Winter Carnival royalty served an unprecedented two years, during unprecedented times

It was a parade — finally — and King Boreas was in it.

But … something was different. What, though?

“It took me a minute to realize,” said Darrin Johnson, King Boreas LXXXIV, of that parade in Zimmerman, Minn., during Wild West Days on May 29. “All these people … I could see their faces! And they were smiling. It was pretty uplifting.”

The magic of a parade … and crowds … and unmasked smiles … will we ever take such things for granted again? Johnson — and the rest of the 2020-2021 Royal Family of the St. Paul Winter Carnival — learned to savor the magic amidst an unprecedented and extended pandemic reign.

“CARNIVAL WAS AS IT’S ALWAYS BEEN”

The Royal Family’s reign began, as it always does, on a stage in downtown St. Paul at the start of another Winter Carnival. It was Jan. 24, 2020.

Four days earlier, the United States had its first lab-confirmed case of COVID-19 in Washington State.

But the news — and the virus — still felt far away at coronation.

“At that time, we were living the way we always had,” said Joseph Johnston, the Prime Minister — aka logistics manager — of the Royal Family. “Carnival was as it’s always been — getting out in the community, seeing the ice carvings at Rice Park and the snow sculptures at the State Fairgrounds … we were all able to gather and to experience the traditions as we always have.”

Some of those traditions date back to the Carnival’s start in 1886. More recently, the “Legend” of the Winter Carnival involves characters acting out the battle between winter and spring. The Royal Family, led by Boreas, King of the Winds, and Aurora, Queen of the Snows, represent winter’s reign while Vulcanus Rex, the Fire King, and his Vulcan Krewe represent the chaotic energy of spring’s arrival.

The characters, which also include Klondike Kate, are played by volunteers who spend the year making appearances at schools, nursing homes, parades, festivals, civic events and other engagements, including appearances in Canada, Georgia and Florida.

Well … that’s in a normal year.

“IT HAPPENED SO SLOWLY.”

Even after the 2020 Winter Carnival ended in early February, life went on as normal.

“It happened so slowly,” Johnson recalls of the incoming pandemic. “It didn’t hit you all at once.”

“We were able to go to Winnipeg and enjoy their celebration,” Johnston says of the royal family’s traditional trip to Canada in mid-February.

But nine days after the 2020 Festival du Voyageur, on Feb. 26, 2020, Dr. Nancy Messonnier of the CDC issued a warning in a telebriefing: “I had a conversation with my family over breakfast this morning,” she said, “and I told my children that while I didn’t think that they were at risk right now, we as a family need to be preparing for significant disruption of our lives.”

For the Royal Family, the first formal disruption to their official duties came in mid-March.

“We were expected to be in the St. Patrick’s Day parade,” says Queen of the Snows Kirstin Knutson. “But a few days before …”

” … that was our first event that was canceled,” Johnson says.

St. Paul’s St. Pat’s parade was canceled, we reported at the time, “due to crowd and coronavirus concerns.” The announcement came 48 days after coronation.

Still, the royals were optimistic about the coming year.

“We thought it would be six weeks and that the virus would be gone by then,” says Knutson. “We thought we’d be back, full-fledged, by May. Little did we know. …”

“WE HAD TO GET CREATIVE”

You know the rest of this story, Minnesota: A state of emergency … schools and businesses closed … a shelter-in-place order … mask mandates … just to name a few of the changes. The “before times” were over.

“Going back to that time, there was a lot of uncertainty,” Johnston says. “We had to get creative in how to honor the community.”

There was one early highlight: “We’ve done the only virtual knighting and it was via Zoom,” Johnston says.

The Pioneer Press wrote about it: The knighting ceremony was to honor longtime volunteer Natalka Kramarczuk MacDonald, the chair of the Queen of the Snows Candidate Committee who was turning 50 — and had just beaten breast cancer.

“They knighted me over the computer,” she said at the time. “All the Royal Family was on screen. This is the first time this has ever happened and this legend is 134 years old. It was really special.”

Social media was also important.

“The royal family created a TikTok account to reveal our parade costumes,” Knutson says.

There were also drive-by parades — remember those? — with homemade signs. This was especially meaningful at nursing homes and other facilities for elders, who at the time were cut off from family and friends, but not from the virus.

“The feedback we got was that it really made the residents’ days,” Knutson says. “Even if it was just for five or 10 minutes, it was at least something to look forward to. And it was rewarding for us, too, to still be able to make an impact — safely — during such a sad time.”

As spring turned into summer, life had loosened up a bit, especially when gathering outdoors. But nothing was quite the same, of course. A vaccine was months away.

“People were dying,” Johnson says of the worldwide pandemic. “Like everyone else in society, we had our moments of being sad or depressed, or worried about our own families. But we tried to keep the momentum going.”

“EVERYONE HAD TO ASSESS”

As summer turned into fall, it became time to firm up plans for 2021’s Winter Carnival.

“With all the issues,” Johnston said of the continuing pandemic, “it would not have worked to bring new people in. They would not have gotten to experience anything close to normal — whatever that means, anymore.”

Would the 2020 Royal Family consider serving a second year? This question was also asked of Klondike Kate, the Vulcans and other volunteers.

“It’s a big commitment,” Johnston says, “and everyone had to assess.”

After weighing the commitment and discussing it with family, friends and employers, it was unanimous:

“Everyone stepped up and continued,” Johnston says.

This included the Royal Family’s sponsors (sponsors are typically local businesses or individuals) although financial patronage was not required during the second term. All agreed to carry on — even Knutson, who had to juggle her second term with planning her July 2021 wedding to Daniel Maslowski (yes, she was a pandemic bride as well as a pandemic queen — after getting engaged to the former royal guard at Rice Park during those carefree Winter Carnival days at the start of her reign).

If you know the people behind the St. Paul Winter Carnival, it’s not really that surprising that they were willing to help out.

“The St. Paul Winter Carnival truly feels like a family,” Knutson says. “In a ‘typical’ year, I would have learned that, but maybe not as soon as I did. The amount of support I got from people I didn’t know all that well was incredible: Cards in the mail, people writing to me on Facebook, people asking how I was doing when they saw me … it’s a real community that check in on each other and cares.”

“IT IS TIME TO HAND OVER THE REINS”

It is believed that this is the first royal group to actively and consecutively serve a two-year term: Besides a king and queen and prime minister, those who served again include the four princes and four princesses and the royal guards.

But what about the last pandemic?

We checked in with the Minnesota Historical Society about the 1918 Spanish Flu.

“It first cropped up in Minnesota in late September 1918 but had pretty much burned out by Christmas,” Bill Convery, the director of Collections and Exhibits, said in an email. “There was no Winter Carnival in 1919, but that had little to do with the flu. Twenty years passed between the last carnival, held in 1917, and the next one in 1937.”

In 2022, the pandemic endures. But so does our ability to adapt. And so does tradition. So on Friday — 735 days after their coronation — the 2020-21 Royal Family will watch as the 2022 Royal Family is crowned.

“It’s been an incredible journey,” Johnson says. “We got to do most of the things we wanted to do — especially the second year, as things loosened up and we learned to live with the virus. Things were altered and changed, but at least we have some memories and photos to look back on. We have no regrets — but after two years, it is time to hand over the reins and watch others carry on the history and tradition.”

Copyright 2022 Pioneer Press.