Winter Carnival Queen Liz Murray adjusts King Ricky Sullivan's crown during Coronation Feb. 2, 2024. (Enterprise photo — Aaron Marbone)

SARANAC LAKE — The Saranac Lake Winter Carnival Committee wants to know who should be the Carnival king and queen for the 2025 festival in February.

In recent years, Carnival royalty co-chair Cherie Racette said they’ve been getting fewer nominations for these honored positions than in the past, and she’s hoping to spark more public nominations this year.

Carnival organizers believe people might not know that the process of selecting the king and queen each year is very democratic. Although the selection process is incredibly secretive, kings and queens are chosen from a pool of publicly sourced individuals.

What makes a good king or queen for Carnival? Volunteerism within the community.

“Candidates should demonstrate a long-term and broad-based commitment to making life more livable, pleasant and enjoyable, both for the people who live here and for those who visit,” according to a Carnival news release. “They can be diverse as organizing a major community event, or as seemingly minor as shoveling a neighbor’s sidewalk.”

This volunteering can be part of an organized group or entirely self-motivated. It must be volunteerism done outside of a job where one cares for others.

Locals have until a month from now to think about who they know who makes this corner of the world a better place, and nominate them.

All nominations must be received by 5 p.m. on Jan. 21 to be considered.

After the deadline, a dynasty of past kings and queens will assemble at a secret meeting, where they will read through the nominations and then take a secret ballot vote on who they think should be bestowed with the honor this year. They do not know how the other former royalty voted.

“Only three people will know the outcome until coronation night,” according to the news release.

Racette said the secrecy is part of the fun.

No electronic nominations will be accepted. At a Carnival meeting in October, the idea of accepting nominations by email was discussed. After some debate, organizers chose to keep only accepting physical letters.

There were concerns about the OPSEC of electronic communications. The nominations are supposed to be kept with the upmost secrecy, to keep them from being leaked.

Plus, they said the former kings and queens like the aesthetics of letters on paper. It’s part of the sentimental and traditional aura of Carnival they want to preserve.

Carnival Committee Chair Jeff Branch called it “personal and sacred.”

Nominations should include why this person is being nominated, a resume of their volunteerism, their contact information and a signature from the person making the nomination.

Each nomination should be submitted separately.

“The nominations are presented to the previous Kings and Queens exactly as they are received,” according to the news release. “No alterations are made to any nomination.”

Nominations should be addressed to — Saranac Lake Winter Carnival Attention: King & Queen Nominations / P.O. Box 829 / Saranac Lake, NY 12983.

They can also be dropped off at the Adirondack Daily Enterprise at 54 Broadway or the Saranac Lake Chamber of Commerce at 39 Main St.

To get questions about nominations answered, contact Cherie or Steve Racette, 518-572-1324 or 518-637-7423.

Winter Carnival is a 10-day festival in Saranac Lake encompassing the first and second weekends of February. This year, it starts on Jan. 31 and lasts through Feb. 9. The 2025 Winter Carnival has the theme “Music Legends.”