FinnFest 2013 Guided Tour

FinnFest 2013 being held in Hancock, Michigan, is quickly approaching. Thousands are expected to be converging on the Copper Country for the event. As part of the event, I'm giving a guided tour of Finnish American Working Class Places and Spaces. Info about this tour and others available is on the FinnFest web site: http://finnfestusa2013.org/tours.

Below is the description of the tour. Later I'll give more information on the specifics of the tour: stops, time, information covered, etc.

Thursday, June 20—Finnish American Working Class Places and Spaces 9:00 am to 4:30 pm

Tour begins and ends at MTU’s Student Development Complex  Pre-registration required. Cost $20 (lunch on your own in Calumet) 20 min. and 40 max. attendance. There is an option to stay in Calumet after tour stops for FinnFest’s Calumet Day if preferred. Shuttle bus will return those who stay in Calumet. Finnish immigrants helped to shape much of the Upper Peninsula’s strong working-class heritage. The struggle they encountered in building America, forming immigrant working-class organizations, and challenging the copper bosses is a remarkable testament to the power an immigrant people can have in shaping new lives in a New World. Though most of those immigrant voices have passed, many of the places and spaces they inhabited remain. This historical tour will link the voices of working-class Finns and the significant structures and landscapes they forged with sweat and sacrifice. Tour stops include the South Range Hall, the site of the former Kansankoti Hall, mining landscapes, the Keweenaw National Historical Park’s Visitor Center, the Italian Hall Memorial site, and graves of Finnish immigrant people who died in Italian Hall at Lake View Cemetery. Labor and immigration historian Gary Kaunonen, author of two books on Michigan’s working-class Finns and co-author of a new book on the 1913-14 Michigan Copper Strike and Italian Hall tragedy, will lead this tour.