Highway 75 corridor · Rhineland / Pembina Valley

Altona

Manitoba · 4,400 people

Four thousand people, three anchor employers and a July festival built around a flower — Altona is the clearest example of how much industry a prairie town this small can carry.

Photo: eileenmak, CC BY 2.0

Population: ~4,400 (2021 Census)
Municipality: Town within the Rhineland region
Known for: Sunflower Capital of Canada
Border: Under 20 minutes to the US crossing

The place

Altona is a small Pembina Valley town with an unusually large industrial base for its size — an employee-owned printing company that ships books across North America, a major oilseed crushing plant, and the head office of one of Manitoba's largest credit unions. The world's largest reproduction of Van Gogh's Sunflowers stands on an easel at the edge of town.

Manitoba Sunflower Festival every July — parade, midway and the town's namesake bloom.
The Van Gogh easel: a genuinely odd, genuinely beloved landmark on the prairie.
Millennium Exhibition Centre and the arena carry the winter calendar.
Twenty minutes to Winkler's shopping, an hour and a quarter to Winnipeg.
Short commutes measured in minutes, not highways.

Getting around

Winkler: ~30 km
Morden: ~40 km
Winnipeg: ~110 km / 1h15
Grand Forks, ND: ~2h30

Housing

Altona's housing stock is mostly single-family and townhome, priced well below Winnipeg, with new lots released as the town's industrial employers add shifts. Confirm current listings before you plan a move.

The community, as it photographs itself

Main streets, festivals, working days.

Millennium Exhibition Centre in Altona, Manitoba · Altonamanitoba, CC BY-SA 3.0

Street scene in Altona, Manitoba · Andrew Filer, CC BY-SA 2.0

Grain handling and rail at the edge of Altona, Manitoba · Andrew Filer, CC BY-SA 2.0

Who hires here

The employer base, sector by sector.

Friesens Corporation

Manufacturing / printing

Employee-owned book and packaging printer shipping across North America.

Bunge Canada

Agribusiness

Oilseed crushing and canola processing.

Access Credit Union

Financial services

Head-office roots in Altona; a repeat Top Manitoba Employer.

Border Land School District

Education

W.C. Miller Collegiate and area elementary schools.

Local trades and ag services

Trades / agriculture

Equipment dealers, grain handling and construction firms across Rhineland.

Healthcare

Altona Community Memorial Health Centre — acute care, emergency and attached personal care home in town.
Southern Health-Santé Sud provides regional clinics, home care and public health.
Boundary Trails Health Centre, the 94-bed regional hospital, is about 30 minutes away.

Schools and training

Border Land School District — elementary schools plus W.C. Miller Collegiate.
Adult English language and credential support through Regional Connections in the Pembina Valley.
Winnipeg's colleges and apprenticeship programs are about 75 minutes north on Highway 75.

Arriving here

You will not be the first.

Regional Connections runs settlement, language and employment services for Altona and the surrounding municipality.
A deep Mennonite settlement history means the town has been absorbing new families for well over a century.
Newcomer families from Latin America, Ukraine and the Philippines are well represented in the plants and schools.

A year in Altona

Manitoba Sunflower Festival · July, annually: The town's signature weekend — parade, live music, midway and food.
Community arena and fair events · Year-round: Hockey, curling and exhibition events at the Millennium Exhibition Centre.

In the database near Altona