President of Finland receives honors in Duluth, Minnesota.

FinnFest 2008 has drawn thousands to Duluth, Minnesota to celebrate all things Finnish.  Including the President of Finland, Tarja Halonen.

For a news update on her honors from the University of Minnesota Duluth, click on the picture below.

President Tarja Halonen

 FinnFest has been such a wonderful experience. Dancing, music, plays, educational seminars and great exhibits.  This weekend is also filled with events.  For a complete schedule of events click on the FinnFest Logo below.

Finn

Oofta the Finns are coming to town!!!! FinnFest 2008!

FinnFest 2008 will be held in Duluth, Minnesota July 23-27th.  Hundreds of events are planned and one of the honored guests, is the President of Finland.

President Tarja Halonen

While I am not Finnish, I have been happily married to a Finn for 26 years. And my hair used to be the exact color as the Finnish President’s Tarja Halonen when I was a little girl…so that should count as something, Yah?

 My family is part Swedish on my mother’s side.  There has always been a friendly rivalry between the Swedes and Finns especially in Northeastern Minnesota.  On the Northland’s Newscenter, during a commercial break recently I asked the co-chairs of FinnFest 2008 if we have to be Finn to take part in this international event. “No, we love everyone.” they responded. 

 That really is true!  Finn or not–consider hooking up the reindeer and heading north to the beautiful city on Lake Superior for FinnFest 2008!  The saunas are firing, the coffee is hot…and gosh those Finns are nice people!

For a day by day schedule of events from the wonderful folks who put together FinnFest….click the word  OOFTA!

For a television interview with the co-chairs of FinnFest2008 click the logo below!

Oofta this is fun pottery to collect!

Nemadji “Indian” Pottery is my favorite thing to collect. I have hundreds of pieces and Oofta, I have so much I ended up writing a book about it!  It was produced as a tourist pottery in Moose Lake and Kettle River Minnesota from the 1920’s until 2002.  It can be found in garage sales, antique and collectible stores….I have paid everything from ten cents to 50 dollars per piece.

The book can be found on Amazon.