FinnFest Presentation

FinnFest was a bit of a mixed bag. There was a lot of rain, but also some literal and proverbial sunshine.

The tour went very well, and the ceremony for those who died at Italian Hall was wonderful. People from Finland spoke as well as local dignitaries and historians. Larry Lankton and Revered Bob Langseth gave very eloquent speeches, which highlighted the importance of Italian Hall to area history and memory.

My talk at FinnFest, "Wage Slaves and Radicals: Finns in the 1913-14 Michigan Copper Strike," went well. There was a packed room, and the talk ended with some great questions. But, perhaps the best feature of the talk was a guest picketing of the talk by local printer and historian Dan Schneider, who is working on a project to translate and print (using a historically accurate press) editions of Tyomies from the 1913-14 Michigan Copper Strike era.

Dan Schneider "picketing" the FinnFest lecture area hallway announcing his project to translate and reprint 1913-14 Strike era news as published in the Tyomies newspaper. 

I asked Dan to come up and give a description of his project, and it was a great addition to the talk--one that was planned only about half-an-hour before the presentation. Above is an image of Dan in full picket mode as he was walking up and down the FinnFest lecture area hallways. His labor action was a great addition to FinnFest, and his work in translating and reprinting the strike era news is an incredible piece to the strike's story.