Jody Vander Hart of Vadnais Heights was “sashed” as the 2024 Klondike Kate on Wednesday night at the Inwood Oaks Event Center in Oakdale.

She said she longed for the chance.

“I would look at the ladies on the float and would want to be up there singing with them; now I will be,” Vander Hart said.

Vander Hart was one of eight contestants in the traditional prelude to the St. Paul Winter Carnival.

The Klondike Kate contest, started in 1971, celebrates the spirit of dance hall girls of the Gold Rush, and Kate is the carnival’s “mistress of fun, frivolity and good fellowship.”

The 2024 Winter Carnival runs from Jan. 25 through Feb. 4. For more information, go to wintercarnival.com.

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