Great Get-Together: How a Southern boy fell in love with the Winter Carnival

Edward Cortinas was born in Louisiana and spent most of his childhood in Texas, a Southern boy who did not know anything about the St. Paul Winter Carnival, the nation’s oldest and largest winter festival.

The carnival’s traditions and pageantry of ice carvings, hot dish, ice palaces, kings, snow queens, singing Kates and masked Vulcan krewes driving through the city atop a vintage fire truck were foreign to him.

But after Ed and his family moved north, he was introduced to this St. Paul subculture on the night his father was crowned Prince of the South Wind in 2003. Ed, then 21, was not charmed.

“I thought it was the stupidest thing I’d ever seen, and I wanted nothing to do with it,” says Ed, laughing. “I thought, ‘Dressing up like this and going out in public? There’s something wrong with these people.’ ”

“These people,” although Ed didn’t know it then, included his future wife, Tracy Leach, who was serving as sergeant of the King’s Guard that year. The guards, according to St. Paul Winter Carnival legend, are like the royal family’s “secret service,” says Ed.

Ed and Tracy first saw each other in the coronation crowd that night, but they didn’t talk. They would have a chance to get to know each other later, though, because Ed became a Winter Carnival convert.

“They talked me into doing one parade, and after that, I was hooked,” says Ed. “You know how you always see people watching a parade who look like they’ve been dragged there? Well, it became my goal to get those people to smile. It’s an incredible feeling.”

While serving as an assistant to his father at an Inver Grove Heights festival that summer, Ed got to talking to his mom, the Lady of the South Wind, about relationships.

“She was describing the type of woman she’d like to see me with, and she said, ‘You know, someone like Tracy,’ ” he says.

Tracy, with her illustrious Winter Carnival pedigree, is akin to a Vulcan princess. (Vulcanus Rex, aka the Fire King, and his krewe represent spring and warmth, while King Boreas Rex and the Queen of the Snows and the rest of the royal family symbolize winter. During the Winter Carnival, held in January, the two sides battle for dominance.)

“It all started for my family when my great-uncle, Joe Shields, was Vulcanus Rex in 1973,” says Tracy. “But I became really involved with the carnival after my dad, Bob Leach, was Prince of Soot (a Vulcan title) in 2002. He’s now the reigning Vulcanus Rex.

“One of my uncles is also a current Vulcan (Count Embrious), and another was a Vulcan in 2003 (Baron Hot Sparkus). My cousin and my sister are both Tax Collectors (they sell buttons), and besides serving as a guard in 2003, I was captain of the King’s Guard in 2007.”

But Ed didn’t need his mom’s prompting to get interested in Tracy. At other Winter Carnival events, Ed and Tracy had sensed sparks. Plus, Ed was generally impressed with this hard-working guard.

“She never missed an appearance, not one, and there are a lot in the 365 days of service, like visits to nursing homes and schools and out-of-town travel to places like Canada and Florida,” says Ed. “And, even though she badly sprained her toes during the carnival and wore a splint and had crutches, she walked both the Grand Day and Torchlight Parade.”

And Tracy couldn’t help but be drawn to Ed and his spirit — he was knighted that year as “The Dancing Caballero” (translation: The Dancing Horseman) by the Vulcans because of his penchant for dancing with parade-goers.

It was hard to find time alone to date, though.

“You don’t really get a lot of private time during carnival events,” says Ed. “The group sort of tagged along with us.”

So when Ed and Tracy went to see a movie, their carnival crowd went, too, and the gang also knew when the couple was officially dating after they witnessed a kiss Ed and Tracy shared during a gathering.

It made sense, then, that after Ed and Tracy got engaged in 2006, the theme of their wedding would be pure Winter Carnival (after their introduction in 2003, Ed went on serve as a South Wind guard in 2004).

Except, the wedding was not held during the carnival — although that had been suggested by “some of the carnival higher-ups,” says Ed.

“The Winter Carnival has been a big influence in our lives, and it’s the reason we are together, but we wanted to get married on our anniversary as an official couple, which is June 28,” says Ed.

But the Winter Carnival was there in spirit. Boy, was there spirit:

• Steve Robertson, a minister and the Vulcan Prince of Soot in 2003, officiated at the ceremony, held at the Como Park Conservatory.
  

   

• The bridesmaids wore red gowns, and the groomsmen dressed up their tuxes with red ties and vests to honor the Vulcan lineage of the bride’s family.
  

   

• Many of the guests, including two King Boreases, wore their formal Winter Carnival attire. In addition, King Hernando De Soto of the De Soto Heritage Festival in Bradenton, Fla., was in attendance in his full royal regalia.
  

   

• To play a prank — typical Vulcan behavior — the father of the bride and the reigning Vulcanus Rex, Fire King, marched down the aisle with the bride on one arm and a 20-gauge shotgun in the other. (“No, the gun was not loaded,” says Ed, laughing.)
  

   

• The 2007 Klondike Kate, Darice Koepke, and the 2003 Klondike Kate, Kimberly Obert Tsoukalas, sang during the service.
  

   

• Instead of limos, the wedding party rode in Vulcan krewe fire engines, including the official Vulcanmobile, a 1932 Luverne.
  

   

• The Vulcans crashed the couple’s tailgating party reception at the VFW in North St. Paul, but, says Ed, “They were all very well-behaved. Very.”
  

  Now that they’re married, Ed, 26, a pest control technician for Guardian, and Tracy, 34, an imaging coordinator at the St. Paul Heart Clinic, look forward to introducing their future children to the St. Paul Winter Carnival someday.

  “They will have a front row seat to everything,” says Ed. “They will know everything about the Winter Carnival by the time they’re 5.”

  If you’ve said “I do” in the past 12 months and would like the Pioneer Press to consider profiling your wedding or commitment ceremony, contact Molly Millett at 651-228-5505.