MPR’s Bob Potter talks with Robert Lavenda, anthropologist at Saint Cloud State University and an expert on town festivals in Minnesota, about the origins of the carnival legend.
According to the legend of the Winter Carnival, King Boreas reigns over the festivities until Vulcans’ Rex and his crew force them from their winter stronghold to herald the coming of spring.
The 1998 Saint Paul Winter Carnival includes the traditional display of ice and snow sculptures and the torchlight parade - as well as some new twists, like an ice-skating rink on the Capitol Mall.