival is classified as an International event due to attendees from Western New York.

2. E.D. Smith, founded in 1882, a food service manufacturer of specialty sauces, ketchup, and fruit fillings.

3. Juno Award winner, Ian Thomas, born in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, makes his home in Winona. He is the Canadian singer/songwriter of such hits, Painted Ladies (1973), Calabash (1976), Liars (1976), Pilot (1979), and Time is the Keeper (1979). In 1990, he started the band, The Boomers. Years later, he moved on to teaming up with Murray McLauchlan(Down By the Henry Moore), Marc Jordan (Marina del Rey) and Cindy Church and released a live CD and DVD of a performance titled, Lunch at Allen's. He is the brother of Dave Thomas, a famous actor known from Second City and the character Doug McKenzie from Bob & Doug McKenzie. See also Ian Thomas Band.

Winona has an Elementary School, Winona Public School, that is located at 255 Winona Road, Winona, Ontario, L8E 5L3. A Secondary School, Winona High School, was located at the corner of Lewis Road and Barton Street until it was sold to the Roman Catholic School Board. The high school colours were Purple and White and the mascot was the Viking. Glover Road Public School was built to ease the congestion of Fruitland and Winona schools when the population boomed after WWII. It was located on the SE corner of Barton St. and Glover Road. The population boom was short-lived however, and the school closed in 1982.

Winona allegedly got its name from the name of an Indian Princess who was sacrificed over Niagara Falls, though other towns of Winona also claim to be named for some local variation. It was part of the township of Saltfleet. On January 1, 1974, it became part of the New Town of Stoney Creek. Stoney Creek became a city in 1985. Fifteen years later, it was forcibly merged with the City of Hamilton by order of the Ontario government.