Heikinpäivä events draw a crowd
January 31, 2011 - By GARRETT NEESE, gneese@mininggazette.com
HANCOCK - Thousands of revelers turned out Saturday for Heikinpiv celebrations in Hancock.
Events had taken place for weeks leading up to Saturday for Heikinpiv, the festival celebrating the midway point of winter.
Saturday morning's parade ranged from Finnish figures such as St. Henrik, the patron saint of Finland, to a couple dressed as 'John Lennoniemi' and 'Yoko Onomaki.'
D'Andra Kero, 9, of Hancock got to ride with City Manager Glenn Anderson and this year's Hankooki Heikki, or parade marshal, Esther Pekkala, after winning an essay contest.
'It was fun seeing all the people,' Kero said.
After the parade was a series of events, such as snow volleyball and wife-carrying. Dan and Katie Kayser of Houghton were the first to try the latter competition, in which they ran a timed course including pouring coffee, cleaning rugs and beating each other with switches.
'We heard about it on the Heikinpiv website, and we thought it sounded pretty cool,' Dan said. 'It was fun.'"
Will have to look forward and maybe see this next year.
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