To feel less isolated after the pandemic, Liv Swenson ran for Queen of the Snows; she’s not isolated anymore

Molly Guthrey, Pioneer Press
Updated ·4 min read

After the pandemic, many of us feel a lingering sense of isolation.

Liv Swenson sure did.

“I was done with school — I graduated during the pandemic — and I work a hybrid job,” Swenson said. “I was craving social interaction.”

So she decided to run for Queen of the Snows.

She’s not feeling isolated anymore.

The 23-year-old from Eagan was crowned Aurora, Queen of the Snows of the 2023 St. Paul Winter Carnival on Friday.

“I crumpled to the floor, I was just so excited,” Swenson said during an interview on Saturday. “It was a moment of so much adrenaline and joy and shock.”

Winter Carnival roots

Her joy wasn’t only because of isolation’s end; it was also because of dreams and family.

“This has been a dream of mine since I knew what Carnival was,” she said. “I have been around the Winter Carnival my whole life.”

Her grandparents, Dan and Carol Swenson, were active with the royal family for many years.

“My grandpa was a guard and a captain of the guard,” Swenson said. “And together, my grandparents were coordinators for the royal family. So I’ve always been around it.”

In fact, some of her earliest memories are associated with coronation.

“I remember going to my grandparents’ house and seeing my grandma spread the seating charts spread around the dining room table,” she says.

She was also part of coronation night itself, along with her sister.

“I remember sitting backstage and also riding a tricycle during a skit between crownings,” Swenson says.

There’s another, glittering memory from the coronation pomp and circumstance.

“I remember seeing the former queens all lining up,” she says. “I thought, ‘One day, I want to do that. That’s going to be me.'”

Of all their grandkids, Grandpa Dan says, she was the one who especially loved all the royal happenings that took place not just during Carnival, but all year long.

“We coordinated the schedules for seven royal families, and Liv probaby followed her grandma around for five or six years, from coronations to parades,” he recalls. “She’d say, ‘Grandma and Grandpa, is there a coronation this weekend we could go to?'”

Dancing queen

Our future former queen grew up in Inver Grove Heights and graduated in 2017 from the St. Paul Conservatory for Performing Arts, where she studied dance (modern and ballet).

“I’ve been dancing since I was three years old,” she says.

She kept dancing at St. Olaf College, majoring in both social studies education and dance, with minors in educational studies and race and ethnic studies. A 2022 graduate, Swenson recently began working as an associate project manager for the University of Minnesota Foundation, a nonprofit that supports the university.

(Fortunately, the folks at the foundation were aware she might suddenly need 10 days off.)

The next year will be a busy one for the whole royal family; beyond the Winter Carnival itself, there will be travel, parades and various appearances as boosters of our city and its festival, with plenty of philanthropic efforts as well. Starring opposite the Vulcans with their fire king and krewe, the royals also act out what they call the Legend, a fairytale-like story that illustrates the push and pull of winter’s end and spring’s arrival.

Swenson, who is sponsored by White Bear Country Inn & Rudy’s Red Eye Grill, sees herself as part of a team, an effort that is larger than any one role or person.

“To be something larger than myself, of something that has been going on for 137 years, is very special,” she says.

Swenson is special as well, says Jennifer Battan, chair of the Queen of the Snows Candidate Committee.

“Liv has such a joyous and fun loving spirit,” Battan said in an email. “She gets down eye to eye with kids to talk, or play games, as on our bus tour sharing the legend. She is also thoughtful, articulate and well spoken. Liv is truly the full queen package.”

Cakes, Crowns and Carol

While Swenson worked her way out of isolation by running for queen, she also recently rediscovered her love of baking — she enjoys creating and donating cakes to “For Goodness Cakes,” a nonprofit that provides special cakes to help underserved youth and young adults celebrate their birthdays and other special occasions.

For fun, the college graduate has also rediscovered her love of reading for enjoyment — she’s currently building a personal library (she says that means she needs to have at least 1,000 books).

The bookworm already has a collection of crowns: In Inver Grove Heights, she served as junior royalty in 2013 and princess in 2016.

This coronation, though, was bittersweet.

From the stage on Friday night, Swenson saw her grandpa, sitting near the front row, smiling and “so excited,” she says; her parents and her fiance, Zach Granowski, were also there, as well as her sister and many other loved ones. But one face was missing: Her grandma, Carol, died in 2019 at the age of 73.

“She would have been so proud, no doubt,” Dan says.

Swenson says she can feel that pride.

“She was there for me last night,” the queen said on Saturday, fighting back tears. “I’ve never felt closer to her.”

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