“What’s a West Wind?”

Watching a 2004 St. Paul Winter Carnival parade slide by, Anoka small-business owner Roger Kruse couldn’t possibly have expected his question would lead him to be crowned King Boreas LXXVIII in 2014.

“It’s just fantastic to think that something like that led to being able to be part of something like this,” said Kruse, 55. “This festival and its people have really reinstated my belief in mankind.”

It was inside the Landmark Center in downtown St. Paul during that 2004 carnival that steadfast carnival supporters Gene and Marilyn DiMartino brought Kruse up to speed. The lore. The Winds. The importance of the nearly 130-year-old tradition.

The hooks were set.

On a riverboat cruise a few months later, Kruse ran into another longtime carnival supporter, Roger Bonfe, who asked if Kruse was related to the 1987 West Wind Dick Kruse.

Roger Kruse would later learn he was — and Dick Kruse’s mother, Gladys, was one of the founders of the Winter Carnival Women’s Division, known now as the Ambassadors.

Roger Kruse, who lived in Shoreview for 20 years before moving to Anoka in 2002, was thrilled to have a family connection to the carnival. Later that year, he was named the 2005 West Wind.

“I remember DiMartino coming up to me and saying, ‘You didn’t know what a wind was a year ago!’ There was no going back now,” Kruse said.

Kruse’s motto for the 2014 Winter Carnival is “Family, Charity, Community.” A father of four and husband of a retired nurse, Joni Kruse, he built a small business from the ground up — never losing sight of the important role those elements play in strengthening communities.

A financial services veteran of 24 years, Kruse and his wife now own FFP Wealth Management, a financial firm based in Coon Rapids. He believes small businesses keep society upright.

“Enterprising small- businessmen are making things happen,” he said. “Larger businesses certainly have their role, but small business is the backbone.”

This year, Kruse is pulling the Salvation Army into the mix, both for the symbolism — it came to St. Paul in 1886, the first year of the Winter Carnival — and to honor the work the organization does.

Chosen in July, Kruse has been in overdrive preparing for the carnival. He wants to be a strong ambassador for the city and for the message of service.

“It’s a 24-hour-a-day job,” he said. “And it’s worth it. It’s an incredibly high honor.”

Kruse said his family does their business in St. Paul, the city that has always played a large role in their lives. But he said he’s “bringing the bus” to Anoka, and isn’t shy about growing the carnival’s reach.

“You don’t have to be from St. Paul to serve St. Paul,” he said.

Joseph Lindberg can be reached at 651-228-5513. Follow him at twitter.com/JosephLindberg.

Copyright 2014 Pioneer Press.