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A day with
the St. Paul Winter
Carnival Royal Family.
The Royal Family consists of 18 members that
volunteer to play their roll for a term of one year. The family is led
by King Boreas and the Queen of the Snows and is completed by the Wind
Princes and Princesses. The Wind Princes are the brothers of King
Boreas and are named for the four directions of the winds: North Wind,
East Wind, West Wind, and South Wind. The four brothers each have a
Princess. There is also a Prime Minister to introduce the Royal Family
everywhere they go. To protect the Royal Family, the
King's Guards are always present. And last, but not least, there is
Klondike Kate, the true entertainer of the bunch.
I spent 8 hours traveling around the Realm of
King Boreas with the Royal Family to show you a little bit of what they
do. The whole Royal Family must stay downtown in a hotel for the ten
days of carnival. They make over 100 appearances during the ten days of
carnival, spreading cheer and promoting the city of St. Paul and the St.
Paul Winter Carnival. Most days last from 7-8am until 10-11pm traveling
from place to place on the Royal Coach.
Jan. 31, 2007: This day started like a job at 8am when everyone was
picked up by the Royal coach. This day was special for the Royal family
because they had two guest visitors from the Hernando Desoto Festival in
Florida that spent the day traveling with them.
Once on the bus, we were informed that the day would
be filled with many appearances, starting with visits to a few of the
Royal Family member's sponsors and
spending the rest of the time visiting schools and senior homes.
Within minutes we arrived at our first stop, for our
first appearance of the day. At each appearance the
Royal Family is formally introduced by the Prime
Minister and the King thanks special people by
knighting them and bringing them "into the Realm of
Boreas" for their good deeds.
The average time spent at each visit is between 10
and
20 minutes. On the bus, off the bus,
on the bus, off the bus and so on.
There are still 10 more appearances and 100+ miles
of
travel yet today!
Life on the bus.
Time is short between appearances, so most of the time
is spent getting ready for the next appearance or
trying to sneak in a cat nap
The School visits are fun for both the Royal
Family
and the many kids! The Royal Family is introduced and parades in by each
group, King's Guards, each Wind group (Wind Prince &
Princess), Klondike Kate and finally the King and Queen.
The King and Queen address the students and
perform a knighting
After the knighting, the Royal
Family interacts with the kids
and hands out treasures (beads, pencils, erasers, etc.)
Then back on the bus to do it
all over again.
Scheduled luncheons are also an
appearance for the
Royal Family.
The Royal Family represents Winter and the
Vulcan's represent Summer.
At a few appearance each day, the Fire King and his
Vulcan crew meet up with King Boreas and the Royal
Family and battle with words over who will win! Will
it stay Winter, or will Summer be on its way?
We all know who wins in the end.
The Vulcan Crew show respect to
the Queen of the Snows
and does not sit to eat lunch until the Queen is seated
After lunch, it is right back to the bus and
on with the show.
Pictures, pictures and more pictures.
Senior home visits are another great
appearance. Some
of the senior homes look forward to the annual Royal
Family visit and pick their own Royalty to honor the occasion.
I took my last picture at 4pm, before I had to
leave
the Royal Family and get back to my life.
In total, I spent a little over eight hours with the
Royal Family and took hundreds of pictures. For me
the day is over, but the Royal Family still has six
more hours of appearances before their day will be
complete.
The Saint Paul Winter Carnival ends on Feb. 4, 2007 but the Royal
Family's
job will just be starting. Over the next 12 months they will travel to
places like: Winnipeg Canada, Macon Georgia, Bradenton Florida, Lacrosse
Wisconsin, Aberdeen South Dakota and almost one hundred parades in
and round Minnesota.
Keep up the great work and god
bless.
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