FAQs

Who is the program open to?

The Junior Royalty program is open to anyone ages 12 to not yet 16 by the time candidacy starts.

Do you have to live in St. Paul to participate?

Nope! The St. Paul Winter Carnival is open to anyone who loves the Winter Carnival and is willing to get to St. Paul and other surrounding communities. Our current ambassadors all live in different cities!

Do you have to hold a city title before being Winter Carnival?

No! This program is open to anyone, regardless of whether or not you have been royalty/an ambassador in another city or not. Serving in another role is NOT a requirement to run for any Winter Carnival position.

Can I still participate if I'm involved in other activities?

Yes! First of all, we know that you are students and therefore, school does come first. We also recognized that you may already be committed to other activities (sports, clubs, music, jobs, etc.) and that's awesome too! As long as you communicate with the coordinators if you are going to be missing an event, it's totally fine!

If selected, we like to remind the court that yes, they are a student first and have other activities. This year is to help you learn and practice time management skills to get to do everything you want to do. We also like to remind the candidates that if they are selected, this is a once in a lifetime opportunity and they only have the year to experience it! So as we love when our court members prioritize Winter Carnival activities, we do acknowledge that they have other commitments too!

What is the time commitment?

As a candidate, we have about 10 candidate events between November and our Junior Royalty Coronation at the beginning of January. Most of those events are between mid November and mid December (and usually nothing over Winter Break!).

If selected, buckle up for a busy year! January will have a lot of Winter Carnival events including the Klondike Kate contest, Queen of the Snows Candidate Dinner, Queen of the Snows Fashion Show, Senior Royalty Coronation, Kick off to Carnival, Royal Coronation, 2 parades (Grand Day and Torchlight), and other events as added.

February through May has 2-5 appearances per month, most of which will be on the weekends. June through August are our busy months! Over the summer, we make about 30-40 appearances, participating in many community festivals' parades, coronations, and service projects. Expect to be busy most weekends and some week nights. Once school is back in session for the fall, we have about 3-5 events in September and October before circling back to the candidate events (plus a few more for the current court only).