All five Nordic countries partnered together with the Nordic American diaspora to draw American attention to the Nordic world. Throughout 1982 and across the country, lectures, concerts, performances, and exhibits, hosted in a variety of settings, enabled Americans to discover the contemporary Nordic world. The culminating gala weekend occurred in Minneapolis in September with Nordic royalty, the President of Iceland and the Finnish Foreign Minister in attendance.
Humphrey Stadium, Minneapolis, provided space for this gala pageant of Nordic unity.
Suomi Seura Meeting
Tauri Aaltio, Executive Director of Finland Society, Helsinki, Finland, used the Scandinavia Today gala as an incentive for a meeting of representatives from across the USA. 39 Finnish American organizations and community came…politically conservative, politically progressive, religious, secular, national, regional and local. The agenda: consider the idea of an annual nationally based festival. The conclusion: yes.
Tauri Aaltio (on the right) pictured here with early leaders of the Finnish American festival phenomenon.