Meet the man tasked with heating up the St. Paul Winter Carnival

Growing up, Ivan Weiss Jr. learned the value of hard work at his dad's tire shop on W. 7th Street, changing truck tires with his hands and a sledgehammer.

He learned something else from Ivan Sr., too: a love for the St. Paul Winter Carnival and that, when it comes to the carnival, it's good to be a Vulcan — the greasepaint-wearing, rowdy harbingers of summer. So, like his dad, Weiss became a Vulcan. And, like Dad, he also became their king.

Eye On St. Paul recently sat down with Vulcanus Rex LXXXV at his day job as vice president at Weber Consulting Associates in North St. Paul to learn about the guys who bring the heat to the Winter Carnival. This interview was edited for length.

Q: Your dad was a Vulcan in 1975 and king in 1982. Have you always wanted to be a Vulcan?

A: I did. Obviously, when you're 9 years old and your dad's the king, you see all the fun they had. You want to be a part of that. But things were different back then. I mean, you'd use a lot of Fire Department trucks, and they'd say, "People are going to come spray you with garden hoses, so we put a 1-inch hose on the side of the truck. If they come out, you can hit them with the fire hose." They don't do that stuff anymore. [laughs]

Q: You guys have always been the rowdy group of the Carnival. That hasn't always been good. What do you do to head that off?

A: We go through protocol training. In July, I immediately started going through briefings. And they go through everything that's going to happen throughout the year. There's a detailed manual that they go through. And once the Krewe's picked, they go through briefings of two to three hours, and go through a lot of scenarios to tell them what to do and what not to do.

Q: What do Vulcans do during the carnival?

A: During the 10 days, it's pretty regimented. You get up at 5, 6 in the morning. We go to breakfast and then it's usually right away into appearances. Either school visits or nursing homes. And at 4 o'clock, they do a driver change, you go back to the den and, quick, just take a half an hour to an hour and get ourselves together, reapply [makeup] because you've been going ragged for hours. Then a Fire and Brimstone event. And then we go to crash [King] Boreas' events. We always have to stick our nose in there and cause a little harassment of Boreas. This year, we went down to Rice Park [at night] twice because we wanted to be out with the public. Guys get to only be in the red suit one time, unless they become king.

Q: Have you been a Vulcan another time?

A: Yeah, I was part of the Krewe in 2013.

Q: Did you apply right away to be king?

A: No. There's a five-year probationary period before you become a full-fledged member of Fire and Brimstone. The first year, you're on the street in the red suits. ... [By] the fifth year, you run the Vulcan Victory Dance. Once you do the dance, you're considered a full-fledged member. At that point you can put in to be king.

Q: Why do you think it's structured that way?

A: I think it's to get new people into the organization. The thing is you constantly want to grow. So having seven new guys [on a Krewe] come in every year is important.

Q: Do you make appearances all year?

A: We do between 100 and 150 festivals and events and parades [around the country]. The royal family and Boreas, they'll do over 300.

Q: What kinds of events?

A: A lot of charity events. The Vulcans have done a lot with Metro Deaf School. With the Wounded Warrior Project. The 2009 Krewe, those guys adopted the Wounded Warrior Project as their main charity. They've raised more than $1 million.

Q: Tell me about the fire truck.

A: Luverne is its name because it's from Luverne, Minn. It's a 1932 Luverne fire truck. It's so much fun. It's the thing you miss when you see that truck getting driven away with the new Krewe on it.

Q: What do you get out of all of this?

A: A second family. A lot of these guys, you put them in the same house, they go from not knowing each other to, a day later, we've got our arms around each other laughing, telling jokes.

Q: Is it expensive?

A: Throughout the year, your total cost is going to range from about $8,000 to about $12,000. The king will pay anywhere from $20,000 to $40,000.

Q: Do you pay for your own travel?

A: Yeah. We try to find sponsors. I think businesses and the Chamber [of Commerce] ought to help out because we really do struggle sometimes. When people find out the time commitment and then the money that they have to fork over — it's a big challenge for a lot of people.

In the Vulcans, we have everything from garbagemen to doctors. But people save. You tend to find people who have been putting away money. And that's kind of neat, that it means that much to them.