Buoyed by the Vikings’ “Minnesota Miracle” this week and ready for the next big game, St. Paul is prepared for its moment — make that nearly a month — in the spotlight.

Friday, Red Bull Crashed Ice returns to the dramatic backdrop of the St. Paul Cathedral as part of our big buildup to Super Bowl LII. The attention and excitement continue for three more weekends until an extended Winter Carnival wraps up Feb. 10.

Adam Johnson of Visit St. Paul, the city’s convention and visitors bureau, offers a “tip of the cap” to the Minnesota Super Bowl Host Committee. The group, he told us, “was intentional to name it the Minnesota Super Bowl,” making the effort a statewide one with benefits reaching beyond the site of the game.

The hoopla, bringing full hotels and busy restaurants, comes with a message: “Nobody in the world celebrates winter the way St. Paul does,” Johnson declares.

We should know, with celebrations that date back to the 1880s, when business leaders created the Winter Carnival to prove wrong a New York reporter who disparaged our frosty landscape.

Now, with what Johnson says is the largest collection of media ever assembled for the Super Bowl — 5,800 credentialed representatives — “we have the opportunity to say, ‘It might be chilly, but we have incredible attractions and a second-to-none hospitality community’” that are helping us become a destination. Details are at visitsaintpaul.com/things-to-do/super-bowl-lii.

He describes two hubs of activity downtown:

Rice Park, a focal point for many Winter Carnival activities and the place a 70-foot Ice Palace is rising to be ready for its lighting ceremony on Jan. 25, the day the festival begins its 17-day run.

After off- and then-on-again palace plans, “it’s important to us that we build it for the community,” said Deb Schaber, president and CEO of the St. Paul Festival and Heritage Foundation, which manages the carnival. Information on events and the carnival’s “Buy-a-Block” effort to engage the public in supporting palace construction are at wintercarnival.com.

CHS Field in Lowertown, where the St. Paul Saints are applying their offbeat “Fun Is Good” approach during the first wintertime use of the ballpark. Included are the St. Paul Super Slide and an ice-fishing opportunity that Executive Vice President Tom Whaley describes as “the Saints’ version of a frozen lake” stocked with rainbow trout.

It was a priority that a ride on the slide — with a 40-foot drop and a run that then continues to near second base, be affordable for families — Whaley told us, noting that Securian Financial Group stepped up as sponsor. “There’s not a group out there who ‘gets’ St. Paul better than Securian,” he said.

Tickets — $10 for adults and $5 for kids 12 and under — are good for unlimited rides during a one-hour time slot.

Also noteworthy are the three major events that will take place here:

  • Super Bowl Opening Night, Jan. 29 at Xcel Energy Center. It’s billed as fans’ first chance to see the Super Bowl teams in Minnesota and watch media interviews with coaches and players.
  • Taste of the NFL, Feb. 3 at RiverCentre, features a chef from each NFL city serving a signature dish alongside a current or former NFL player. Funds raised at the event over the years have provided 200 million meals for those in need.
  • “The Night Before” concert by the Dave Matthews Band Feb. 3 at Xcel Energy Center.

It’s worth noting, as well, that the big game culminates a year-long charitable giving effort that’s been good for St. Paul. It’s geared to leave a legacy, with about $4 million awarded throughout the state to improve the health of Minnesota children.

Included are $50,000 awarded last week to the Sanneh Foundation to make over the Conway gym on the East Side; $100,000 to retrofit several tennis courts at city parks into courts for Sepak Takraw, a traditional Southeast Asian sport; $50,000 to support an outdoor neighborhood garden in the Dayton’s Bluff area; $50,000 for a three-structure demonstration kitchen at Frogtown Farm, the urban farm in that neighborhood; and $100,000 to CLUES, the state’s largest Latino-led nonprofit agency, which will add a teaching kitchen to its headquarters on the East Side.

It’s been said that no place else lives the Bold North brand better than St. Paul.

We believe it, and our visitors soon will see for themselves.

Copyright 2018 Pioneer Press.