Just hours after she was crowned Aurora, Queen of the Snows of the 2022 St. Paul Winter Carnival at RiverCentre on Friday night, Effie Barnes gazed out at Rice Park from her temporary royal residence at the St. Paul Hotel.
How was this new view of hers, with the trees lit up in white lights and the sculptures carved out of ice and the people starting to gather early Saturday in downtown St. Paul to celebrate winter?
“It’s magical,” said Barnes.
Kind of like her life right now.
“This is a dream 10 years in the making,” said Barnes, 28, of St. Paul. “I am so incredibly honored.”
Barnes, who is sponsored by LCS Company, is the first new Queen of the Snows crowned in more than two years — the annual candidate program was paused in 2021 due to COVID-19. The 2020 Royal Family served again in 2021 as the community waited for the pandemic to ease.
‘THEY LOOKED LIKE THEY WERE HAVING FUN’
The dream to serve St. Paul began when Barnes was serving in a royal role for her hometown of Farmington.
“So it was 2012, when I was serving as a Farmington Ambassador, that I met the St. Paul Winter Carnival Royal Family for the first time,” she says.
If you are familiar with the Royal Family and the rest of the cast of characters of Winter Carnival, you know they make quite an entrance: Besides King Boreas and the Queen, there is the Prime Minister, the four princes and four princesses, the Royal Guard, Klondike Kate and the Vulcan King and his Vulcan Krewe.
“They looked like they were having fun, with all the hooting and hollering and horns,” she recalls.
At the time, Barnes — an 18-year-old high school student whose full first name is Stephanie, a name she says no one calls her — watched in delight as these costumed Winter Carnival characters acted out the “Legend,” the battle between winter and spring.
“I turned to my chaperone at the time and said, ‘Isn’t that fun?’ and she said, ‘Yes it is,’ and I said, ‘How do I do that?’ Barnes recalls.
She became further charmed by St. Paul when she attended college at Hamline University and served as a princess of the Rice Street Festival.
“I love the vibe of St. Paul,” she says. “There are just so many great, local places to eat or hang out with friends.”
If she can find these places and friends, that is.
“The city streets don’t make any sense,” she says with a laugh, “and that’s why I love them.”
She calls one of those streets her own now.
“As a first-time homeowner, I only looked in St. Paul,” she says. “I love the city so much.”
She found the perfect place.
“I live in a cozy two bedroom on the West Side,” she says. “I can see downtown St. Paul from my windows.”
Besides going to school and buying a house in St. Paul, Barnes also works in the capital city.
“I’m a personal banker at Highland Bank,” she says.
Her boss is excited, too.
“She is so incredibly supportive,” Barnes said during an early Saturday interview by phone. “She’s the person who brought my luggage to the St. Paul Hotel last night. And a huge crowd of people from the bank were there to support me at coronation.”
‘WE DEFINITELY HAVE A NEED RIGHT NOW TO COME TOGETHER’
As Queen, her volunteer role will last a lot longer than the 10 days of Carnival — over the next year, she and the rest of the Royal Family will make appearances at parades, festivals and other events, as well as spreading cheer to individuals and groups through honorary knightings, visits and other goodwill gestures.
“I like being able to look into someone’s eyes and see that I’ve made their day special because they think we are special — when it’s really the other way around,” she says.
She knows community cheer is needed as the pandemic continues. In St. Paul, as the omicron variant spreads, there is a limited mask mandate in place, and royal visits to places like nursing homes and schools are not happening currently.
“Every year is different and every year has its challenges,” Barnes says, “but we definitely have a need right now to come together.”
With so many outdoor events making up the Winter Carnival, that’s easier to do right now, like at the King Boreas Grande Day Parade on Saturday.
“I am so incredibly honored for this opportunity to meet the people of St. Paul,” Barnes says.
With a skipped year for the crown, there were more candidates for the 2022 program than a typical year — Barnes was one of 20 candidates. In 2019, there were 14.
She stood out, says Natalka MacDonald, Queen of the Snows Candidate Committee Chair.
“Effie was very engaging with everyone she encountered,” MacDonald says. “She carried herself with poise and a great attitude — which was so welcomed during this unique year of the pandemic.”
‘I COULD CONTRIBUTE’
While she works in banking, Barnes’ degree is in creative writing, with a focus on young adult fiction, and minors in English and sociology. She’s currently at work on her first young-adult novel — a coming-of-age story in the fantasy genre — but she’ll have plenty of non-fiction material to write up for now.
“The Prime Minister (Christine Arme) gifted me a journal for these 10 days,” she says of her Winter Carnival reign.
Her mom could be her official archiver — she runs a scrapbook retreat called Cedar Ridge Retreat.
“My mom has been collecting all the programs and trinkets for my scrapbooks,” Barnes says.
Barnes’ family has also taken over the care of another royal entourage: The Queen’s little family includes a cat named Bucky and four guinea pigs called Brownie, Margarita, Mimosa and Bellini.
She’s now ready to put her heart into serving as Queen. Despite the pandemic, she says the timing was perfect.
“It’s been something I’ve always wanted to do,” she says. “I put it in my back pocket until now. This year, I really felt that I had settled into my home and my career and it was really a time in my life when I felt like I could contribute 100 percent of my time.”
2022 St. Paul Winter Carnival Royal Family
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- King Boreas LXXXIV: Billy Given of Stillwater, sponsored by Prom Catering.
- Aurora, Queen of the Snows: Effie Barnes of St. Paul, sponsored by LCS Company.
- Prime Minister: Christine Arme of Inver Grove Heights, sponsored by Wipaire and Fire Boss.
- Titan, Prince of the North Wind: Jeff Thron of Stillwater, sponsored by Mantyla Well Drilling and Bungalow Inn Lakeland.
- North Wind Princess: Kylie Johnson of Woodbury, sponsored by Hamernick’s Interior Solutions.
- Euros, Prince of the East Wind: Dan Kaldun of St. Paul, sponsored by Loon Café St. Paul, Cardiology Cards and Premier Fence.
- East Wind Princess: Keyah Adams of Oakdale, sponsored by 5th Street Poker Parties.
- Zephyrus, Prince of the West Wind: Dave Gagnon of Afton, sponsored by LCS Company and Candyland.
- West Wind Princess: Shannon Baier of Hudson, Wis., sponsored by Village Inn Sports Bar & Grill.
- Notos, Prince of the South Wind: Joey Clark of Inver Grove Heights, sponsored by Exceeding Expectations Real Estate.
- South Wind Princess: Cathryn Heimerdinger of Oakdale, sponsored by Northern Prairie Financial.
- Captain of the Guard: Brenda Hocum of Roseville, sponsored by Mama T’s and Savoy Pizza.
- Sergeant of the Guard: Erin Caroline of Rosemount, sponsored by Boar’s Head Leather, Ace Laser Tech and Party Time Liquor.
- King’s Guard: Erin Lunzer of Mounds View, sponsored by Home Services Insurance and Adagio’s Pizza Factory.
- King’s Guard: Emma Flood of Hugo, sponsored by Haas Financial.
- King’s Guard: Joe Philipsen of Maplewood, sponsored by Tauras Engineering & Manufacturing.
- King’s Guard: Dave Persing of Princeton, sponsored by 101 Roofing and Remodeling.
- Royal Coordinators: John and Barb Maslowski.
- Klondike Kate: Tina Hacker of Plymouth, sponsored by St. Croix Hospice.
Copyright 2022 Pioneer Press.
