“Ready, Queen?” asked Erin Harrington, the Captain of the Guard.
“Yep,” said Erin Gustafson, the newly crowned Aurora, Queen of the Snows of the 2026 St. Paul Winter Carnival.
Regally, Gustafson’s accepted Harrington’s arm and they walked toward a sparkly ensemble of people dressed in crowns and costumes in the lobby of the St. Paul Winter Carnival early Saturday. The royal family was on their way to a breakfast engagement and then to many other events scheduled during the 10 days of fun and frivolity that is this city’s carnival that dates back 140 years and is produced by the St. Paul Festival and Heritage Foundation (and presented this year by Dungarvin).
(The merriment happened before dawn on Saturday, before the fatal shooting of a man by federal immigration officers in Minneapolis. Later, around noon, the King Boreas Grande Day Parade was canceled less than two hours before it was to begin at 2 p.m., with the organizers not saying whether it was due to the extreme cold or because of the shooting.)
Although this royal group will have a year to get to know each other during their reign, Gustafson is already pretty familiar with one person — her dad, Tim Whitacre, is Notos, Prince of the South Wind (from the Royal House of City & County Credit Union).
The prince had a word with the Pioneer Press after his daughter had completed the queen’s traditional annual interview with the newspaper. He explained how the family got involved in Carnival to get back to his St. Paul roots — and their story could be aspirational for others who want to get to know more people and organizations on this side of the metro.
From Big Lake to Woodbury
Notos, Prince of the South Wind Tim Whitacre, rides to the stage on his Cantina float during the 2026 St. Paul Winter Carnival Royal Coronation at the RiverCentre in St. Paul on Friday, Jan. 23, 2026. (John Autey / Pioneer Press)
While the prince grew up in Highland Park and attended Nativity, his daughter the queen grew up out in Big Lake, a community about 50 miles northwest of St. Paul in Sherburne County. Later, the queen came to our side of the metro as an undergraduate at the University of St. Thomas before she and her husband settled down inn Woodbury. Her parents (Prince Tim and her mom, Lady Debbie) are back here now, too.
“We just sold our house in October and moved to Woodbury so we’re very new to Winter Carnival and it was our Realtor (Bernie Swafford) who was involved,” said the prince. “She said, ‘If you want to get to know St. Paul people and your neighbors, get involved in Winter Carnival.’”
They did, they sure did.
“After the interview process to be one of the Wind Princes, specifically the South Wind, after I was accepted, she said, ‘Well, if Dad’s in, I’m in,’” the prince recalls. “She always wanted to run for Aurora, Queen of the Snows.”
The queen, who is sponsored by Bernie Swafford at Edina Realty, concurs and explains how the dream began.
The queen dream
Erin Gustafson is crowned as Aurora, Queen of the Snows during the 2026 Winter Carnival Royal Coronation at the RiverCentre in St. Paul on Friday, Jan. 23, 2026. (John Autey / Pioneer Press)
“I was an Ambassador up in Big Lake in 2010 and 2011,” Gustafson says of a previous royal role. “I got to ride around on Big Lake’s spud, the giant baked potato float. It’s literally a giant baked potato and we had these little square cushions that we’d sit on and they were our little butter pats and I really hope they let me go sit in my old seat when we see it next.”
While the baked potato float (part of the annual Big Lake Spud Fest) was a big deal, the magic of the Winter Carnival also stands out in her memories of this time.
“Back when I was an Ambassador in Big Lake, I came down to the Winter Carnival for a weekend as part of my duties back then and it was my favorite event all year,” she recalls. “I think just the magic of it was really beautiful and also just being around all of these other women who were really empowering and willing to have a good time even if it’s cold out — even if the weather’s not ideal, it’s a choice to just have fun and that’s what we did.”
Part of that fun is imprinted in her memory, specifically ice skating at the outdoor WinterSkate rink in downtown St. Paul with the lights of Rice Park twinkling in the background and set in the shadow of the gingerbread-like Landmark Center.
“It was just gorgeous,” she says.
There were other moments, too, like seeing how St. Paul showed up big at the King Boreas’ Grande Day Parade.
“And so ever since then, I’ve always thought about running for Queen of the Snows, but my job was really demanding right out of undergrad and the timing never really worked out,” she said.
A royal candidate
Gustafson, 31, studied communications at the University of St. Thomas, earning a bachelor’s degree before going on to get her MBA from the University of Minnesota. Now working independently as a strategy and business consultant, she realized she could finally schedule pursuing that longtime dream of hers.
“Working independently has been a lot more flexible,” she says. “So the timing was just right for me.”
Especially with her dad on board.
“It’s very much a family affair,” says the queen.
The queen’s husband, Brandon, hails from Superior, Wis., so she had to explain why she wanted to make room for pursuing this Winter Carnival role along with the other fun stuff in their life, including supporting the local arts community (especially the St. Paul Art Crawl), hosting game nights with friends, hunting for books at used bookstores (he recently added some built-in bookshelves for their growing home library) and continuing her pandemic-born hobby of knitting (she favors creating baby sweaters for her friends).
Of her quest for queenhood, which officially kicked off last fall as one of 12 candidates, her husband needed a minute:
“He said, ‘You want to do what?’” she says with a laugh.
He’s on board, though, especially after the pomp and circumstance of the Royal Coronation at RiverCentre on Friday night in downtown St. Paul.
“I was in awe,” the queen said of the moment the crown was placed on her head.
A royal year
The 2026 Winter Carnival Royal Family after the coronation at the RiverCentre in St. Paul on Friday, Jan. 23, 2026. (John Autey / Pioneer Press)
A queen does not serve alone. As part of the royal family, four other women were crowned on Friday as princesses: North Wind Princess Stacy Johnson from the Royal House of Party Time Liquor; East Wind Princess Natalka MacDonald from the Royal House of Quality Insurance Service; West Wind Princess Katelyn Bergstrom from the Royal House of River Hills Automotive and South Wind Princess Christine Hanley from the Royal House of Northern Prairie Financial.
What stood out about Gustafson?
“Erin had a positive, upbeat attitude from the beginning of candidacy!” said Kara Martin, Queen of the Snows candidate coordinator, in an email to the Pioneer Press. “Throughout the process, she began to stand out with her quiet leadership and ability to ask the right questions to make sure all of the candidates would be successful. We are beyond excited for Erin, Stacy, Natalka, Katelyn and Christine as they embark on this journey!”
Over the next year in their volunteer roles, the royal family’s duties include traveling, riding in parades and making appearances at various events, serving as goodwill ambassadors and boosters for the Winter Carnival and our community.
“‘Respect reigns and kindness rules’ is our motto,” she says. “This year, it’s all about positivity — being kind in the community and meeting people and having those little moments that are special and make their day, finding those meaningful moments.”
She’s already had moments like these, with another memory imprinted on her heart.
“We had a bus day where we went to three schools and two nursing homes,” she said of the candidacy process. “At one of the schools, we were in a classroom and I was asking one of the girls what she wanted to be when she grew up. We were in costume that day, so I asked her if she’d like to be a princess, or maybe an astronaut or a singer … well, she just lit up at ‘singer’ and said she wanted to sing ‘Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star’ and the ‘ABCs.’ We sang them together and it just melted my heart.”
As the queen, dressed up in her crown and white attire, and the royal entourage drifted away on Saturday to their next engagement, the royal’s mom — Lady Debbie Whitacre — paused a moment to consider the year ahead.
“It’s going to be a wild, wild, wild year!” Lady Debbie said. “Lots of fun!”
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