While St. Paul held its annual Winter Carnival, the tiny Village of Morningside celebrated the cold and ice in its own way in the 1950s and 1960s.
Beginning in January 1954, the Morningside School PTA and the Village Park Board planned a triumvirate of winter activities‒hockey, speed skating and figure skating‒that drew nearly every child in the village.
Medals were awarded to winners in each race. Bruce Carlson, who went on to skate for Edina High School’s first state championship hockey team in 1969, treasures those mementoes from his elementary school years.
“It was really special to see everyone in the neighborhood at Weber Park,” Carlson says
In addition to the sporting events, the school crowned an Ice King and Queen and a royal court, who walked under an archway formed by hockey sticks, “held by the sturdy arms of Morningside’s hustling hockey team,” the local newspaper reported in 1957.
The Winter Carnival ended sometime in the 1960s, perhaps when Morningside dissolved and rejoined the Village of Edina in 1966. However, the spirit of the event lives on with the neighborhood’s annual Winter Party at the Weber Park warming house.
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The Edina History Museum will hold a sledding party on Saturday, February 7, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Slide down the big hill at Arneson Acres Park and warm up inside with free hot chocolate and snacks. 4711 West 70th St., 612.928.4577
