St. Paul Winter Carnival

It was 121 years ago that St. Paulites (apparent gluttons for punishment) decided that rather than huddle inside for warmth, they would remain outside, frozen by wind chills and blizzards, to celebrate winter at the inaugural St. Paul Winter Carnival. Well, winter continues to happen, and the capitol city continues to hold the quintessentially Minnesotan event, the country's oldest winter celebration. Minnesota food plays a prominent roll, of course. Forget the ongoing hot dish vs. casserole terminology dispute, it's time for the oven mitts to come off in an all-out battle for winter cuisine supremacy. The Hot Dish Challenge pits recipe against recipe, chef against chef, with pride and a trip for two to Cancun (lowest winter temperature: 50 degrees) on the line. For those more interested in gorging than in culinary glory, a variety of hot dishes will be available at the Hot Dish Tent throughout the carnival, along with wine tastings from Barefoot wines. Carnival organizers couldn't brand the event "the coolest celebration on earth" without cold-centric events. Ice sculpting competitions in Rice Park are open to both professionals and novices. The multi-block competition gives competing teams with 20 40-by-20-by-10-inch blocks two days to create a masterpiece worthy of the $3,000 top prize. The individual block contest gives each competitor two hunks of ice and six hours to pound out a winner. The carnival also will be home to plenty of winter sports, most notably the Frozen 5K and half marathon. The annual event routinely draws more than 2,000 runners. There are dozens more activities across St. Paul, including the needle-in-a-haystack adventure and the annual medallion treasure hunt with its $10,000 prize. The carnival will come to a melancholy end on February 2 with King Boreas's defeat and the Vulcan Victory Torchlight Parade through downtown. For a complete schedule of events visit www.winter-carnival.com or call 651.223.4700 for more information.
Jan. 23-Feb. 3, 2008