Watertown’s Leadabrand adds State Snow Queen title


Other contestants react after Watertown’s Katie Leadabrand was named the 2025 South Dakota Snow Queen Saturday in Aberdeen. Courtesy photo.

Two weeks after being crowned Watertown’s Senior Snow Queen and Miss Congeniality at the Goss Opera House, Katie Leadabrand won the same titles at the South Dakota Snow Queen Festival in Aberdeen.

Reigning South Dakota Snow Queen Olivia Hadrick puts the tiara on the 2025 winner, Katie Leadabrand of Watertown. Courtesy photo.

Leadabrand, 17, a senior at Watertown High School, captured the crown Saturday, Jan. 11, at the conclusion of the 2025 South Dakota Snow Queen Festival. The event, which took place from January 4 through January 11, featured local Snow Queens from across the state.

Kathryn Kilber of Ipswich was the first runner-up and Gretchen Dinger was the second runner-up.

Everleigh Kirk of Sisseton was crowed Junior Snow Queen and Everly Hilgemann was named Snow Princess

As the newly crowned Snow Queen, Leadabrand will serve as an ambassador for the South Dakota Snow Queen Festival and the state of South Dakota. She will appear at many official Snow Queen Festival events, local celebrations, and state-wide gatherings throughout her year-long reign.

After graduation from WHS, Leadabrand plans to attend the University of South Dakota at Vermillion and get a bachelor’s degree in nursing. Eventually, she wants to work in a pediatric intensive care unit, she told the Watertown Current.