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The ’20s are Roaring Already! St Urho Wrap-up Info

The theme of Finland’s 45th Annual St Urho’s Celebration was St Urho Makes the ’20s Roar! The big weekend was March 13th, 14th and 15th, 2020.

2020 button

2020 Button design by Audrey Ferris

Paljon kiitoksia (Thank you very much!) to the many many people who helped to make the 45th Annual St Urho’s Celebration happen. From the guys who put the sign up over the highway, to the folks in the parade, to all the raffle ticket sellers, to the businesses that helped out by donating prizes or selling raffle tickets and buttons, you all help make this event happen. Thank you so much!

The festivities were impacted somewhat by the developing situation with COVID19, but the parade went on as scheduled, and it was a beautiful day!

This year’s raffle drawing winners were:

1st Prize: $600 – Dave McDonough from New Hope, MN

2nd Prize: $300 – Darlene Hoff from Little Marais, MN

3rd Prize: $200 – Dani Lehtinen from Finland, MN

4th Prize: $100 – Tom Mealey from Lax Lake, MN

5th Prize: $100 – Linda Carlson from White Bear Lake, MN

6th Prize: $100 – Cindy

Herbie and owen on TV

Pat Ramsdell and Owen Klinker represent Finland MN on Fox 21 News

Two of the winning tickets were sold at the Trestle Inn this year, one by Julie’s Variety, one by the Four Seasons Supper Club, one by Northwoods Family Grille, and one by Honor Schauland. Thanks again to all the individuals and businesses who helped to sell raffle tickets. Also thanks to everyone who bought raffle tickets and buttons – that’s how we pay for the party! We appreciate your support!

Thanks also to all of the many individuals and businesses that contributed items for the door prizes at the raffle ticket drawing. There were many beautiful items donated and it always helps to make the drawing a festive event. Thanks this year to the Silver Bay AmericInn, Northwoods Family Grille, Zup’s of Silver Bay, North Shore Barber Shop, Holiday Gas Station Beaver Bay, Teddy’s Plumbing and Heating, Elwood and Carol Youngberg, Bri-Esa’s, Beaver Bay Mobil, Norshor Agency, North Shore Federal Credit Union, Quilt Corner, Christmas Up North, Lake Bank, Julies Variety, Vicki’s License, Four Seasons, Maple Grove, Hugo’s, Our Place, Wildhurst, Hooterville, and Whitetails Unlimited Cabin Fever Chapter. Thanks also to Leroy and Colleen at Wildhurst for hosting the drawing this year!

Thanks to Carol and Elwood Youngberg for all of their work to gather door prizes. If you won a door prize, please tell them how much you enjoyed it when you see them!

You can't do this on Hennepin Avenue

You really can’t do this on Hennepin Avenue. Especially not this year.

Thanks to all of the Miss Helmi Contestants this year: Steve, Brock, Carter, and Derek! Also, big thanks to Herbie (Pat Ramsdell) and Owen Klinker for being the Emcees. You were great! Also thanks to Kaare and Karl for being our sound crew, Papa Jeff Mitchell for the use of his vehicle, Ashley, Rachel, Miranda, and Aili, the real ladies who helped us with makeup and everything else, and all the people who put up with us. We had such a fun time doing the show! Steve Solkela from Palo was the winner as “Gladys.”

Extra thanks to Steve Solkela and Aili Lund for jumping right in to the festivities with both feet and having good humor and flexibility when things did not go as planned. Steve was scheduled to play music at the Clair Nelson Center, but when that was cancelled due to the COVID-19 situation, instead he won the Miss Helmi Contest, skateboarded in the parade, and crashed the Our Place and the Four Seasons and the square dance at the Finland School with his accordion. We really hope they will both come back to Finland MN again in the future!

Special recognition this year to the Berquists and State Farm Insurance for their generous donation, to Cheri Bischoff for an amazing parade, to all of the creative people with their amazing parade floats, to Pam Kettunen for driving the Urho Car in the parade, to Adam’s AutoValu for the sober cab service, and to Bob and Diane at Our Place for feeding the Miss Helmi Crew! You guys all rock! Thank you to our Grand Marshal Betty Josephson!  Thank you to Silver Bay Area Tourism Association and Welcome to Finland for help with promoting this event. To everyone who helps – THANK YOU! We’ll see you next year!

With love, the St Urho Committee

Visit the St Urho’s Celebration in Finland MN’s Facebook page for many photos and videos of the festivities.

Many more photos here – we lifted these from all over Facebook: https://photos.app.goo.gl/LjA9rj7THvXHQ3oQA

Float Workshop photos here: https://photos.app.goo.gl/w1GnV4sRmiPZSm6V8

**Postponed** Announcing the First Ever Finland Food Chain Conference!

**This conference has been canceled but watch this webpage and our Facebook page for updates on rescheduling.**

The first ever Finland Food Chain Conference has been **Postponed**

Activities & Classes Include:
Farmers Market, Seed & Scion Swap, Grafting, Gathering & Growing Food, Bee Keeping, Making Value-Added Products & Cottage Food, and Mushroom Cultivation!

Is cost an issue? Volunteer and/or Scholarship options are available.

Register Here

View Schedule

How Will Friends of Finland be Structured in the Future?

The Community Potluck for February was hosted by a number of local kids (all of whom participate in the Finland Community Youth Program), along with some key adults to help the kids stay on task. It was pretty fun to watch the kids setting out items like clean glasses, salt and pepper etc. on the tables to get ready for dinner. There’s a crew of older adults who often come early and pitch in with setup, and it was great to watch the interaction between those folks and the kids. There was also a great turnout for the potluck this time around – over 60 people!

What people value about Friends of Finland

What Do You Value Most about Friends of Finland?

Afterwards we had a short presentation followed by questions and answers from the community folks present about the new organizational structure that Friends of Finland has been working on putting into place.

Back in November of 2019, Friends of Finland hosted a gathering of over 30 people – folks who participate in many of the activities here at the Clair Nelson Center as either volunteers, staff, or board members, and sometimes in more than one of these roles! The group worked with facilitators from Co-Nexio of Duluth to talk about how Friends of Finland could restructure the organization to better hold all of the work we are trying to do that is absolutely necessary to our vital and well-functioning community. At the gathering we talked about what people value most about Friends of Finland and went together through a group “teach” about the living systems view of change. We talked about what will be coming into the new structure that won’t change, what works well in other organizations, and what are some characteristics of an ideal work culture. We went through the pros and cons of different organizing structures, listed resources and needs, and then broke into groups to design/brainstorm different possible structures for Friends of Finland. It was a long but inspiring day. Anyone interested in the nuts and bolts can look at the Outcome Report for the day here.

Since then, the Board and Staff have been hard at work on internal structure stuff, like policies, principles, and practices that will help to solidify the organization and our work. We have come up with a preliminary structure that honestly looks a lot like many of the structures that were brainstormed by the community on November 1st!

Here’s the Powerpoint presentation we showed at the February 2020 potluck:

St Urho Makes the ’20s Roar!

The theme of Finland’s 45th Annual St Urho’s Celebration is:
St Urho Makes the ’20s Roar!

The big weekend will be March 13th, 14th & 15th, 2020.

There will also be a float building workshop on March 6th, 7th & 8th at the Clair Nelson Community Center.

Finland’s 45th Annual St Urho’s Celebration Schedule of Events:

Friday night, March 13th –
6-8pm – Miss Helmi Talent and Beauty Contest – various stops around town
7-10pm – Music at the Our Place by the Barstones
8:30pm-Midnight – Music at the Four Seasons by Tara Nelson and Friends

Saturday, March 14th –
8-10:30am – *Canceled* Finland MN Historical Society’s Pancake Breakfast, and Craft Fair at the Clair Nelson Center
Noon – Tug of War across the Baptism River
Before and during the parade – Finland Fire and Rescue will be selling refreshments outside the Finland Fire Hall
Before and during the parade – AfterProm will be selling St Urho T-shirts
Noon-1 pm – Parade through Finland on Highway 1. Call Cheri Bischoff at 220-9947 to register for the parade.
1-3pm – Clair Nelson Center – *Canceled* Craft Fair, Kids Games, Lunch, and Music by the one and only Steve Solkela
1-4pm – Music at Four Seasons by Tara Nelson and Friends
1-5pm – Music at Our Place by the Curry Band
8:30pm-Midnight – Music at the Four Seasons by Tara Nelson and Friends

Sunday, March 15th –
3pm – Door Prizes, 4pm Raffle Ticket Drawing at Wildhurst

Supported by Welcome to Finland and the Silver Bay Area Tourism Association.

Job Posting: Business and Finance Lead

Join the Leadership Team of the Friends of the Finland Community! Business & Financial Lead Position

Friends of Finland is a vibrant nonprofit organization supporting a wide variety of community programs, and we have grown to where we are looking for a person with the business and financial expertise to strengthen and expand the work we do.

The Friends of the Finland Community Business and Finance Lead position handles budgeting, nonprofit reporting, grant management, fiscal agency, donation management, insurance, billing and invoices, payroll, and maintaining personnel records. Must have the interest and ability to communicate and educate others on business and financial topics. 

Position requires working collaboratively with other core staff to uphold the organizational mission and vision, cocreate staff culture, participate on hiring committees for new core staff and organizational support staff, hold each other accountable and deal with staff issues as they arise. Position requires regular participation in strategic visioning, core staff meetings, and communication platforms. Position will work with other core staff to facilitate and mentor projects/programs through training and assistance, volunteer coordination, grant writing, and community capacity building. Position also requires acting as a Community Liaison by hosting the public using the Clair Nelson Center, providing information, and facilitating and tracking community usage and impact.

Position is part-time up to 20 hours a week at up to $20/hr.

Position will spend the first 2 months as an independent contractor developing the system to switch our organization to payroll. 

Please fill out the form below to apply for this position:

Please contact Honor Schauland for more information at 218-353-0300.

Resumes and cover letters can be dropped off at the Clair Nelson Center during business hours or please mail to Friends of the Finland Community, PO Box 582, Finland MN 55603.

Deadline to apply is March 3rd, 2020.

Finlander Forum Year End 2019

Year End 2019 Newsletter

Finlander Forum Year End 2019

Here’s the Finlander Forum  (the Newsletter for the Clair Nelson Center and Crystal Bay Township) for the end of 2019.

Please click on the picture or the link below in order to read the whole issue.

CNC-Newsletter-YE-2019

Please share widely with your friends and neighbors! If anyone is interested in being added or removed from our mailing list, please contact us!

If you like our work, please donate online here, or mail a check to Friends of the Finland Community, Clair Nelson Center, PO Box 582, Finland, MN 55603.

2019 Featured Donor – Jean Hangartner Cook

Jean CookBy Honor Schauland

Friends of Finland recently got a nice donation from the estate of Jean Hangartner Cook, who was originally from here in Finland, MN, but who made her home in Michigan.

I met Jean back in 2008 when we both staffed the Finland Minnesota booth at FinnFest USA which was held in Duluth that year. I was representing the community center (which wasn’t built yet) and the Finland Co-op. Jean was representing the Finland MN Historical Society. I remember we had a lovely conversation about Finland’s history and where it was going, and when later that year, the newly formed Friends of Finland organization put out a call for donations for building the community center, Jean made a donation of $1,000. I remember thinking that our conversation must have really made an impression on her! After that, she made regular annual donations. I had no idea that she would remember us in her estate. What an unexpected gift!

If you are interested in supporting Friends of Finland beyond your own lifetime, you can plan for it now. It’s easy to leave a bequest of any specific dollar amount, or a percentage of your estate, by including the proper language in your will.  Please contact us for more information – 218-353-0300.

 

The Finland Food Chain Project 2019

Food Chain Conversation

Participants at the Finland Food Chain Community Conversation

Hopefully you’ve already heard about it, but 2019 marks the launch of the Finland Food Chain project, a 3 year project funded by Bush Foundation Community Innovation funds, with a mission to create an equitable and interrelated local food system that increases access to healthy foods and builds local wealth in Finland Minnesota and the surrounding area. So far we have had two large community meetings to gather input for projects, and a lot of behind-the-scenes work to get things organized and up and running. Many great ideas for projects to build our local food system are in the works and will get off the ground in the near future.

Many of these first-phase projects involve information gathering as a first step. The Food Chain recently conducted a community-wide survey to gather information on local folks food buying habits, needs and wants.

Projects so far include work on a feasibility study for local wild rice processing, creation of a directory of local food producers, research into a community garden, a planned assessment of local institutional purchasing, classes on farming and gardening, enhancing the Finland Farmers Market, grantwriting to help the Finland Co-op update infrastructure, creating a local seed savers group, and much more.

We are currently in the process of hiring coordinators to work on Infrastructure, Purchasing, Producers and Education for the project.

The Finland Food Chain welcomes participation and input for this ongoing work. There will be many opportunities to participate in the future. For more info, please visit: www.finlandfoodchain.org or www.facebook.com/finlandfoodchain and/or contact Project Coordinator Honor Schauland at 218-353-0300.

 

Thank You, Amy Gardner!

AmyFriends of Finland would like to thank Amy Gardner for her many years of service as the Coordinator of the Finland Community Youth Program. Amy is moving on, and we want to recognize her dedication and hard work with and on behalf of our community’s kids.

Under Amy’s direction, the Youth Program has grown beyond our wildest dreams and now includes not only Thursday Night Youth Night/Open Gym, but Camp Finland (a week-long summer camp experience in June) as well as various outings and other activities for youth and community members.

We expect all of these great activities to continue uninterrupted, because Amy has built a very capable group of people as staff who will continue to provide quality opportunities for our youth.

Nevertheless, Amy is leaving big shoes to fill. We will be hiring to fill the gaps in the Youth Program in the near future.

Thanks Amy! You will be missed!

2019 Featured Volunteers!

Marc Smith

Marc Smith

You’ve heard the expression Behind Every Great Man Is A Great Woman?  It’s dated and sexist, right?

But how about this one?  Behind Every Great Clair Nelson Center Staffperson Is A Great Partner.  A partner that “volunteers” their time to help with the Booya dishes, runs the kids’ booth at St Urho’s, helps with bingo, prepares the meal for a special event, fixes the heater, the ice machine and the…..  You get the idea!

Gary Olson

Gary Olson

This year’s Volunteer Thank you goes out to our staffpeople’s partners for the hours you have all put in helping us make the Clair Nelson Center the community jewel it is.

Jeffrey Mitchell Jr

Jeffrey Mitchell Jr

Thank you many times over to Marc Smith (Amy Gardner), Gary Olson (Nancy Anselment-Olson), Jeffrey Mitchell (Honor Schauland), Pamela Melby (Kaare Melby) and Kurt Mead (Betsey Mead).

We appreciate you! And so does our community!

Kurtles

Kurt Mead

Pamtastic

Pamela Melby