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Heikinpäivä 2016 included community favorites like a parade down Quincy Street, a Tori market in the Finnish-American Heritage Center, games on the Quincy Green, the Polar Bear dive on the Hancock waterfront and a dance with live music by the Finn Hall Band.
Each year the title of Hankooki Heikki is bestowed upon a person because of his/her contributions to the preservation and enhancement of Finnish-American culture in the Copper Country. This year, John and Pauline Kiltinen of Marquette were chosen to share the title.
The husband and wife duo are active in numerous Finnish-American organizations. One example of their significant contributions is their effort to commission the international Finnish-American opera “Rockland.” A song from the opera, written by John Kiltinen, “I’m My Own Barber,” was performed at Saturday night’s dance.
The Kiltinens agreed that riding in the parade was their favorite part of this year’s festival.
Pauline Kiltinen said, “Because there were two of us, we shared the crown and the cape. John wore the crown and I wore the cape, it was beautiful.”
John Kiltinen said, “It was a real hoot.”
The Kiltinens were also chosen to receive special honors from the government of Finland. A very special guest, Jukka Pietikäinen, Consul General of Finland, visited to celebrate Heikinpäivä and present the medals of Honor to the Kiltinens. John Kiltinen received the Order of the Lion and Pauline was given the Order of the White Rose.
Pietikäinen said, “When citizens, or friends of Finland abroad, have done some remarkable work, or career or lifetime achievements, then the President and the Secretary General of these Orders will propose medals of Honor, and this is the case. So, it’s for civilian activities or supporting Finland abroad.”
Though the Kiltinens have done their share of supporting Finnish Culture here in the U.P, the couple was surprised to hear about the recognition.
John Kiltinen said, “What an honor, to be honored by the government of Finland in this way. [We] wanted to educated people that there was a broader Finland. I think we’ve made some progress in that regard.”
Pauline Kiltinen said, “This award is a real culmination of a lot of projects and events that we’ve been part of. We knew things like this existed, awards like this, but they were for other people. [We] never really expected that something so awesome would happen for us. It’s very very awesome.”
Consul General Pietikäinen has visited Hancock once before, for FinnFest 2013.
Pietikäinen said, “I feel so much home here, it’s unbelievable, because this is the place of Finnish heritage in the United States. I mean, no where else do we have such a concentration of Finnish-American as in the U.P.”
