Finnish Independence Day Celebration Today in Berkeley

Beautiful Finland's Independence Day celebration was held earlier today at the Finn Hall in Berkeley. Marge Saarni, Thor Miao and Richard Saarni accompanied the event, Allison Kastama was MC, and Kaarlo Heiskanen was in charge of the program. Pirjo Boss, President of FAHA gave a wonderful history of the Finnish Immigrants (and her own family) to America and told us about several upcoming events. Free joulu sauna at FAHA! Honorary Consul General Michel Wendell brought official greetings from the Government of Finland and also briefed us of the very positive increase in new Finnish companies especially in the Silicon Valley. Gwendolyn and Adrienne Tosaris played expertly the Nutcracker theme on the piano and Tuula Cotter gave us a masterful selection of favorite Finnish songs on the violin. It was also fun to meet the many Finnish students and scholars studying at UC Berkeley and Stanford. Special display of traditional Finnair Christmas ornaments was collected by Pirkko and Kirsti B. Coffee, sandwiches and pulla was enjoyed downstairs. Thank you all for a very wonderful afternoon.

View some video from today's performance.

Below is a photo of Finnish President Tarja Halonen at Finland's Annual Independence Day Celebration at the Presidential Palace