This Is The Friendliest Small Town in Minnesota
On a Saturday in August, downtown Red Wing closes for a parade and a rubber duck rally no one takes too seriously. Come October the same streets fill with juried artists for the Arts Fall Festival. The rest of the year the town leans on its mainstays. Red Wing Shoes has made boots here for more than a century, and the world’s largest one sits at the company museum. The Mississippi River edges town to the east for paddling and Barn Bluff rises above for the view.
Walking Around Historic Red Wing
Historic Main Street is lined with shops and restaurants in repurposed red-brick buildings that date to the town’s era as a Mississippi River port. The town’s manufacturing history is on full display at Red Wing Shoes and the Red Wing Shoes Museum, where the world’s largest boot stands more than 20 feet tall. The Pottery Museum of Red Wing carries on the town’s clay legacy with over 6,000 pieces of stoneware, pottery, dinnerware, and folk art, and hosts pottery-driven events like CrockFest and the Fall Antique Festival.
Pottery Place was built in 1877 as the home of the Minnesota Stoneware Company. The four-story building now operates as a boutique mall filled with vintage clothing, antiques, and a few eateries. Red Wing Confectionery handles the homemade chocolates and salt water taffy. Family-owned Knudsen’s Caramels does the buttery caramels. Hanisch Bakery & Coffee Shop covers donuts, cake pops, and pie. The Red Wing Barrel House has been around since 1886, one of the oldest bars in Minnesota, and pulls in regulars for weekend live music and handcrafted pickle pizza.
Hiking, Biking, and Paddling
The hike up Barn Bluff is Red Wing’s signature outdoor experience, with wide Mississippi River views from the summit. The bluff is also a sacred Indigenous site known as He Mni Can in the Dakota language, meaning “Hill, Water, Wood,” and the trailhead at He Mni Can-Barn Bluff features signs in both English and Dakota about the site’s cultural significance. Along the climb you’ll pass the G.A. Carlson Lime Kiln from 1882 (one of about 30 kilns once active here between 1870 and 1908) and remnants of the 450-step staircase the Red Wing Kiwanis Club built in the 1920s to draw tourists up the bluff.
Cyclists head to the Cannon Valley Trail, a 19.7-mile paved rail-trail that connects Cannon Falls, Welch, and Red Wing. It’s open year-round for biking, hiking, and inline skating. Rolling River Bike Rental on Main Street rents e-bikes, or you can book their two-hour guided tour of historic Red Wing that comes with Bluetooth intercoms in the helmets so you don’t miss a beat while riding.
With the Mississippi running through town, slipping a kayak or canoe in the water is easy. Use Colvill Park’s public boat launch or the riverfront at Levee Park for a short recreational paddle through the Mississippi backwaters. Lake Pepin Kayak and Paddleboard Outfitters handles gear and rentals.
Arts and Culture Around Town
The Red Wing Arts Walk strings public art across downtown with more than 30 permanent and rotating pieces and large-scale murals. The 2007 Welcome Mural marks the town’s 150th anniversary, and the Honoring Dakota mural recognizes the city’s namesake, Chief Red Wing, and Dakota culture more broadly. The Honoring Dakota mural sits beside the sacred He Mni Can-Barn Bluff.
Craftsmanship is part of how Red Wing works. Pottery happens at the Clay & Creative Center, performing arts at the Sheldon Theatre, and multidisciplinary residencies at the Anderson Center at Tower View, where painters, sculptors, and writers come from across the country and abroad.
Community Spirit
The Red Wing Arts Fall Festival is a juried two-day fine arts festival held the second weekend of October. More than a hundred artists take over downtown with work in ceramics, glass, jewelry, photography, and more. Live music plays all day from the Band Shell in Central Park and food trucks line the streets. River City Days is the August counterpart, centered on Bay Point Park, with arts and crafts at Levee Park, a beer garden, live music, a rubber duck rally, and a parade that closes things out.
Get to Know Friendly Red Wing
Red Wing is an easy town to get to know. Spend a morning along Main Street and at the long-standing institutions like Red Wing Shoes and Red Wing Pottery. Hike He Mni Can-Barn Bluff for the view. Paddle the Mississippi backwaters. Add in the kind of community spirit that turns out for festivals like the Arts Fall Festival and River City Days, and you have one of the friendliest small towns in Minnesota.
