Saima Park, Fitchburg MA 01420

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

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.
	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
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.

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.