Sauna culture is front and center at Duluth’s FinnFest, along with Asahi and floorball

DULUTH — An attendee at FinnFest might pull into the headquarters’ parking lot just ahead of a sauna on wheels, then park next to a pickup truck with a sleeper top — a sign calling it a “Finnebago” and the license plate indicating “IM FINN.”

The five-day festival that started here Wednesday is a mix of seminars on Nordic quality of life, fashion shows featuring Scandinavian clothes, field trips to the Iron Range where Finnish settlers worked, morning walks and floorball matches.

Several of the events, which run through Saturday, center on sauna culture.

“Sow-na,” corrected Ira Salmela, the event’s executive director, playfully responding to a yet another mispronunciation of the word. “We don’t judge, we want as many people saying sauna as possible. It just feels better when you’re saying it right.”

There are, according to Salmela, more saunas than cars in Finland.

FinnFest is in its second of five consecutive years in Duluth and is expected to draw up to 5,000 attendees by the time it ends Saturday. It was held here in 1992 and 2008, but in the past decade has landed in Minneapolis; Houghton, Mich.; Buffalo, N.Y. and beyond. It is mostly centered at the Duluth Entertainment Convention Center, where visitors roamed through the Finnish market, drop into Finnish language courses and attended Finnish dance workshops. (A pulla baking demonstration, showcasing the country’s traditional cardamom bread, was hosted in part by Duluth-famous cookbook author Bea Ojakangas and held at a local church.)

Through Saturday, visitors will have access to seminars on architecture and sustainability, music by local favorite Steve Solkela, a singalong of Finnish camp songs, and a presentation by photographer Rauli Virtanen, who was a U.S.-based correspondent for Finnish media. The keynote speech by Pekka Haavisto, a member of the Finnish Parliament, is titled “Finland’s role in the changing world: How can a small country build peace in a time of conflict.” He will also speak about the carbon-neutral future of Minnesota and Finland.

On Thursday morning, budding Asahi guides gathered in the Gooseberry Falls Room for teacher training. The relatively new practice, born of ancient concepts filtered through modern medicine, combines movement and meditation. It can be done barefoot on the hardwood floor of an all-purpose space at the Duluth Entertainment Convention Center, while seated in a chair or even in bed, according to Margaret Vainio, who came to Duluth from Finland to teach the sessions.

“It’s a secular practice and anyone can do it,” she said from the sidelines, as future teachers practiced leading a class, arms raised and centered on breath.

Asahi was first developed in Finland in 2004. While there are about 1,000 Asahi teachers in that country, it remains relatively obscure here. There are 16 teachers in the United States, according to Vainio, who would like to see it incorporated into schools.

Kraig Anderson’s “Sauntoon” towered high above the other more traditional saunas at the festival’s market. The cedar sauna sits atop pontoon tubes, an idea inspired by a trip to Norway where he went out on water on a similar craft.

“Life-changing sounds over the top,” he said of the experience. “But it was amazing.”

He came back to Minnesota and set out to construct his own version. The FinnFest display Sauntoon is his first version, but plans for another collaboration between Nordic Driftwood and Stone House Cedar Saunas are in place. He said he takes the Sauntoon out into the deep waters of a secret lake near Lake Vermilion, where friends spend time in the sauna, dive into the cold water, then return via ladder. The rocking waves add to the experience, according to Anderson.

“There’s nothing like it,” he said.

At the DECC Arena, St. Scholastica women’s hockey coach Julianne Vasichek watched a floorball match between Minnesota and Fort Worth. The sport resembles floor hockey, is played with a ball, and the rink is enclosed in shin-high boards that get knocked out of place during physical play. It’s fast-paced with quick turnarounds and the goalies have only their hands and body to stop speeding shots at the small net.

Vasichek wondered aloud if she could incorporate the sport into her athletes’ off-ice training. She left during a break between periods ― with one more FinnFest mission before she exited the DECC.

“You have to try to salmon soup,” Vasichek said.

It’s called Lohikeitto here.