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Welcome to
F.C.S.P.
Fitchburg, MA
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This website is dedicated to all the activities at
The Finnish Center at Saima
Park.
Here, you will be able to find information about the organization, our
activities, external and internal cultural events such as festivals, dances and
art shows to name a few, meetings, and last but not least summer and winter
sports events.
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Click on the Function Hall picture to go to
the "Beautiful Saima" page, where you can visit the park in a
picture cavalcade!
Please visit also our
Winter Wonderland - and see what we are up to during the snowy
season! |
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Upcoming Events |
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KESÄJUHLA
Saturday/Sunday
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June 27/28, 2009
(see
below)
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Summer Festival
Breakfast!
Saturday June 27
8:00 AM to 10:30 AM
Featuring
Finnish Oven Pancake (Pannukakku)
Blueberry Sauce or
Syrup
Bacon, Sausage,
Finnish Coffee Bread
(Pulla)
Coffee, Juice
$5.00 donation
All are welcome! Tervetuloa!
Finnish Center at
Saima Park
67 Scott Road,
Fitchburg, MA 01420
Please call: Maija
Mård 978-582-7717 Lorna Sulin 978-342-5121 for information |
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Summer Festival time at Saima Park
Folk dancing, food, cultural program
June 27 & 28, 2009 |
Fitchburg, MA – The
103rd annual New England Finnish Summer Festival – Kesäjuhla –
will take place during the weekend of June 27 and 28 at Saima
Park on Scott Road. A variety of events for all ages have been
scheduled. The sponsors of the festival are the Finnish Center
at Saima Park and Raivaaja Publishing Company.
The festivities will begin with
a Summer Festival Breakfast Saturday morning. Finnish oven
pancake pannukakku will be served from 8-10:30 a.m. Tickets are
$5.00.
On that evening there will be a
celebration of over 50 years of Finnish folk dancing in the
Fitchburg area. The festivities will begin at 6 p.m. with Finn
hop instructional for all ages led by Ingrid Sweeney and Barbara
Lahti. At 6:30 p.m. the folk dance group Revontulet will
perform. Music for the instructional and the performance will
be provided by Oivan Ilo. This will be followed by the Festival
Dance at 7 p.m. to the tunes of Veikko Honkala and Juhani Puutio.
A traditional Finnish coffee table will offer delicious
refreshments. There will be a $5.00 admission to the dance.
Once darkness arrives there will be a bonbfire – kokko for all
to enjoy.
Included in the activities of
the the second festival day, Sunday, will be a chicken barbecue
served from 11:30 a.m. until 1 p.m. and a cultural program for
the entire family at 1:30 p.m. Tickets for the barbecue are
$10.00. Hot dogs, Arctic ice cream sundaes made with
lingonberries and soda will be available from 11 a.m on. Coffee
and Finnish coffee bread pulla will be available all morning.
Earlier in the day, 10 - 11
a.m., there will be volley ball for teens and adults and games
for younger kids.
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This year’s cultural program is geared
for the entire family. We will be entertained by a story teller, a
magician and a musician. Angela Kessler will tell Kalevala themed
stories and Steve Hartman will present a program of magic and
illusion. Born and raised in northern Indiana, Angela Kessler has
been performing the spoken word since high school. Her interest in
the Kalevala goes back to 2005, when she was invited to tell a story
for the Mid Winter Celebration hosted by a local Morris dance
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team. Thinking that if anyone
would have a good story about the sun going away and then
returning, the Finns must, she sat down to read through the
Kalevala until she found it. Since that story is recounted in
Runos 47-49 out of 50, she ended up reading the whole thing – and
realizing how interesting it was along the way!
Since then she has been sharing
stories from the Kalevala to eager audiences around the Boston
area, including a performance at the New England Folk Festival
Association's NEFFA festival so well-attended that people had to
be turned away at the door, and a feature spot in front of
several hundred storytellers at the Sharing the Fire
storytelling conference in New Hampshire. She loves working
with the Kalevala because it is both deeply traditional and yet
fresh and new to most American audiences. Although she has not
yet learned Finnish, her four complete translations of the
Kalevala are very helpful in working through a new story.
For over 20 years Steve Hartman
has crossed the country performing in schools and regional
theaters. Over the last ten years he has focused on presenting
a unique blend of magic, illusion and comedy to audiences of any
age.
Ann (Järvi) Capodagli, of
Fitchburg, is the Festival Artist. Her works will be displayed
at the Ravintola building. She paints mostly in watercolors,
flowers and landscapes being her favorites. She received her
art education at Fitchburg State College and has been teaching
art at Fitchburg High School for over 30 years. Two years ago
she and her husband Peter opened the Boulder Art Gallery in
Fitchburg. They show the works of regional artists, and have
been very pleased with the reception they have received.
The Raivaaja Bookstore will
also be located in the Ravintola building selling books and
music with Finnish and Finnish Ame-rican theme. Good time to
stock up for vacation reading!
The $2.00 per person Festival
Tag (Juhlamerkki) helps cover festival expenses.
Linda Byrne and Lorna Sulin are
the Festival co-chairs. Serving with them on the committee are
Mauri Auvinen, Marita Cauthen, June Flinkstrom, Roy Helander,
Laura Henrikson, Trudy Kalinen and Maija Mård.
Proceeds of this festival
benefit Raivaaja Publishing Company and the Finnish Center at
Saima Park.
For more information contact
Linda Byrne at 978-343-7933.
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Veikko Honkala is
Retiring
Veikko Honkala is
retiring from accordion playing.
Kesäjuhla will be the last time
he will play at Saima Park.
Come and wish him well.
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Finlandia
Foundation
Performer of
the Year 2008
Accordion
Duo
Brent Buswell & Bert Stromholm
Finnish
Center at Saima Park
October 18, 2008
Sponsored by
Saima Park, Sovittaja, Knights &
Ladies of Kaleva, Raivaaja and
Finlandia Foundation - Boston
Chapter
(see
pictures)
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Finnish
language course
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Rent
F.C.S.P. Function Hall or Ravintola / Sirkka Liukkonen pavilion for your
birthday, company outing, family reunion, wedding, etc. !!!
Click
[here] for more
information
or call (978) 343-9883
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For more info how to become a member of F.C.S.P. - click [here].
We now have an
electronic membership application form!
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More past events -
they are on a separate page!
Click on [this link]
to get there.
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