Midsummer bash celebrates heritage
Midsummer bash celebrates heritage
By CHRISTOPHER DIEM
MARQUETTE — A light rain dampened the Presque Isle park on Saturday but the weather did little to dampen the spirits of the people attending the Marquette Scandinavian Midsummer Festival.
The rain certainly wasn’t bothering Arnie Aho, who competed in the Finnish boot toss while the rain fell.
“I hope the rain doesn’t hold the boot back,” Aho said, adding that he hoped to throw his boot “out of sight.”
Bern Pelto, who was announcing the boot toss, said the competition, with origins in Finland, had only a few rules.
“You get to throw three times, you can’t step past the board and you can’t roll the boot up,” he said. “You can throw it any way you want... underhand, overhand, but a boot is hard to throw.”
The sport has been practiced competitively in Eastern Europe since 2003, and has an annual world championship.
Luckily, the rain stopped just in time for the wife-carrying competition. Participants Julie Morabito,19, and Mike Leppanen, 19, were a little nervous before their turn.
Leppanen wouldn’t give away any secrets or techniques before his race.
“I’m just going to carry her on my back,” he said.
Morabito said the ice cream cone she had just finished was not helping things.
“It’s making me really jittery,” she said.
Their nerves eventually helped them to win first place in the contest with a festival record of 27.19 seconds. Like boot tossing, wife-carrying has its own world championship, which takes place in Sonkajarvi, Finland.
The Scandinavian festival celebrated the customs and cultures of five countries — Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Iceland and Norway — with music, food, arts and crafts and games. Flags representing the countries, along with the American flag were hung over a large dancing area where couples of all ages danced to waltzes and polkas.
Live music was performed by groups like Will Kilpela and Friends, Tanya Stanaway, Les Ross, Paavo Hilska, the Midsummer Strings and Ron Jarvinen and the Backwoods Boys.
Roland and Carla Revello, from Vulcan took advantage of the live bands to dance with each other on the dance floor.
“We wouldn’t miss this for anything,” Roland Revello said. “She’s Finnish — made the outfit herself. I’m an honorary Finn.”
Selling homemade soaps nearby was Colleen Carlyle, of Gwinn, who has been making soap for 14 years.
“This is my second year. Last year I did Finn Fest, the year before that was my first year at the Scandinavian Midsummer Fest,” she said.
Carlyle is also involved with the Danish Sisterhood.
“It’s a group of Danes who get together once a month and has lunch. It’s just a nice group of ladies from around the area,” she said, “Ours is the oldest Danish Sisterhood in the country.”
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