Anita McColley’s boss thought she would make not a good but a GREAT Klondike Kate.
‘Every year, he’d say, ‘Anita, you need to try out,’ ‘ McColley says.
‘She can sing, and she has an absolutely effervescent personality,’ says Mark Niblick, chairman of Midcontinent Media Inc.
“This went on for about five years,” McColley says. “Finally, I thought, ‘OK, fine, I’ll beat him to the punch and I’ll put the paperwork in before he talks to me about it this year.’ ”
“When she told me, I asked her, ‘What took you so long?’ ” says Niblick.
McColley, 37, a programming assistant, lives in Minneapolis but grew up on a farm in Isanti County. The country girl didn’t know about the St. Paul Winter Carnival until she moved here in 2000.
“I noticed things happening around town, a whole bunch of people around, and I’d wonder, ‘What is going on over there?’ ” McColley says.
Her St. Paul friends told her about our winter festival and its cast of characters, which includes Klondike Kate, a Gold Rush-era singer and dancer who mesmerized miners with her feathers, chiffon and charisma. The original woman behind the boa, Kathleen Rockwell, never sang or danced in St. Paul, but the last entertainer hired by the carnival in 1961 called herself Klondike Kate.
A decade later, the St. Paul Jaycees sponsored the first Klondike Kate contest. Now, women compete for the title. The winner reigns for a year but is always part of the Kate sisterhood. Kate and her entourage, the Royal Order of Klondike Kates, entertain at parades, charity functions and other events, including the Carnival’s Klondike Kate Cabaret on Jan. 28 at the Hilton Garden Inn in downtown St. Paul.
Just like the Gold Rush icon, McColley is a natural performer.
“As a toddler, I would hum along with the vacuum or the car on a regular basis,” she says. “I was singing church solos with the adult choir at the age of 10. Music has been such a huge part of my life, I couldn’t imagine waking up without a song in my head.”
Music still runs through her life.
“I listen to everything from Johnny Cash to Lady Gaga,” says McColley, who studied music education at Bethel University.
She also sang with a band until late last year and is now on leave from One Voice Mixed Chorus.
Despite her performing experience, McColley was nervous when she walked into the Prom Center in Oakdale on Jan. 5.
“I wasn’t sure what to expect — I had never seen a competition before,” she says. “But all the girls were so sweet and supportive of each other, my nerves just went away.”
Kate is chosen in an elimination process involving three rounds of songs. It’s not unusual for the candidates to try out for several years before they win.
“By the third round, I had a really good feeling,” she says. “At first, everyone was cheering the contestant they were there to support, but I had people’s attention by the second round. By the third round, everyone was hooting and hollering.”
Niblick figured that would happen.
“She exudes a positivity that is infectious,” he says.
The audience agreed.
“She epitomized what we were looking for — someone with self-confidence, a great singer,” says Paula Berends, coordinator for the Kates. “She was having FUN up there. She really nailed it. She was Kate.”
It wasn’t the satin, lace or feathers that made her Kate, though. It was her stage presence. The entertainer captivated the crowd just as Kate captivated the miners.
“I owned it,” she says. “It was my night.”
The next day, back at the office, McColley’s colleagues toasted her win with Klondike bars. Her boss sent her a short e-mail of congratulations. It ended: “P.S. I told you so!”
Molly Guthrey can be reached at 651-228-5505.
Copyright 2011 Pioneer Press.
