Mapping Finnish America

Mapping Finnish America

Calling all Finns and friends of Finnish America!

As a Geographer and curious mind, I searched for a visual database of Finnish American places. After looking and not finding anything comprehensive, I set out in September 2022 to create an approachable map of places with Finnish connections in the United States and Canada. “Places” include city/town names, homesteads, museums, cultural institutions, churches, historic sites, and anything else with an inherent Finnish connection. I have added more places of interest over time sourced from personal travels, Finns in Minnesota (Alanen, A.), They Chose Minnesota (Riippa, T.), and DeLorme gazetteers of Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan.

The goal is to compile a comprehensive collection of locations with Finnish connection in the United States and Canada. I am open to anything with a relevant connection. Now, I am calling on others to help add additional places to the map. Take some time to review the map and digest the locations currently pinned.

FinnFest 2023 wrap up and thoughts

FinnFest 2023 wrap up and thoughts

Well, that was quite the weekend in Duluth (or 5 days, if you were one of the lucky ones to participate in all 5 days of programming!). FinnFest is a time to make new connections, while saying Terve! to the people you know well already. It is never the same year to year, but it is always a powerful driver of new connections and edification of continued ones.

This FinnFest was arguably the most fruitful for me personally. It was the first one since attending as a teenager where the festival was open to me to explore without strong affiliation to any one particular organization. I was a vapaa lintu (free bird) and I loved it. As expected, familiar faces were around every corner, but there were also many new folks to meet — Finns and friends of Finland alike.

FinnFest Week

FinnFest Week

It’s that magical time of the year when FinnFest is held somewhere in the world. It is a time for the Finnish-American, Finnish, and friends of Finland communities to come together to share Finnish culture. It is a time for making new connections, reuiniting with old ones, and injecting excitement into projects going on involving Finnish and Finnish-American culture. The last time Duluth hosted FinnFest, it was 2008.

If you are heading up this year or a coming year to the Duluth area for FinnFest, here is a short list of things I recommend you check out!

Keskustelutunti tapahtuu tiistaina. Tervetuloa mukaan! ☺️ Finnish conversation hour is happening on Tuesday. Welcome to join us! ☺️ Comment, DM, or email luumuabc@gmail.com for more info and the link to join! @luumu_suomen_kieli #suomi #suomenkiel
Happy National Coffee Day here in the US (and in case you are curious, International Coffee Day is just around the corner on October 1st!). How do you like your coffee? Do you have a favorite mug? Anyone else have this or any other classic Finnish-Am
Kuivattu luumu on edelleen luumu ☺️ A dried plum is still a plum (at least in Finnish - in English it would be a prune) 🤔 Did you find any plums on trees this year? Make anything delicious with them or did you just eat them off of the tree? 💜 #l
Keskustelutunti: tiistaisin klo 19 CT. Tervetuloa! 😊♥️🇫🇮 Conversation Hour: Tuesdays at 7p CT. Welcome! #keskustelutunti #keskustelu #puhutaansuomea #opisuomea #learnFinnish #tervetuloa #suomi #Finnish