The South Dakota Snow Queen Festival is the largest Winter Festival in South Dakota! It began in November 1946, when the Aberdeen Jaycees accepted a request from the St. Paul Winter Carnival to bring a “Queen of Snow’s” to our Winter Festival. The Festival at that time was very local with contestants coming from towns only a few miles away from the Hub City. Our Festival is no longer a local event. It has grown to 38 locations across the state, and involves hundreds of contestants from all over the State of South Dakota. Representatives from local communities will be featured at the Jr. Snow Queen Coronation and Talent Contest held the evening of January 7th, 2018 at the Aberdeen Civic Theatre. The program will begin at 7:00 pm. Friday evening, January 13th, 2018, the Snow Queen Candidates, Visiting Dignitaries, and Snow Queen sponsors will be featured at the Queen’s and Sponsors Banquet and Ball. The Festival activities will conclude with the crowning of the 2018 South Dakota Snow Queen. The coronation will be held on Saturday, January 14th, 2018 at 7:00 pm at the Aberdeen Civic Theatre. For questions on scheduled events or to order tickets, please contact us and we will get back to you as soon as we can. Once the Festival is completed, the newly crowned Sr and Jr Snow Queens are quickly fitted for gowns and prepared for their first appearance at the St Paul Winter Carnival held toward the end of each January. The queens also will travel to several other Festivals including: Minneapolis Aquatennial, Montevideo Fiesta Days, Willmar Fest, Anoka Halloween Festival, and Festival du Voyageur in Winnipeg, Canada among other opportunities across the state as our schedule allows.

These girls are representing their peers, local communities, Aberdeen, and the State of South Dakota. They experience how to build their network, enhance their speaking abilities, learn about new cultures, and are educated on the vast array of opportunities the State of South Dakota can offer.