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Cold temperatures, a few snow flurries and lots of people outside on a mid-winter day. It’s the perfect setting for Heikinpäivä.
The Finnish-American festival was held Saturday in downtown Hancock featuring a parade with many iconic Finnish characters and the Hepokoski family–this year’s Hankooki Heikki.
There was also the wife-carrying contest where contestants must roll out the rugs, take a sauna and serve their guests tea with the men giving the women a free ride in between.
New this year was a special dance immediately following the parade.
Heikinpäivä Executive Director Jim Kurtti said, “We incorporated another old phrase, which is karhunpeijaiset. It kind of has to do with an old tradition of the bear hunt, but this is where the bears are going to frolic and, following the parade, the people from the parade that are in costume and the children from the Kivajat Dancers and the public’s invited to join in this circle.”
Unseasonably warm temperatures for the last couple of weeks caused the cancellation of one of the main attractions of the festival—the Polar Bear Dive.
Kurtti said, “The ice started to get unstable. There was standing water on parts of the ice and it just wasn’t safe and so after consulting with the Coast Guard, we decided that we simply had to cancel.”
Even with the return of colder temperatures, the ice was not ready in time for Saturday.
This is the first time the icy plunge into the Portage Canal had been cancelled.
Finlandia University student Max Poikonen was with a group of exchange students experiencing Heikinpäivä for the first time.
“Well, it is kind of crazy seeing all this Finnish stuff going on around here in the United States and it’s nice to see the community getting involved and at least the kids are having lots of fun even though the snow is coming down. It’s been nice so far”, Poikonen said.
January 2017 has been dedicated as Finnish-American Heritage Month in Michigan and State Representative Scott Dianda was in town to present the tribute to the community.
Dianda said, “We see the kids out sledding and working on the kicksleds today. Everybody’s happy—a great day to be outside, wonderful day to enjoy the Copper Country.”
Heikinpäivä isn’t over yet, the Family Fun Night is this Friday and there are more workshops to take part in.
A schedule of events can be found here.
