The Pioneer Press recently queried Suzanne Leisman, a 47-year-old North St. Paul day-care provider who is the 2010 Klondike Kate, about everything from where she buys Kate’s trademark boas to her previous life in radio.
Q How does it feel to be Kate, that entertaining icon of the 19th-century American Gold Rush and the bawdiest member of the St. Paul Winter Carnival’s royal family?
A I’m so happy that I’m Kate, but I can’t quite believe it yet. My family and I have loved the Winter Carnival for years, but like so many people, I was standing on the sidelines, drinking cocoa and watching the parade, carrying a shovel and hunting for the medallion at all hours of the night, smiling, hoping. Now, I have a whole different perspective.
Q What have you learned so far?
A How everything works — there are so many little things I didn’t know, like all the different levels of Vulcans.
Q You first tried out for Kate last year. How did that go?
A I was a finalist, but I learned that I had to try to figure out how to not feel like my legs were shaking and have everybody know. After my performance last year, my little girl started crying and said she just wanted to go home and sit by the fireplace and drink cocoa with Dad. She had already decided I’d lose! She said, “I know you could have done that song better.” My legs didn’t shake this year!
Q Why did you want to be Kate?
A I had seen the Kates in parades, and they were elegant and so fun and I loved the outfits. They were such a unique group of women — they were confident, more than most women, very comfortable with who they are. They just seemed happy with who they are at the minute, so enthusiastic about life. It got me thinking about trying out.
So I went to the competition — that was in 2008. My husband dropped me off, and I hung out in the back and watched. After, I wished I would have tried out. The next year, I got the confidence to do so, and you know what? Every single one of the women have made me feel so wonderful and so comfortable — they’re so helpful. All the people involved with the Winter Carnival are like that. It makes you think, “Where are these people when I’m at the grocery store?”
Q Do you have a background in singing?
A I run a day care, but I was in radio for a long time. I was known as Suzanne Ray. I got into the music part when I was at KBEM. There are so many wonderful jazz singers in the Twin Cities. They asked me to sing at a Christmas thing and, of course, I have always loved to sing, but in choirs or plays. I felt like my voice needed some fine tuning, so MacPhail (Center for Music) hooked me up with a teacher who is still there, Vicky Mountain, and she has really helped me a lot. I’ve taken lessons with her on and off since 1997.
I love the way I feel when I’m singing. Not just the way I feel but the way you can make other people feel, too. I think music makes people happy.
Kate is the first singing thing I’ve done in years, though. I’ve been in the house all these years, raising my daughters and running a day care. I had all this pent-up energy. Being onstage, it felt like, “I’m back!”
Q How did tryouts work?
A You go through a series of interviews, and you have to prepare three songs. You sing the first song, and if they like you, you sing a second. After the third song, they pick their Kate. You are judged on costume, talent, personality. They look at your musical background and your experience in front of people. Immediately after you win, you start singing, right the next day. They’ll say, “We want you at a dinner — do you have anything?” My legs, they don’t shake anymore, but I can’t say I’ve gotten rid of every butterfly — but they’re fluttering away, slowly. I hope they’ll all be gone in another week.
Q How did you re-create the physical persona of Klondike Kate?
A She had to be saloony — she was a saloon girl — but classy at the same time. It’s like her personality was sprinkled in gold dust. She was full of light and energy, and that’s how I wanted to come across.
I wore a corset, which was truly an experience and not one I’d recommend — it makes you stand out there, really. I made a four-layered skirt — it was lace, taffeta, lace, taffeta and black ruffles. The black ruffles and lace really brought out the blue of the fabric, which was sort of azure, the most beautiful blue. I had, of course, the boas, and I ordered large ostrich feathers and glue-gunned them to hair clips that I also decorated with beads and ribbons. And I bought a wig of pretty, long, curly hair that I combined with my hair.
Q Where do you find things like boas and ostrich feathers?
A EBay! If you type in vintage boas and purses, you’ll find the most beautiful things.
Molly Guthrey Millett can be reached at 651-228-5505.
Copyright 2010 Pioneer Press.
