Leena-Kaisa Mikkola

HANCOCK — Ambassador of Finland Leena-Kaisa Mikkola and her Estonian counterpart Kristjan Prikk, will be in the Keweenaw on Friday,June 19 as part of the Juhannus (Midsummer) celebration in Hancock. The ambassadors will deliver remarks at 11 a.m., followed by a brief question-and-answer period at at Hancock Central High School.

The Juhannus celebration is slated for June 17-21 at various sites in Hancock. This year, the festival is celebrating Hancock’s selection as the world’s Finno-Ugric Capital of Culture for 2026, and is a collaborative effort of the City of Hancock, Visit Keweenaw, Finlandia Foundation National and the Copper Country Finns and Friends, along with several other financial supporters.

Ambassador Mikkola will discuss Finns and happiness as part of her speech as one of keynote speakers during the presentation. Ambassador Prikk will talk about Estonia as a world leader in connectivity and information technology, and how that nation has many commonalities with Finland, not just in geography but also language and other cultural aspects.

Finnish American Heritage Center Director David Maki said the presentation may be the first time in the Copper Country that two international dignitaries have visited at the same time.

“It certainly is a rare occasion when we have two international leaders of this status making it a priority to come to the Copper Country to see just how authentically Finno-Ugric we are,” Maki said.

Along with the ambassadors, the Juhannus lecture and presentation series includes presenters from Finland, Estonia, Hungary and Norway, as well as presenters from across the USA. Topics range from history to music to ethnicity, all rooted in the Finno-Ugric culture that permeates the Hancock area, as well as other parts of the world. Along with lectures and presentations, Friday’s activities at the high school will include a full day of live music at the tori – which will have numerous vendors from across the Midwest. There’s no admission fee for any of the day’s events.

James Kurtti, with Copper Country Finns and Friends, said the city of Hancock has captured the focus of the international community. “It’s pretty well set, but not announced yet,” he said, “but the President of Estonia, Alar Karis, is also going to do a greeting via the internet, so we have really gained a lot of attention.”

While there are some concerns in the community that Hancock as the Finno-Ugric Capital of Culture has gained more attention internationally than within the U.P., Maki said there may be a good reason for that.

‘The significance of Hancock being chosen as the Finno-Ugric Capital of Culture may not be appreciated by many local residents,” he said. “I think it’s significant anytime you’re recognized as being the thing in the world,” he said. “In this case, it’s the Finno-Ugric culture, and I think the locals might be overlooking this, because we’re so authentically and immersively Finnish here. People don’t even notice it as being unique.”

The authentic Finnish culture is a way of life, said Maki, regardless of someone’s ethnicity.

“We’re so Finnish, we don’t know it,” he said. “Because we are so innately Finnish, whether by blood or by neighborhood, we don’t notice it as being cultural.”