HANCOCK — High COVID numbers in the area have caused several upcoming events to be canceled or moved online.

Heikinpaiva, a Finnish celebration marking midwinter, will not be held this winter, the Finnish Theme Committee announced last week. The festival, which was also cancelled last winter, had been scheduled for January.

“Despite this disappointing turn of events, the Finnish Theme Committee remains focused on its mission of preserving and promoting Finnish-American and Finnish culture and traditions in the Copper Country and beyond, and is eager to host programming when public health conditions allow,” the Finnish Theme Committee said on the Heikinpaiva Facebook page.

Finlandia University is modifying several of its events held for its 125th anniversary. Two in-person events scheduled for Sunday will go on as planned: a 10:30 a.m. worship service at Gloria Dei Lutheran Church in Hancock and a 1 p.m. Finnish Independence Day program at the Finnish American Heritage Center. Both events will require a mask and sign-in. No refreshments will be offered.

A live stream of the events will also be available at finlandia.edu/125th.

The opening reception for the Finnish-American Artist Series will be held online at 7 p.m. Dec. 9. This year’s artist is Natalie Salminen Rude, who will bring works ranging from oil paintings, encaustic sculptures and haiku.

To attend virtually, people can take part on Zoom. The meeting ID is 857 4012 3384 and the passcode is 713269.

Other events planned for the weekend will be rescheduled.

COVID rates have also forced the Keweenaw Holiday Hoopla to switch from an in-person event to an online silent auction. The event is a collaboration between the Keweenaw Chamber of Commerce, Keweenaw Young Professionals, Portage Health Foundation and Keweenaw Economic Development Alliance.

The money raised goes towards the high school career and technical education scholarship program. In a partnership launched last year between PHF and KEDA, one student from each public high school in Baraga, Houghton, Keweenaw and Ontonagon counties receives a $1,000 scholarship.

Last year’s Holiday Hoopla was also conducted virtually.

The online auction can be found at biddingowl.com/Auction/home.cfm?auctionID=24667.