Round 2: Sylvania, OH vs. Winona, MN
Welcome to the second round of the fifth annual Strongest Town Competition! This contest is our annual celebration of the towns and cities across North America (and even the world) who are building stronger communities, even in times of uncertainty and change.
We’re down to our top eight contestants, and for this round, we asked them to cut back on the text and instead send us five photos, with a caption for each explaining how it illustrates the strength of their city.
Check out the photo submissions from two of our elite eight contenders below, and cast your vote at the bottom of the page!
Voting closes at 12pm CDT on Thursday, March 19th.
SYLVANIA, OH
Entry submitted by: Bill Sanford, Leslie Brinning, Kevin Aller, Toby Schroyer, Rick Schnoor, Laura Bigelow, Craig Stough, Michelle Sprott, and Jerry Arkebauer
Art and Fun in a Lively Downtown
On the first Friday of each month, our Downtown Sylvania Association’s Red Bird Arts District sponsors an Art Walk on Main Street, anchored by our two art galleries. Streets are closed for uncommon activities, like pickleball (pictured), and businesses feature mixed-media artists and stay open late. In 2019, Sylvania also started a Designated Outdoor Recreation Area in our downtown, allowing for enjoyment of adult beverages from our two award-winning microbreweries while walking between activities and businesses. Main Street is also closed during the year for our Memorial Day Parade, Maple & Main Art and Music Fest, Fall Community Festival, and Miracle on Main Winter Celebration. Sylvania values and supports diverse and engaging events to increase the quality of life for its residents.
A Connection to History
In the northern end of Downtown Sylvania sits our Historic Village containing the Heritage Museum, house, school (pictured), barn, train barn, and train depot on our original, still active, railroad tracks. Within walking distance from the village is the Lathrop House, the only Underground Railroad Site in Northwest Ohio open to the public. Sylvania’s three historical organizations combined in 2019 to share resources and form an updated, unified brand. In addition to hosting thousands of students yearly for educational programming, Heritage Sylvania hosts community events enriching the connection between our residents and our history.
Lots of Recreation Options at Local Parks
Sylvania is proud of our many outdoor recreation options. From digging for buried treasures at Fossil Park, to paddleboard yoga at Olander Park’s freshwater pond, and dancing the night away at one of Centennial Terrace’s many outdoor concerts (pictured). Our distinctive Sylvania Area Joint Recreation District coordinates and hosts regional sporting events for school-age children and above in our indoor hockey arenas and large outdoor sports facilities. The region’s original Oak Opening Savannah ecosystem is reflected through our Sylvan Prairie Park, which features native grasses and wildlife alongside one of our bike paths. For over 30 years, Sylvania has also been a designated Tree City USA.
Sylvania on the International Stage
Each summer, Highland Meadows Golf Club hosts the LPGA Marathon Classic (pictured). Golfers from around the world participate and thousands of spectators visit Sylvania to enjoy the event. In addition, Sylvania’s residents enthusiastically volunteer in the hundreds, year after year. We are honored to host this premier professional tournament and its world-class athletes. While perhaps not professionally, Sylvania’s residents can practice their own swing at one of many nearby golf courses.
Lots of Downtown Connectivity
Sylvania offers mixed modes of transportation, all funneling into our downtown. Beyond its walkable proximity to Lourdes University, Flower Hospital, The Historical Village, Sylvania Branch Library, City Hall, Municipal Court, Plummer Pool, Burnham Park, Northview High School, Maplewood Elementary School, and a historical residential neighborhood, Downtown Sylvania is adjacent to 10 Mile Creek, which guides the path of our recently extended River Trail (pictured) through Harroun Park connecting residential, institutional, and commercial corridors to the area’s larger biking network. Outside of private vehicles, the Toledo Area Regional Transit Authority also connects Sylvania to the Greater Toledo Area with two bus routes and a “Call-A-Ride” Door to Door service.
Winona, MN
Entry submitted by: Luke Sims, Kate Carlson
We believe in integrated transportation options
Winona has long been a key transportation hub for the State of Minnesota and the region at large. This aerial photo (looking southwest) showcases that geographic importance and highlights the diverse opportunities that tie Winona to Minnesota, the Mississippi River, and the State of Wisconsin and its citizens and visitors. The first highlight is the historic Main Channel Bridge and its modern contemporary which opened in 2019. The MnDOT project combined a respect for the past with a strong push toward the modern transportation alternatives of today by adding a key biking and walking trail (and lookout) along the western side of the bridge, which connects downtown Winona to Latsch Island and city-owned lands in the state of Wisconsin. That key connection links US Bikeway 45 (the Mississippi River Trail) through town, bridging the bluffs in Minnesota to the river. It also created an opportunity for a group of intrepid, engaged Wisconsinites and Winonans to partner on the Flyway Trail, a connection across the historic Wagon Bridge (bottom left of the photo) to Wisconsin, which will plug Winona into the surrounding Wisconsin communities and ultimately connect to the trails that run across the state of Wisconsin.
The Winona community continues to devote its energies toward enhancing its local transportation and its ties to the surrounding area through partnerships that begin on a grassroots level and tie-in with municipal, state, and federal projects. From Amtrak's continued service to the community to its walkable city blocks, its transit system, and to its biking trails that continue to stretch outward, Winona continues to show that connecting means more than the typical suburban street.
Photo Credit: Visit Winona
We believe in diverse housing choices
Traditional, incremental development patterns are important to Winona. Residential zoning districts by and large allow multi-family development as permitted uses, even in the "R-1 Low Density" district. Accessory Dwelling Units are beginning to take off and are encouraged as part of city code. And unique housing options like the Latsch Island Boathouses, featured below, help create community that is not found anywhere else. As you look around town, the housing in Winona reflects the traditional growth of the community. From stealth duplexes to obvious additions to converted schools and firehouses, Winona strives to enhance its traditional character. This is reflected in its governing documents, which continue to promote infill development desired in the Comprehensive Plan, including allowing bicycle parking to substitute for automobiles, the removal of lot area minimums, frontage requirements, and setbacks in some districts, and allowing buildings to develop in line with their neighbors, creating harmonious neighborhoods that engage with the sidewalks and streets rather than meeting arbitrary numbers copied form another city.
Photo Credit: Visit Winona
Re-Legalizing and Revitalizing the Historic Downtown
Winona's downtown is a great example of rivertown development along the Mississippi River. Its main commercial streets (3rd Street pictured here) feature first floor shops as well as a mix of housing and offices above. Recognizing that much of this wouldn't be possible to build again under old zoning rules, the City's 2017 Unified Development Code brought its 1960s zoning back in line with what makes Winona great, allowing mixed use throughout downtown, eliminating parking minimums, and expanding its downtown districts to include neighboring industrial, commercial, and residential areas. Winonans have responded with a building boom, converting a former downtown city block holding nothing more than surface parking and a Hardees into a new $30 million school, office, and housing development, the City reinvesting in its Levee Park and historic Masonic Theater, and private citizens rehabilitating historic properties into new restaurants, shops, apartments, and office space. Historic rehabilitation is important in Winona and its Heritage Preservation Commission recognizes that reinvestment in buildings, not preserving the community in amber, is what makes a place desirable, leading to creative development in town—such as the beer garden opening in the missing tooth (a building sadly lost to fire) shown below. Small storefronts and diverse property ownership offers low barriers to entry for entrepreneurs to try new ideas and creates a diverse, vibrant downtown.
Photo Credit: Visit Winona
We believe neighborhoods are more than a collection of houses
Third places are a critical part of the Winona community and are found throughout the city. Neighborhood bars, like the Hei-n-Low Tap featured here, are mixed in with houses, churches, parks, and recreation centers, offering community spaces in neighborhoods that are often not legally sanctioned in American cities. Recognizing these places as part of the core Winona identity, neighborhood commercial nodes are enshrined in the zoning code, ensuring these places are not simply grandfathered relics of a bygone time and supporting mixed uses found throughout the city, typically separated by just three to five blocks from each other. Allowing adaptive uses in neighborhoods helps to create resiliency in the city, allowing for neighborhoods to fluctuate and change with the times.
Photo Credit: Luke Sims
Meeting people where they are
A strong community is one that embraces discussion and helps ensure people can participate from across the socioeconomic spectrum. This means going beyond the typical public meeting held at City Hall. Events like Pints and Policy, shown here at Ed's (No Name) Bar, help to bring discussions of community change to where people are. It creates an accessible, comfortable experience for people to engage with elected officials, appointed officials, and staff. Winonans naturally gravitate to these third spaces, allowing for ideas to develop organically from the community through open conversations. Community groups like Engage Winona facilitate those discussions and ensure that people are connected and have access to the right people and resources.
Photo Credit: Engage Winona
Round 2 Match-Ups
Beloit, WI vs. Highland Park, IL | Sylvania, OH vs. Winona, MN | Athens, OH vs. Hamilton, MO | Pittsburg, KS vs. Watertown, SD