First round of carnival royalty heralded
The Whitefish Winter Carnival named its first round of royalty for this year during the Merry Maker Friday night, selecting Paul Johannsen as Prime Minister, Dana Scranton as Herald the Hark and Vicki L. Hill as Duchess of Lark.
Carnival events will unfold throughout the coming weeks, including a torchlight procession and king and queen coronation on Jan. 14 and the carnival and parade on Feb. 4. This year’s theme goes south of the border for “Fiesta Pescado Blanco.”
The royal court will reign over the festivities of Whitefish Winter Carnival LIII.
Johannsen is a fourth-generation Montanan, raised in north-central Montana on a wheat farm near Sunburst.
He is a graduate of Montana State University and worked for Farm Credit System in Bozeman and Missoula, then First Bank and First Interstate Bank in Missoula. He and his wife, Teddi, and children Jordan and Cassi moved to Whitefish in 2003, when he became the president of First Interstate Bank.
In 2006, he left the banking industry to become the managing member of Great Northern Ventures, a real estate development company. He also is the managing partner of National Parks Realty of Whitefish.
Johannsen has served on several local boards, including the Whitefish Community Foundation, Whitefish Lake Golf Club, Flathead County Economic Development Authority, North Valley Hospital Foundation and Bulldog Boosters. He also has been active in fundraising for Memorial Field Stadium and served on the 2008 school bond committee.
Scranton and his wife, Carol, of Whitefish have lived in the Flathead Valley since 1986 and raised their son Keith here.
Scranton is a senior executive in the semiconductor industry, and a product, market, business development and decision analysis consultant.
As a current member of the Flathead Valley Community Band, Brasswerks, Pizzazz Jazz Combo, the Don Lawrence Orchestra, the Swingin’ on High Big Band and the Bavarian Echoes, and a past member of the Glacier Symphony, he is uniquely qualified to provide the musical heralding to announce the carnival royalty at various events.
Hill grew up in Utah where, at age 18, she owned and operated her own dance studio in the Salt Lake Valley.
She was active in many theater productions, both as choreographer and an actress in high school, and was an original member, lead dancer and co-choreographer of the Utah Jazz Girls Dance Team — professional dancers for the Utah Jazz Basketball team. She also was awarded several regional pageant titles.
Hill graduated from the University of Utah with a Bachelor of Science degree in fitness leadership and was the director of the aerobic fitness program.
She was lured to Montana by her friend, Kurt Bergeron, of The Montana Band, and began waiting tables at Hellroaring Saloon on Big Mountain and bartending at the Whitefish Lake Restaurant. She currently is assistant manager at Whitefish Lake Restaurant.
Hill also is active with the Whitefish Theatre Company and is president of the board of directors of The Wave in Whitefish.
She has two sons, Dallas Christison and Dylan Hill.
For a complete schedule of Winter Carnival events, go to www.whitefishwintercarnival.com.