MPR’s Lorna Benson walks around Rice Park with historian Paul Larson, who speaks about how the Winter Carnival is all about fortitude and making the best of what mother nature hurls our way.

To the pessimist, winter is cold, dark and depressing -- a time when the thermometer plunges and the heating bill soars. To the optimist, winter is an arctic blast of the best kind... when snowflakes fall magically in the moonlight and kids shriek with delight while making snow caves and snow angels. The St. Paul Winter Carnival celebrates the best of what winter has to offer...hockey, hayrides, softball on ice and of course, ice carving.