This special ticket event is for everyone interested in making connections with local and distant companies—and in strengthening the business relationship between Minnesota and the Nordic countries.
We’re bringing together Nordic and Minnesota business leaders for a special Nordic Business Luncheon focused on networking, conversation, collaboration, and new connections. Hosted in partnership with the Finnish American Chamber of Commerce Minnesota (FACC-MN), the luncheon offers a unique opportunity to connect the business communities of Finland and Minnesota and explore the relationships and opportunities that can grow between them.
This Nordic-based catered luncheon will explore the opportunities and challenges of doing business across borders while creating a welcoming environment to connect with companies and leaders who share an interest in strengthening the business relationship between Minnesota and Nordic countries.
A Brief Featured Program
The luncheon will feature brief insights from leaders with firsthand experience in Nordic business, international growth, and cross-border markets.
Robert Strand, FinnFest keynote speaker, will share insights on Nordic Capitalism and what American businesses can learn from the Nordic business model.
Elias Revonta, CEO/Founder of Orcason Medical, will share his experience bringing his company to Minnesota and navigating the U.S. market.
Stephanie Alles, Director of Marketing and Communications for GF Building Flow Solutions Americas, explores the Finnish and Swiss heritage shaping the journey of Uponor as a GF brand.
Robert Strand · Elias Revonta · Stephanie Alles
Following the program, guests will have plenty of time to meet, mingle, and continue the conversation with fellow FACC-MN members, Finnish companies, and Minnesota business leaders.
More Than a Luncheon
This is an opportunity to put your company in the room, expand your professional network, and build relationships that can lead to new opportunities.
This special luncheon event is about $55.57 at checkout, which includes:
A Nordic-inspired catered menu
Admission to the Nordic Business Luncheon
A Saturday day pass — including Robert Strand’s keynote and festival programming on Saturday, September 19
Special thanks to our partners Agency61, Orcason and GF/Uponor.
More Ways to Get Involved
Companies looking for greater visibility can also take advantage of two special sponsorship opportunities:
Sponsor the Nordic Business Luncheon — Choose from two sponsorship levels offering opportunities for company visibility, recognition, and engagement at the luncheon.
Sponsor FinnFest — Explore multiple sponsorship options designed to connect your company with the broader FinnFest audience and showcase your organization as part of this unique Nordic celebration.
Agency61 believes the best ideas don’t shout—they travel. They build momentum, create connections, and pull everything else along with them. That’s creative leverage—and it’s what this Minnesota agency is bringing to FinnFest USA 2026.
Agency61
Who is Agency61?
Agency61 is a young agency of old friends. What began as a small campfire idea has grown into a creative agency built around one simple belief: bringing joyful intelligence to their clients, their brands, and their marketing challenges.
At Agency61, they start with the beating heart of a brand and develop ideas that make everything else make sense—from the signals hiding in the noise to the direction worth committing to.
Inspired by Route 61 and the North Shore of Lake Superior, they believe progress comes from paying attention. Read the conditions. See what matters. Move with purpose.
Curiosity fuels them. Taste guides them.
What Agency61 Does Best
Agency61 blends strategy with instinct, clarity with personality, and intelligence with joy to create work that moves brands forward.
They help brands find their way—and build the tools and ideas that help them get there. Their capabilities span the full spectrum of marketing and creative services, with the flexibility to right-size their teams, solutions, and engagements to meet each client’s needs and budget.
Agency61 — selected work
Why Agency61 Chose FinnFest
Agency61 volunteered to support FinnFest’s move to Minneapolis as an opportunity to help introduce the festival to new audiences and build awareness throughout the community.
It’s also been a chance to bring fresh thinking and creative energy to an already strong brand. Plus, Peter’s Finnish, so he just did it.
At FinnFest 2026
Agency61 is sponsoring and supporting the FinnFest business luncheon on Friday. Peter Anderson also wears several hats during the festival, including serving on the FACC-MN Board of Directors and helping host the business luncheon.
A forgotten founder returns to the stage. A Finnish-born artist turns mythology into music. A folk band brings the old Finn Halls back to life. And a new generation gathers to carry the story forward. Experience it all at FinnFest USA 2026.
September 17–20, 2026 · Minneapolis
Finlandia Foundation National
What Finlandia Foundation National Is Bringing to FinnFest
Ruut: 2026 Performer of the Year — Hear the Finnish-born singer, pianist and storyteller whose music draws inspiration from Finnish mythology, cultural heritage and the Kalevala.
Jay Smith: 2026 Lecturer of the Year — Discover the little-known story of John Morton, the Finnish American founder whose deciding vote helped move the colonies toward independence.
A free night of theatre — See the premiere of MORTON: The Forgotten Founder at Minnehaha Park—then stay for traditional Finnish music, singing and dancing with Lauluaika.
Young Leaders at the American Swedish Institute — Meet emerging leaders, professionals and community builders helping shape the future of Finnish America. This is an excellent networking opportunity for young professionals who are Finnish, Finnish-American, or interested in Finland and the Nordic countries.
Finlandia Foundation National — partnership in action
Some sponsorships appear as a logo at the bottom of a page. Finlandia Foundation National’s partnership with FinnFest USA is woven through the entire festival experience.
You will hear it in the powerful piano and vocals of Ruut. You will encounter it in Jay Smith’s exploration of a forgotten chapter of American history. You will see it brought to life onstage in MORTON: The Forgotten Founder. You will feel it when Lauluaika’s music fills the Minnehaha Park Pavilion and people begin to dance.
And on Sunday, you will see the story continue as Finlandia Foundation National’s Young Leaders gather at the American Swedish Institute to build relationships, network, and imagine what comes next.
Together, these experiences reflect the heart of Finlandia Foundation National’s mission: preserving Finnish American history and culture, building connections with contemporary Finland and creating opportunities for future generations to take part.
Ruut Brings Finnish Mythology into the Present
Ruut — 2026 Performer of the Year
Finnish-born singer, pianist, author and educator Ruut DeMeo—known professionally as Ruut—is Finlandia Foundation National’s 2026 Performer of the Year.
For more than two decades, Ruut has built a creative life around music, storytelling and the belief that art can help people remember where they came from while discovering something new about themselves.
Known in Baltimore as the city’s “piano girl,” she has released nine independent albums and performed internationally. Her performances combine commanding piano work, expressive vocals and deeply personal storytelling.
Her newest creative work reaches back toward Finland. Ruut’s upcoming album, Motherland, draws from Finnish mythology, cultural memory and oral storytelling traditions. The project is closely connected to her forthcoming novel, which reimagines the characters and world of the Kalevala.
At FinnFest, audiences will have opportunities to experience Ruut as both a performer and a Finnish-born woman creating a life and body of work in America. She will also join a conversation featuring five Finnish-born women artists whose work spans music, writing, visual art and performance.
Ruut’s work is a reminder that Finnish heritage is not something preserved only in archives. It continues to evolve through the artists who interpret it, challenge it and carry it forward.
A Forgotten Finnish American—and a Vote That Shaped a Nation
Jay Smith — 2026 Lecturer of the Year
As the United States marks the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, Finlandia Foundation National is helping FinnFest audiences rediscover an important Finnish-American connection to the nation’s founding.
John Morton was a Pennsylvania delegate to the Continental Congress and a signer of the Declaration of Independence. Although his name is unfamiliar to many Americans today, his decision played a pivotal role in moving the colonies toward independence.
Morton cast a deciding vote from Pennsylvania in favor of independence, helping unite the colonies behind separation from Britain. He was also of Finnish descent.
At FinnFest, John “Jay” E. Smith, Finlandia Foundation National’s 2026 Lecturer of the Year, will bring Morton’s story back into public view.
Smith is a trained public historian, researcher and archivist dedicated to making history accessible, engaging and relevant. His work bridges the distance between academic research and the stories communities tell about themselves.
Through presentations, writing, archival research and interactive storytelling, Smith helps audiences understand not only what happened in the past, but why it continues to matter. His exploration of John Morton asks us to reconsider whose stories are remembered, whose are overlooked and how Finnish Americans helped shape the larger American story.
History Moves from the Lecture Hall to the Stage
The story of John Morton will also come alive through a new theatrical production created in recognition of America’s 250th anniversary.
Finlandia Foundation National and Frank Theatre, together with FinnFest USA, present the premiere of:
MORTON: The Forgotten Founder
A History Play with Music
In Honor of the Nation’s 250th Anniversary
By Laurie Flanigan Hegge
Directed and Produced by Wendy Knox
Saturday, September 19, 2026
Play begins at 5:30 p.m.
Minnehaha Park Pavilion, near Sea Salt
One performance only—free and open to everyone
What Makes a Revolution a Revolution?
MORTON: The Forgotten Founder explores the choices, convictions and personal consequences behind one of the most important decisions in American history.
Morton was not simply casting a vote. He was taking a position that divided communities, families and political leaders. His decision helped break Pennsylvania’s deadlock and move the colonies toward a united declaration of independence.
Through theatre and music, the production invites audiences to look beyond the familiar names of the American Revolution and meet a forgotten founder whose Finnish roots form a remarkable connection between Finnish American history and the birth of the United States.
MORTON: The Forgotten Founder was commissioned by Finlandia Foundation National. The play will kick off with a short introduction about John Morton, his life and history, by Finlandia Foundation National’s Lecturer of the Year, Jay Smith.
No FinnFest ticket is required for this free Saturday evening performance.
Following the play, the Minnehaha Park Pavilion will fill with Finnish and Finnish American folk music as Lauluaika, whose name means “Song Time,” invites the community to stay, listen and dance.
Based in the Twin Cities, Lauluaika was formed in 2016 by musicians who share a commitment to learning, preserving and teaching the music and dances once enjoyed in Finnish gathering places and old Finn Halls.
Their repertoire includes Finnish couples dances such as waltzes, polkas, humppa, jenkka, masurkka and hambo, as well as lively group dances for all ages. The band also enjoys discovering newly composed music that captures the spirit of Finnish heritage—connecting the traditional sounds of Finnish America with the communities enjoying them today.
Come for the play. Stay for the music, singing and dancing. Bring your family, meet new people and experience the welcoming spirit of an old-fashioned Finnish community gathering.
Saturday, September 19 · Immediately following the play · Free
Young Leaders: the Story Looks Forward
FinnFest moves to the American Swedish Institute on Sunday, September 20, for a day of music, art, history and community.
It is also where Finlandia Foundation National will turn its attention toward the future.
The Finlandia Foundation National Young Leaders Networking Event will bring together emerging leaders, young professionals, cultural advocates and community builders who share an interest in Finland and Finnish America.
Join us as we close out an exciting weekend at FinnFest – this is a unique opportunity to connect and network in person with other young professionals in the Finnish-American community!
Light refreshments will be available.
Please note: you do not need to purchase a FinnFest day pass or weekend pass to attend. All are welcome!
For more than 70 years, Finlandia Foundation National has championed Finnish-American heritage while building bridges between modern Finland and the United States.
Its work includes cultural programs, performers, lecturers, grants, scholarships, Finnish language support and the preservation of important Finnish American archives and artifacts.
That work is visible throughout FinnFest 2026. It can be found in a historical story recovered from obscurity, a new play commissioned for America’s 250th anniversary, an artist reimagining Finnish mythology, a folk band preserving the music of old Finn Halls and young leaders preparing to carry the culture forward.
This is more than a collection of programs. It is a story moving from the past, through the present and into the future. And everyone is invited to be part of it.
Join Us at FinnFest USA 2026
September 17–20, 2026 · Minneapolis, Minnesota
FinnFest is North America’s premier experience of Finnish and Nordic culture and learning. Enjoy four days of live music, performances, history, art, films, workshops, cultural experiences and community.
Come for one day or experience the entire festival. You do not have to be Finnish to belong at FinnFest. You simply need to be curious.
Long before Finnish immigrants came to work in America’s copper and iron mines, steel mills, docks and forests, they were building new lives on homesteads around Cokato, Minnesota—just 50 miles west of Minneapolis.
Departing from the Hilton Minneapolis, this guided bus tour explores the urban and rural communities that shaped Finnish American life in Minnesota.
History Comes to Life
Your guide is Harvey Barberg—a deeply knowledgeable local historian with personal roots in both Minneapolis and rural Cokato. Harvey knows the people, places and stories that make this community so remarkable, and he’ll bring that history to life throughout the day.
The tour includes five extended stops at historic and contemporary Finnish American sites, offering a fascinating look at how Finnish traditions took root in Minnesota—and how they continue today.
Explore Historic Temperance Corner
Finnish immigrants joined a Norwegian homesteading community near Cokato in 1864. There, they established farms and created a close-knit community shaped by faith, perseverance and Finnish tradition.
At the same time, Finnish immigrants were building a vibrant urban community in Minneapolis. Employment opportunities drew newcomers into the city, where Finnish neighborhoods grew while remaining closely connected to the rural community around Cokato.
In 1895, local farmers created their own secular gathering place, which became known as Temperance Corner. Today, this extraordinary historic site includes:
The Temperance Hall, built in 1896 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places
An 1865 log cabin
An 1868 sauna—the first Finnish sauna built in Minnesota and still standing today
And because no Finnish festival adventure should go without good food, your visit to Temperance Corner includes a catered pasty lunch!
From Historic Churches to Modern Sauna Culture
The tour also visits the Cokato Museum, where exhibits share the broader Nordic story of the region.
At Annandale’s open-air museum, you’ll visit the Old Tin Church, a former Laestadian Lutheran church that reflects the community’s strong religious roots.
But this tour isn’t only about the past. Finnish American culture remains alive and active throughout the region. A visit to Sauna Supply, operated by a new generation of young Finnish Americans, offers a look at how Finnish heritage is being carried forward—and reimagined for the 21st century.
Come hungry for history, Finnish culture and, of course, pasties!
Ready to Join Us?
Seats are limited, so don’t wait to reserve your place on this special FinnFest experience.
The Cokato Finnish American Historical Society reserves the right to cancel the tour if fewer than 25 people register.
Your FinnFest Sunday ticket includes a visit to the American Swedish Institute—Eyes as Big as Plates, the Turnblad Mansion, the Museum Store, and FIKA Café.
FinnFest guests can explore Eyes as Big as Plates, a remarkable photography exhibition created by Finnish-Norwegian artist duo Riitta Ikonen and Karoline Hjorth.
The exhibit began as a playful exploration of Nordic folklore and has grown into an international project featuring people quite literally immersed in the natural world. Using grasses, branches, leaves, seaweed and other materials gathered from each person’s surroundings, the artists create wonderfully strange and beautiful portraits that explore aging, identity, nature and our relationship with the environment.
More than 30 of these large-scale portraits are displayed throughout the historic Turnblad Mansion—and the setting couldn’t be more fitting.
The exhibit has a natural connection to FinnFest. It brings together Finnish creativity, Nordic storytelling, folklore, environmental awareness and a wonderfully unexpected sense of humor. It invites us to look at nature—and at one another—with fresh eyes.
There’s More to Explore
Your Sunday FinnFest ticket also includes a self-guided tour of the Turnblad Mansion, one of Minneapolis’s most fascinating historic homes.
Built in the early 1900s for Swedish newspaper publisher Swan Turnblad and his family, the mansion is filled with intricate woodwork, decorative plasterwork, stained glass and details worth slowing down to see. You can wander at your own pace while experiencing the Eyes as Big as Plates portraits throughout the mansion.
Be sure to leave time for the ASI Museum Store, too. It is truly an experience of its own, with a beautifully curated collection of Nordic gifts, books, home goods, jewelry, foods and wonderfully unexpected finds.
And then there’s FIKA Café.
Fika is the Swedish tradition of pausing for coffee, something delicious and time together—and the café is a perfect place to settle in after exploring the museum. FinnFest Festival Director Monica Hendrickson is especially hopeful that the café’s potato leek soup will be on the menu that day.
Her official review? “It’s like heaven in a bowl.”
We are incredibly grateful to the American Swedish Institute for serving as a FinnFest host partner this year and welcoming our guests into this extraordinary space.
Finland and Sweden each have their own histories, traditions and identities, but FinnFest has always been about creating connections—across generations, communities and the Nordic world. We can’t imagine a better way to spend Sunday than surrounded by art, history, culture and a little fika.
Join us Sunday and experience it all with your FinnFest ticket. We can’t wait to explore ASI with you!
Come for FinnFest. Stay for the art, the mansion—and maybe a bowl of that potato leek soup.
The Sound of Finland in America: Your Guide to the FinnFest 2026 Music Lineup
Meet the FinnFest 2026 music lineup — from five Finland-born women artists to Jonathan Rundman. Discover why music is the heart of FinnFest, September 17–20 in Minneapolis.
If there’s one thread that runs through every day of FinnFest, it’s music. It spills out of the concert halls and into the hallways, the coffee breaks, the late-night conversations. Ask anyone what they remember most from a FinnFest weekend, and the answer is almost always a song — a melody that caught them off guard, a performer they’d never heard of who became a new favorite, a familiar tune that suddenly felt like home.
So why does music matter this much to Finnish culture? And what makes the FinnFest 2026 lineup worth planning your whole weekend around? Here’s the deeper story.
Northern Stars Sámi Girls — photo: Michael Mudgate Photography /
FinnFest USA 2023
Why music is at the heart of Finnish identity
Finland is a country that has often expressed itself most powerfully through sound. For a nation whose language and independence were hard-won, music has long carried what words alone couldn’t — identity, memory, resistance, and joy. From the runo-song tradition that shaped the national epic Kalevala, to Sibelius, to a modern scene that produces everything from folk revival to hip-hop, Finns have used music to say this is who we are.
That same instinct shows up in Finnish American communities. Song was one of the things immigrants could carry across the ocean with nothing but memory. It survived in church basements, dance halls, and kitchen tables long after other traditions faded. When you hear live Finnish music at FinnFest, you’re not just hearing a performance — you’re hearing something that refused to be left behind.
That’s the “why.” Now, the “who.”
A new chapter: five Finland-born women, working as artists in America
One of the defining stories of the FinnFest 2026 lineup is a group of five women — Eeppi Ursin, Ida Metsberg, Petra Jasmiina, Johanna Telander, and Ruut — all born in Finland and now building their artistic lives in the United States. Their work spans music, visual art, and performance, and together they represent something bigger than any single show: a living, present-tense connection between Finland and America.
This matters because it reframes what “Finnish heritage” means. FinnFest honors the past, but this lineup insists that Finnish culture in America isn’t only something inherited from grandparents — it’s something being made right now by artists who carry Finland in their voices and choose to create here.
Eeppi Ursin is one of Finland’s most distinctive voices — a singer, songwriter, and performer whose artistry bridges Finnish tradition and contemporary American music culture.
Ida Metsberg
Ida Metsberg brings her own voice to the lineup, and appears in collaboration with guitarist and songwriter Kyle Gray Young — a pairing that blends Finnish sensibility with American roots.
Petra Jasmiina — photo by Ron Retalames-Tiska Johanna Telander
Ruut — photo by Eliot Aether
Petra Jasmiina, Johanna Telander, and Ruut round out this remarkable group, each working across genre and form, each telling a piece of the same larger story.
Storytellers, folk voices, and genre-crossers
Alongside these artists, the 2026 lineup reaches across styles and generations:
Jonathan Rundman
Jonathan Rundman explores Finnish American identity through music, literature, and history — moving between folk, rock, and Nordic storytelling with warmth and wit. If you want to understand the Finnish American experience through song, start here.
Charlotte Loukola
Charlotte Loukola will return to the Tori stage with her violin and looping pedal with an all-new set that will amaze and delight everyone. She was Finlandia Foundation National’s Performer of the Year last year and we’re lucky to have her back for another FinnFest!
The Lindula BrothersKristie Cunningham
From traditional folk music to modern singer-songwriters, The Lindula Brothers, Northern Stars Sámi Girls, and Kristie Cunningham will represent three different aspects of Finnish American music of northern Minnesota.
Renee Vaughan
Renee Vaughan widens the lens to the broader Nordic world, bringing Swedish folk traditions to life through the nyckelharpa, storytelling, and dance across the Upper Midwest — a fitting nod to FinnFest 2026’s home at the Hilton Minneapolis Downtown and the American Swedish Institute.
These aren’t just concerts
At FinnFest, the music is the conversation — photo courtesy of FinnFest
Here’s what’s easy to miss until you’re in the room: at FinnFest, the music is the conversation. A folk melody becomes a doorway into a family’s immigration story. A contemporary set becomes proof that Finnish culture is still evolving. A shared chorus becomes the moment a room full of strangers realizes they belong to the same story.
Whether you’re discovering a new favorite artist or reconnecting with songs you’ve known your whole life, the music at FinnFest is one of the most direct, most emotional ways to experience Finnish culture without ever leaving North America.
Tradition in motion — photo courtesy of FinnFest
Plan your musical weekend
The full performance schedule spans all four days, September 17–20, across festival stages and events. To make sure you don’t miss the sets that matter most to you, secure your festival pass early — and keep an eye on finnfest.us for performer times and any separately ticketed special experiences.
