Here are the 2026 Winter Carnival buttons, designed by pointillist illustrator Randall Peterson

One of four featured button designs for the St Paul Winter Carnival the th anniversary of the festival This year's buttons are designed by Forest Lake pointillism illustrator Randall Peterson Courtesy of St Paul Winter Carnival One of four featured button designs for the St Paul Winter Carnival the th anniversary of the festival This year's buttons are designed by Forest Lake pointillism illustrator Randall Peterson Courtesy of St Paul Winter Carnival One of four featured button designs for the St Paul Winter Carnival the th anniversary of the festival This year's buttons are designed by Forest Lake pointillism illustrator Randall Peterson Courtesy of St Paul Winter Carnival One of four featured button designs for the St Paul Winter Carnival the th anniversary of the festival This year's buttons are designed by Forest Lake pointillism illustrator Randall Peterson Courtesy of St Paul Winter Carnival Show Caption of One of four featured button designs for the St Paul Winter Carnival the th anniversary of the festival This year's buttons are designed by Forest Lake pointillism illustrator Randall Peterson Courtesy of St Paul Winter Carnival Expand Look closely at the new official buttons for the St Paul Winter Carnival No look even closer Forest Lake artist Randall Peterson demonstrates the style of pointillism during an art fair in June Peterson is the featured button designer for the St Paul Winter Carnival the th anniversary of the festival Courtesy of Randall Peterson The buttons designed by Forest Lake illustrator Randall Peterson are in a pointillist style meaning each design is made up of tens of thousands of individual dots drawn in pen The collection of four buttons were unveiled Saturday night at the annual tree lighting ceremony at Union Depot The upcoming Winter Carnival is the th anniversary of the annual cold-weather festival One button depicts the ice castle built for the first St Paul Winter Carnival in and the illustration took Peterson hours to complete In another button design families build snowmen in front of the State Capitol building Peterson spent about hours on it The process he stated is meditative I like to persevere in it and have the patience to do it he declared But needless to say nobody wants me on their Pictionary group You can buy the buttons online at www wintercarnival com p marketplace buttons or at businesses including all Cub Foods and Blaze Credit Union locations East Metro locations of Kowalski s Grand Avenue Woodbury Oak Park Heights White Bear Lake and Shoreview and the following Alary s Bar E th St Bad Weather Brewing W th St Borchert s Meat Region Frost Ave Maplewood Bright Corner Gift Shop Jackson St inside Regions Hospital Camp Bar N Robert St CandyLand N Wabasha St City County Credit Union E Cope Ave Maplewood History Theatre E th St Honest- Auto in Roseville N Lexington Ave and Falcon Heights N Hamline Ave Landmark Center Gift Shop W th St Minnesota History Center Museum Store Kellogg Blvd Pillbox Tavern N Wabasha St Russell s Grand Ave Saint Paul Corner Drug Snelling Ave Saint Paul Hotel Territory St Teri s Hair Studio White Bear Ave Suite Maplewood West St Paul Antiques S Smith Ave West St Paul Buttons are each or for a pack of all four A limited number of four-packs with a commemorative pin are available for Peterson grew up in the Midway area in St Paul in elementary school before moving to Maplewood and then after getting married in the s to Forest Lake His family were not die-hard Winter Carnival-goers but of program being a little whippersnapper we did specific events he explained Peterson began creating pointillism illustrations about four decades ago while working in publishing the methodical art form proved to be a calmer counterpart to the fast-paced deadlines in his day job Multiple of his illustrations feature lighthouses streetscapes old hotels and well-known buildings like the ones depicted in his Winter Carnival buttons Since retiring about four years ago Peterson now has more time for pointillism artwork which is to say he manages to create about to pieces per year given how time-intensive the technique is He also runs an Etsy shop and occasionally sets up booths at art markets In fact it was at the Holiday Bazaar at Landmark Center that Peterson s art first caught the eye of Winter Carnival CEO Lisa Jacobson who then approached him about designing the button set Downtown St Paul is so historic and so for me I thought that was a big part of the button itself he commented And I requested to also include locality and family because it s such a family-oriented event So I thought let s take the historical structures and combine them with different family events The upcoming Winter Carnival the festival s th year will take place Jan to Feb Related Articles History and fantasy blend in Rollicking A Winter Carnival Musical Review History Theatre s Winter Carnival musical tuneful but scattershot Queen of the Snows candidates inspired subplot 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