Juhannus 2019

Juhannus 2018

Three days of fun under the Midsummer Sun on Hancock, Toivola, and Jacobsville June 22-24, 2018.

Finnish American Folk School hosted a Juhannus weekend festival that celebrated Finnish heritage and the communities in Hancock, Toivola and Jacobsville. The Finnish folk band Jepokryddona headlined the area’s Juhannus celebration.

Juhannus festival included a two-day Jouhikko building workshop with Alice Margerum, as well as Jouhikko playing workshop with Clare Zuraw, Midsummer pole ceremony, and folk dancing and folk music workshops with Jepokryddona as well as traditional lighting of the Juhannus kokko (bonfire) at Agate beach in Toivola. Jepokryddona held a concert at the beautiful Jacobsville Chapel on Sunday June 24.

Juhannus 2017

Three days, four sites, one Finnish American celebration – and one success.

Folks traveled from several states, and in some cases across national borders, to take part in Juhannus ’17, a festival created to highlight some of the Finnish-American communities of Michigan’s western Upper Peninsula, an area where no less than one in three residents is of Finnish ancestry.

Throughout the weekend of June 23-25, hundreds of people came out to Hanka Homestead in Askel, the Finnish American Heritage Center in  Hancock, Agate Beach in Toivola, and Settlers’ Co-op in Bruce Crossing.

Juhannus ’17 did not only celebrate the Finnishness we all hold dear, but also the communities themselves.

Schedule included:

23 June – Hanka Finnish Homestead Museum (Askel)
Celebrating Finnish-American farm life.

• Annual Hanka Heritage Day
• 1-5 p.m. – Museum open with docents, enactors and farm animals
• 1-5 p.m. – The Traveling Sauna (Finland 100 USA)
• 1-5 p.m. – Live music performance – Ameriikan Poijat and others
• 1-5 p.m. – Representatives from the World’s Largest Greeting Card project on site, collecting signatures
• 1-3 p.m. – Finnish Folk Music Camp class – Arto Järvelä @ caretaker’s cottage
• 1-3 p.m. – Finnish American log buildings lecture by Frank Eld @ horse barn
• 3 p.m. — Flag raising, with remarks by Finland’s Ambassador Kirsti Kauppi
• 4-4:30 p.m. – Kivajat Dancers perform
• 5-8 p.m. – Dance on site with a traditional Finnish tanssilava (outdoor dance floor)

24 June – Finnish American Heritage Center (Hancock)
Celebrating bonds between Finland and the U.S.; Old and New.

• 9 a.m. -10:30 a.m. – “Topics in Modern Finnish Genealogy” by Greg Isola – Chapel of St. Matthew
• Midsummer pole (Juhannussalko) dedication
• 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. – The Traveling Sauna
• 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. – Outdoor tori (Quincy Green) and indoor tori (FAHC’s Martha Wiljanen Hall)
• 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. – Representatives from the World’s Largest Greeting Card project on site, collecting signatures
• 11 a.m. – Flag raising, and remarks from Ambassador Kauppi
• 11 a.m. – 1 p.m. – Music by Ameriikan Poijat & others w/ short performance by Kivajat Dancers
• 1-3 p.m. — Finnish Folk Music Camp class – Chapel, upstairs – Arto Järvelä
• 1-3 p.m. — “A History of the Quincy Hill Scandinavian Church by Greg Isola – Chapel, downstairs
• 4 p.m. — Tammy Santti-Kero art reception – Community Arts Center

24 June – Agate Beach (Toivola)
Celebrating the ancient traditions of Juhannus and the 125^th anniversary of the community’s settlement.

• 1 p.m. – Registration for Toivola homecoming participants
• 1:30 p.m. – Welcome by 125^th anniversary celebration committee
• 2:30 p.m. – Original play “Stories of Oar” by Kris Kyrö
• 3:30 p.m. – Group photo of Toivola 125^th anniversary participants
• 4 p.m. — Log building preservation lecture by Frank Eld @ Agate Beach Hall
• 4 p.m. – Supper w/food vendors
• 6 p.m. – Raising of Finnish and American flags; greetings by Ambassador Kauppi
• 6-10 p.m. – Traveling Sauna on site
• 6-10 p.m. – Representatives from the World’s Largest Greeting Card project on site, collecting signatures
• 6:15 p.m. – Original play “Stories of Oar” by Kris Kyrö
• 7-10 p.m. – Dance with Ameriikan Poijat & others (Kivajat to perform during intermissions)
• 9 p.m. — Lighting of the Juhannus kokko

25 June – Settlers’ Co-Op Centennial (Bruce Crossing)
Celebrating Finnish American Co-operatives.

• 1-4 p.m. — Live music at Settler’s Co-op
• 1-6 p.m. – Traveling Sauna on site
• 1-6 p.m. – Representatives from the World’s Largest Greeting Card project on site, collecting signatures
• 3 p.m. – Kivajat performance
• 3:30 p.m. – Dedication of Heritage Wall
• 4 p.m. – World premiere of Kristin Ojaniemi’s documentary of the Settlers’ Co-Op @ VFW Hall
• 6 p.m. — Dance @ VFW Hall

This festival was sponsored by: