The 2013 Winter Carnival will be the final “Coolest Celebration on Earth” for Beth Pinkney, president and CEO of the St. Paul Festival & Heritage Foundation, which runs the 127-year-old tradition.
Pinkney, 42 of Woodbury, has helmed the annual event since November 2008 but is leaving in mid-2013 to run the 2015 Summer National Senior Games, which will draw more than 13,000 athletes 50-years-old and older to St. Paul, Minneapolis and Bloomington.
“It’s exciting news but it’s kind of bittersweet,” Pinkney, of Woodbury, said. “I enjoy it here.”
A search committee is currently reviewing dozens of resumes in search of someone who can come aboard in January, learn the Winter Carnival ropes and take over after the West Side Cinco de Mayo festival, which the Festival & Heritage Foundation started running last year.
The 2013 Carnival runs Jan. 24 through Feb. 3.
John Brewer can be reached at 651-228-2093.
Copyright 2012 Pioneer Press.
