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Finnish Independence Celebration Plans Scaled Back

Sunday’s Finnish Independence Day celebration in Hancock will be downscaled because of COVID-19 restrictions.

Jim Kurtti from the Finnish-American Heritage Center says the plan is to replicate the silent, memorial parades that are held in many Finnish communities…

“It’s a very dramatic thing, because it’s dark in Finland when they do this, and they carry torches. It’s quite solemn, and we’ve never done that here, and we’ve always talked about it, and we thought, well, this is the year we can do it.”

The brief walk will begin at 5:30…

“We’re going to start at city hall in Hancock, and walk the one block to the Heritage Center. And there, we’re going to cast on to the white stucco wall of the building a very short film. It’ll be drone footage of Finland, as we hear ‘Finlandia'”.

Some torches will be available for participants to carry. Masks and social distancing are required.

You can hear Todd VanDyke’s full conversation with Jim Kurtti about Finnish Independence Day and what it meant for the Copper Country 103 years ago on Sunday’s Copper Country Today program.

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