The American and Finnish Flags, Finn Fest 2012
Rudy Perpich Memorial Drive. Again. Twice in a week. Still, I love the drive. Always have since I started going up to my buddy Jeff’s Finnish farmstead in Colvin Township back in the mid-1970s. There’s something, as Sig Olson once wrote, to this “Lonely Land”, this rough and tumble landscape filled with small rivers, boggy lakes, marsh, and endless stretches of aspen, pine, and birch interspersed with open hay meadows, most long abandoned, some clinging to productive life.
Once again, I’m up at the crack of dawn and headed north to sell books. This is the third or fourth time I’ve done the Finn Fest at Embarrass, the little hamlet off County Highway No. 21 that battles last week’s venue, Tower, for the coldest spot in Minnesota and the continental 48. Tower, I think, is the winner at -60F, with Embarrass right behind at -57F. (The coldest I’ve ever felt was in the mid forties below zero and that was a shocker.) But today, as my blue Pacifica glides north, there’s no danger of cold weather: The skies are clear and humid with new summer. I expect things will go well in Embarrass: Finns are, by and large, a readerly people. And they don’t restrict themselves to Suomalaiset, my historic novel about the Finns coming to North America, though that’s the draw to my booth at these ethnic festivals. Finnish Americans and Finnish Canadians love to read. I’m expecting to sell quite a few books in this one day, easy in, easy out event. I am not disappointed.
CRP Booth at Finn Fest
The beauty of this event, like the one I did in Tower last week, is that it’s indoors. While the day is warm (overly so as the mercury will touch 90F) and the skies are clear, if you’ve read my most recent posts, you know I am done with outdoor shows. Too much hassle. Too much risk. Too few customers. And a left shoulder waiting for surgery that needs rest and pampering. So when I set up inside the big log community center in the center of town, I am a happy man. Happy to have made, after years of battling the elements, a sound and wise choice to remain indoors. Here, at this little ethnic festival, the crowd begins to gather shortly after an American Legion Honor Guard raises the American and the Finnish flags outside the hall. Customers peruse my books, many of them, like last weekend, repeat customers who want another “Munger read”. Returnees, of course, bring a big smile to an author’s face. Sales are brisk. My cheeks start to hurt from all the happiness.
The sun climbs and the air inside the big building becomes stuffy. The music, kantele players and Finnish folk singers, adds to the lively, festive spirit of the event. Folks of all ages find empty chairs to sit in, listening to songs sung in a language, quite frankly, that is so daunting the best I can do is “kiitos” (“thanks”) after over a decade of being immersed in Finnish culture.
The Stage at Finn Fest
I pass up the Mojakka ja Leipa (beef stew) and donate a couple of bucks to kids selling brats and hot dogs to raise tuition for summer camp. My heart objects, telling me I should have gone with the healthier option, and I manage to leak mustard and relish onto my white cargo shorts.
Crap.
Still, the food is hot and in keeping with the celebratory theme of the event. After hitting the head, I grab my iPhone and wander outside where I know young folks will be waiting with their horses.
Horse Competition, 2012 Finn Fest
Putting on the Brakes, Finn Fest 2012
There was a time, seemingly another life ago, when I owned horses. Oh, I was never much of a rider. And my boys and my wife were never that interested in the animals. Truth is, by the time we built our new house (which lacked a barn) and sold the old place, I’d worn myself out shoveling horse crap and stacking hay bales. So selling off our three horses wasn’t that big a shock to my system. Still, I love animals. Watching young folks, mostly young women, put their big mounts through the paces in the ring at Finn Fest was a treat I hadn’t contemplated when I sent in my check for this show. It’s an added bonus, to see these majestic animals move to command under the hot Embarrass sun, several states away from where one would normally expect to watch horses work.
Boot Toss
I wasn’t outside the log hall when that seminal of all Finnish contests, the boot toss, took place. And sadly, perhaps because of the advancing age of the crowd (or maybe due to liability concerns) I didn’t see any evidence of the “Wife Carry”, where husbands struggle under the girth and heft of their former lithe sweeties, totting their mates like sacks of inert potatoes to a finish line in a madcap race for the ages. But I did see kids playing a modified form of soccer under the azure sky; horses standing patiently waiting to be fed and watered; and over a thousand folks of Finnish descent (or, like me, with an interest in the culture) having a whale of a good time on a very hot and muggy day in Embarrass.
Peace.
Mark
