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Courtesy FinnFest USA 2013
Nordic Walkers
Participants at the Finnish Canadian Grand Festival, held in Thunder Bay as FinnThunder in 2012, display their nordic walking form. A new attempt at a world record for most nordic walkers will be made at this year’s FinnFest USA in the Keweenaw Peninsula.
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Courtesy FinnFest USA 2013
Agate Beach
A traditional Midsummer bonfire at Agate Beach on Lake Superior in 2012.
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Bob Berg / Lake Superior Magazine
Italian Hall historic site
The Italian Hall historic site will be one of several stops in Calumet for FinnFest participants.
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Bob Berg / Lake Superior Magazine
FinnFest USA 2013
David Maki, left, and Jim Kurtti at the Finnish American Heritage Center in Hancock, where they work. As FinnFest USA 2013 board members, they are helping to organize the event.
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Courtesy FinnFest USA 2013
Nordic Walkers
Participants at the Finnish Canadian Grand Festival, held in Thunder Bay as FinnThunder in 2012, display their nordic walking form. A new attempt at a world record for most nordic walkers will be made at this year’s FinnFest USA in the Keweenaw Peninsula.
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Courtesy FinnFest USA 2013
Agate Beach
A traditional Midsummer bonfire at Agate Beach on Lake Superior in 2012.
FinnFest USA comes to Copper Country in June, and it could be one for the record books – literally.
Festival participants will attempt to set a new Guinness World Record for most simultaneous Nordic walkers on a 3-kilometre course, trying to eclipse the 1,026 mark set in Sweden several years ago, says James Kurtti, director of the Finnish American Heritage Center at Finlandia University in Hancock, Michigan, and chairman of FinnFest USA 2013.
It’s part of the special focus on health issues and healthy activities during this year’s FinnFest.
An annual celebration of Finland, Finnish American and Finnish culture, FinnFest USA moves to a different city each year. It started in 1983 in Minneapolis and last year was in Tucson, Arizona.
The Lake Superior region, with our strong Finnish presence, has hosted the event multiple times; Marquette, Hancock and Duluth have each hosted twice.
This will be the third year for Hancock as it joins with Houghton as the base for FinnFest 2013, but all of the Keweenaw Peninsula will welcome 5,000 to 10,000 Finns and their families and friends expected to attend. Events are planned across the Keweenaw.
Typically FinnFest includes Finnish foods, entertainment, arts and crafts, lectures, social dances, local tours and history.
And this year, of course, there will be that nordic walking competition to oust the Swedes’ record.
“Finnish Americans from around the region, and beyond, have been learning and practicing the official walking technique for months and are looking to at least double the Swedes’ total,” Jim says.
Nordic walking poles are used for this style, also known as “pole walking,” and walkers must keep their elbows at a 90-degree angle. Nordic walking expert Pete Edwards will be on hand to conduct lessons during the week of FinnFest.
The walking event is not the only thing that might be record breaking.
“The festival is going to be huge,” says Jim, who also holds the title of Honorary Consul of Finland for the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. “We are recruiting every bed available, as the hotels and dorm rooms are filling up. Some folks are offering rooms and cabins, others their entire house.”
Good to Know
FinnFest USA 2013: June 19-23
The festival will be based in Hancock and Houghton, Michigan, with certain events in other cities.
Day passes are available for $40; other starting rates are $100 for adults, $40 for youths 17 to 5 years (younger are free) and $240 for a family (two adults and three children). Some events don’t require registration or fees. Seats for concerts are reserved for FinnFest attendees, but some tickets may be available to the public.
General number: 906-370-3110. For lodging assistance: 906-523-5511 or 906-370-3110. FinnFest staff will help to find lodging for tourists even if they aren’t attending the festival.
A complete FinnFest schedule is at www.finnfestusa2013.org.
A number of special activities are planned, including some related to the 100th anniversary of the 1913 copper miners’ strike, In Calumet, steeped in mining history, FinnFest will hold a commemoration at the Italian Hall historic site to remember the 1913 tragedy when someone yelled “Fire!” at a yuletide party for striking miners and their families that caused a stampede and killed 73 people, more than half of them children.
Other events in Calumet during FinnFest will be a Mass at St. Paul’s Church, a Red Metal Radio Show broadcast live at the Calumet Theatre, a pasty supper and dance at the Calumet Colosseum, and a Pine Mountain Music Festival symphony concert.
Other festival highlights around the Keweenaw include a parade through Hancock and Houghton; a visit to Copper Harbor, where the nordic walking world record attempt will take place; and a Finnish Midsummer bonfire at Agate Beach on Lake Superior in Toivola, 25 miles southwest of Houghton. In Toivola the bonfire has been an annual tradition since 1890 when Finns first arrived. Juhannus is the Finnish word for “midsummer.”
Among exhibitions during the festival will be one by Seppo Latvala, an expert in Finnish log construction traditions, who will detail his research on the ancient traditional savutupa or “smoke cabin,” and on churches and chapels in Finland, according to The Finnish American Reporter. Smoke cabins were built before there were chimneys, and they used an indoor fire and stones piled up on the floor to create an open oven and heat source. Smoke would be released through an opening on the wall.
Another exhibit, provided by the Hunting and Trapping Museum of Finland, will focus on Finnish-American hunting and trapping traditions.
The festival also will host a business and technology forum at Michigan Technological University with sessions about cooperation between Finland and the United States, trade and investment, and bioenergy business development.
And it wouldn’t be FinnFest without the Tori, or marketplace, which will be centered at Michigan Tech’s Student Development Complex and offers Finnish items and festival souvenirs.
Certain events at FinnFest don’t require registration. Most outdoor activities are open free to the public, such as the nordic walking Guinness World Record attempt in Copper Harbor, the parade in Hancock and Houghton, the local tours early in the week. A golf outing at Portage Lake Golf Course near Houghton is also open to all, but there is a fee.
For those who might be visiting the area during FinnFest and whose time is limited, a day pass for $40 is an option.
Tourists planning a trip to Hancock and Houghton during FinnFest may find that booking a place to stay is a challenge.
“It’s important to contact us,” Jim says, because FinnFest has volunteers who can help travelers with lodging – and, of course, help them to find out more about Finnish heritage.