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.

FinnFest 2013

Wow...FinnFest is almost here, and with it come a whole host of working-class Finn activities. I'm involved in three events and would like to outline them here:

1) Thursday, June 20, 2013, Finnish Immigrant Working Class Places and Spaces Bus Tour.

I've posted a little on this tour, but would like to include the tour schedule below. I'm excited that the tour has passed its capacity requirement, and we're looking forward to a fun, educational, and reflective day.

The tour schedule:

9.00. Board bus MTU Student Development Complex
9.15. Arrive Dodgeville Temperance Society Hall
10.00. Arrive South Range Hall
10.45. Arrive Kansankoti Hall/Tyomies site
11.30. Arrive Osceola Mine fire site
12.00. Arrive Keweenaw National Historical Park Calumet Visitors Center
12.45-1.30. Lunch on own
1.30. Meet outside Michigan House walk to Italian Hall site for preliminary interpretation
2.00. Italian Hall site ceremony
3.00. End tour at Italian Hall site, stay at Calumet Days, or take bus back to SDC

And, in true working class fashion, instead of the plush tour buses being used by other tours, we'll be using a sturdy, yellow school bus to take us around to these sites.

2) Hanka Day at FinnFest, Friday, June 21, 2013

I volunteer at the Hanka Finnish Immigrant Homestead Museum in Askel, Michigan, and we have a hum-dinger of a time planned. I'll be taking tickets for entrance to the homestead at the old wooden gate, but other volunteers and board members will be dressed as historical interpreters providing the public a glimpse of what life was like on the farm circa 1920. The day will include demonstrations by a black smith, cooking demonstrations, farm animals, music and folk dancing. Big bill if fare for the day and we are expecting anywhere from 300-400 people to visit this great historic site.

3) Saturday, June 22, 2013, presentation, "Wage-slaves and Radicals: Finnish Immigrants in the 1913-14 Copper Strike"

This presentation will highlight the extraordinary part Finns played in the Michigan Copper Strike, and will also include relevant new research on Italian Hall.