ST PAUL, Minn. — Though the weather outside may be frightful, it may be just right this weekend's festivities in St. Paul.
"Perfect for ice yes, absolutely," said Lisa Jacobson, President of the St. Paul Festival and Heritage Foundation.
It’s the perfect combination of subzero temps and sunshine, setting the stage for a beloved winter gathering in St. Paul's Rice Park.
"The Winter Carnival is a 136-year-old tradition here in St. Paul," said Jacobson.
This year’s 10-day event will include everything from food vendors to the return of the warming house, and of course, creations by some of the world’s best ice sculptors.
"We actually have one guy who this will be his 50th year ice sculpting at the St. Paul Winter Carnival," said Jacobson.
"We have music, and lots of fun games, bingo, we have a drag queen bingo on 2-2-22," explained Jacobson. She went on to say, "we do have our traditional events like the Grand Day Parade is this Saturday, and then we do fireworks right here out of Rice Park, and so hopefully a lot of people will come out for all of these events.”
But as we’ve learned with similar events over the last two years, there will be COVID-19 protocols in place.
"We are in the City of St. Paul, and so for any of our ticketed events we do have to follow the mandate,” said Jacobson.
A mandate which requires a mask, proof of vaccination or a recent negative COVID test to enter any of the carnival’s indoor events where food and drinks are served.
"We are back as normal as we can be while we are still in the pandemic," said Jacobson.
A sense of normalcy, at least for those bold enough to brave the elements for the sake of tradition.
"It's really a nice carnival at 20, 25 degrees, which is exactly what’s predicted for Friday -- our first day of Winter Carnival," said Jacobson.
Frightful temps for an event living up to Minnesota's winter hype.
"It was actually started to prove to the world that this is not a horrible place to be in the winter," explained Jacobson.
The Winter Carnival starts this Friday and runs through February 6th.
For a full list of Winter Carnival festivities and times click here.
Watch more local news:
Watch the latest local news from the Twin Cities in our YouTube playlist: