Both Winona State University (264 Mark St. W., 507/457-2456, www.winona.edu) and the smaller St. Mary’s University (400 Terrace Heights, 507/457-1600, www.smumn.edu) have varied schedules of music, theater, speakers, films, and similar cultural events. The general public is welcome at most of them.

St. Mary’s Page Theatre (700 Terrace Heights, 507/457-1715, www.pagetheatre.org) and Valencia Arts Center (1164 West Howard St.) have particularly rich schedules.

Theatre du Mississippi (Historic Masonic Theatre, 255 Main St., 507/459-8090, www.tdmwinona.org) hosts national productions, stages its own plays, and puts on the surprisingly good Frozen River Film Festival in January, among many other things.

The Winona Arts Center (228 E. 5th St., 507/453-9959, www.winonaarts.org, no regular hours, call ahead) is a small volunteer-run venue hosting music, art displays, and many films.

Having played their first gig in 1915, the Winona Municipal Concert Band (Lake Park Band Shell, 8 p.m. Wed. summer) is reportedly the oldest continuously performing municipally sponsored musical group west of the Mississippi.

Winona’s diverse calendar of festivals is highlighted by a month of the Bard in July during the Great River Shakespeare Festival (www.grsf.org) and, almost concurrently, the Minnesota Beethoven Festival (www.mnbeethovenfestival.org). Both festivals attract visitors from across the state and the region, a great boon for the local tourism industry.

Winona also celebrates its Polish past with Polish Heritage Days in early May and Polish Apple Day in mid-October.