Laura Oakes' One Cool Thing: St. Paul Winter Carnival
Q: Hey Laura...looks like this weekend's One Cool Thing is indeed on the "cool" side?
A: Yes! It's St. Paul Winter Carnival time...otherwise known as the "Coolest Celebration on Earth." While the festivities have already officially gotten started, the party really begins on Saturday with the King Boreas Grand Day Parade. It starts at 2 and runs down West 7th street, ending in the newly-renovated hub of the Winter Carnival, Rice Park.
Q: There is so much to experience over the carnival's two-week run. What are the must-do's for someone who hasn't been there before?
A: See the ice sculptures in Rice Park. They are truly magnificent. Local chefs are the artists, who spend hours and hours using everything from chainsaws to tweezers transforming blocks of ice into intricate pieces of art. With our warmer temps this year, they'll be doing their carving at night when it's a bit colder. The sculptures will line Rice Park throughout the duration of the Carnival. I would also recommend either one of the parades--the Grand Day Parade Saturday, or the evening Torchlight Parade on Saturday, February 1rst. Or for some goofy fun on the unpredictable side, you never know what will happen during the Vulcans' Coming Out ceremony. That's where each year's Vulcanus Rex is introduced in spectacular fashion.....take waterskiing down the Mississippi River or rappelling down a building, for instance.....
Q: What is the "legend" of the St. Paul Winter Carnival?
A: You can hear all about the legend and lore in my chat with St. Paul Festival and Heritage Foundation Board Chair Amy Mauzy below. In a nutshell, King Boreas and his Royal Court kick things off by celebrating winter---laughing at it, really. But by the end of the two weeks, Boreas is overthrown by the bringers of heat and summertime, the masked, raucous, red cape-wearing Vulcan Krewe. The whole thing started 134 years ago when an out-of-town newspaper reporter wrote that Saint Paul was like Siberia and asked why anyone would ever want to live here. The Carnival was started to show how we embrace and have fun with winter in Minnesota. Most days.
