Is hockey a suitable hobby for a queen?
Cassie Genz, the newly crowned Winter Carnival Queen of the Snows, had an affirmative, uplifting, even regal response to the question Saturday morning.
“I’d like to think that a strong woman and girl definitely can do anything that she wants when she puts her mind to it,” said Genz, 23, of Mendota Heights. A graduate of Winona State University, Genz started playing hockey when she was 5 years old and coached a girls youth hockey team last year.
In fact, hockey skates might have been more helpful than heels as Genz made her way across the icy, windswept field of Harriet Island, home of this year’s carnival. After winning the Queen of the Snows title Friday night, from a field of 11 contestants, Genz made royal appearances Saturday at Harriet Island and in a frigid parade in downtown St. Paul.
As queen, she will represent St. Paul at community events from Winnipeg to Florida during her one-year reign.
Genz attended Winter Carnivals as a girl and was captivated by the fantasy story that surrounds the Queen of the Snows and other carnival royalty. That early awe appeared to make it slightly awkward for Genz to talk about the queen’s significance – she laughed several times while switching between the third and first person.
“I grew up just fascinated with the carnival. I always found myself being swept up in the fantasy of it all,” Genz said. “I remember looking up to the queen, as so many people feel. She’s really there for the people. The people aren’t there for her.”
Genz is marketing director for Midwest Guaranty Title, which is affiliated with her pageant sponsor, Re/Max Realty 100. Working as an assistant with Re/Max in 2001 during a school break, Genz saw broker Greg Kuntz reign as King Boreas and was drawn to the volunteer aspect of being Winter Carnival royalty.
Kuntz and colleagues at Midwest Guaranty encouraged Genz to enter the Queen of the Snows competition, her first pageant. The networking and visibility that come with being queen are a nice fit with her marketing work, which involves reaching out to real estate agents, lenders and builders, she said.
At Winona State, Genz earned a degree in marketing and intercultural communication, with an emphasis on tourism. She lists among her accomplishments a school project in Costa Rica that gathered information about a seaside village and possible effects of an impending explosion in tourism.
Other seaside villages have endured such expansions in tourism, only to see developers come and go without leaving behind needed infrastructure, Genz said.
Genz was commencement speaker at Winona State’s graduation in spring 2005. She volunteers in several community groups, including the Junior League of St. Paul, the West St. Paul Youth Athletics Association and the Dakota County Library.
Christopher Snowbeck can be reached at csnowbeck@pioneerpress.com or 651-228-5479.
Copyright 2007 Pioneer Press.
