The organization that produces the St. Paul Winter Carnival is looking for a new CEO.
St. Paul Festival and Heritage Foundation board chairman Greg Kuntz said Thursday that the foundation has parted ways with Deb Schaber, who has been president and CEO for four years.
“The board decided it was time to part ways and look in a different direction,” Kuntz said. “Deb did a lot of good things for our foundation and the community,” he added. “We’re grateful for all she did.”
The SPFHF board has identified a search committee and will be posting the job opening soon, Kuntz said. They hope to have a new president and CEO in place by mid- to late summer.
In a statement Thursday night, Schaber emailed: “It has been a fantastic opportunity to have been able to help produce events for the St. Paul Community over the last four years. It has included everything from being able to help organize the most recent Ice Palace created for the Super Bowl, finding a way to move the Winter Carnival to Kellogg Park due when Rice Park was being rebuilt, to expanding its Cinco de Mayo Festival. There were also unique challenges that included managing events and sponsorships through the pandemic such as the 2021 Winter Carnival State Fair Drive Thru.”
SPFHF produces Cinco de Mayo West Side St. Paul as well as Winter Carnival. The 2021 St. Paul Winter Carnival events were scaled back because of COVID-19 restrictions. A drive-through event at the Minnesota State Fairgrounds was added to safely view the ice and snow sculptures. The Carnival’s signature parades were canceled. Cinco West Side events were virtual in 2020 and canceled in 2021.
“Creating free events for the community has always been challenging,” Schaber said in her email. “The last few years of budgets being stretched combined with the pandemic has made it even more challenging. Now, more than ever, events are being forced to balance the increase in expenses, decreases in sponsorship revenue while at the same time trying to stay relevant and create programming for all demographics.
“The SPFHF board of directors have some strategic decisions to work through that involves looking at this historic event in a way that keeps the tradition vibrant yet is re-imagined for this new fiscal environment,” Schaber said. “As it has for more than 100 years, I am confident they will find the right path.”
Kuntz said the board is hoping the 2022 St. Paul Winter Carnival will have “a more traditional look.”
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