Location: Marquette, MI 
Venue: Northern Michigan University
Over 5500 people registered to attend the festival held on the campus of Northern Michigan University. Adding those who visited the festival site or bought tickets to a single event, some 13,000 people attended some or all of the FinnFest. Held in a region of the United States with one of the highest concentration of Finnish Americans in the country, this 2005 festival had especially large attendance. More attendees meant more program opportunities including the following:

Lectures and workshops: The FinnFestUSA experience created a Chautauqua experience. 150 separate sessions occurred over three and a half days. Music, Theatre, and Dances: The 2005 FinnFest USA featured a professional symphony orchestra organized for the festival. The orchestra presented an evening concert that included a world premiere of a Concerto for Double Bass written by Finnish composer Jukka Linkola. Three separate drama productions ran in the evenings during the FinnFest. Two were plays featuring Finnish American subjects; the third, a Finnish comedy, was performed in the Finnish language. Social dances were held every evening, and many attendees ended their evenings on the dance floor. Films: A number of full length feature films from Finland, all shown with English sub-titles, were shown. American and Canadian films with Finnish themes were also shown. Art exhibitions: Marquette, Michigan held an art crawl through the various galleries throughout the city. Each of the galleries featured Finnish and/or Finnish American artists working in textiles, ceramics, oils, sculpture, and photography. Northern Michigan University hosted a curated invitational exhibition. Additional Highlights: The festival broke the Guinness World Book of Records by creating the largest number of people in a single sauna at the same time, breaking a previous record held by a sauna created in Finland. A Blue and White Chair Installation, first created in 1996, was revived; individuals throughout the region found old chairs and benches in their attics and garages, repainting them in blue and white and distributing them throughout the FinnFest USA venues.