Finding the Finn in Oneself/ FinnFest Sauna Seminar 2025
We attended the FinnFest Sauna Seminar on July 31 in Duluth, Minnesota. This year’s event, held at the Duluth Entertainment Convention Center and organized by Steve Leppälä, offered an all star lineup including Michael Nordskog, author of the classic book The Opposite of Cold: The Northwoods Finnish Sauna Tradition; a sauna construction panel with Glenn Auerbach of Sauna Times , Shane Lintunen from Thunder Bay and author Lassi Liikkanen; a co-op talk with John Pederson, founder of 612 Sauna Society; sauna runo singing with Karen Ba and Lynette Reini-Grandell; a discussion of The Ideal Sauna Experience with Eero Kilpi, Larry Anderson and Kimmo Raitio; a presentation on Documenting Finnish Sauna in North America with Yoopers Jim Kurtti, Daena and Amanda Mäkelä and Haley Goodreau; Finnish architect Marko Huttunen on restoring an old savvusauna (smoke sauna)—all topped off with a presentation by Mikkel Aaland speaking from the Bay Area in California about global sweat bathing practices and the Sauna Aid Foundation.
The all-day seminar was moderated by Michael Nordskog who did a great job. The theme of his talk was “My Life as a Finn.” He admitted to being a Swedish/Norwegian American who grew up among Finns on the North Shore where he learned to love sauna. He talked about his DNA test for ethnic heritage. He was not the only one; I heard this come up throughout the day by a number of speakers—“I’m 100 percent Finnish,” “I am 50 percent…,” “I might be Finnish…”Nordskog, unaware of any Finnish roots, became intrigued by DNA test result that indicated a sliver of Finnishness. He wove his story of exploring family history throughout his remarks. It made a fitting framework for the questions of the day: what makes sauna Finnish and what makes it universal?
The sauna construction panel was a friendly clash with construction expert and author Glenn Auerbach displaying an opinionated but free wheeling approach to topics of materials and insulation and ventilation. Liikkanen, Zooming in from Finland, was more strict and technical. Lintunen fell somewhere in between and simply talked about his experiences building and maintaining saunas in the Thunder Bay area for many years. Things got “nerdy,” for sure, but I loved it. Saunas can be basic and humble or cutting edge luxury.
John Pederson made a Zoom connection from Arizona. He is well known in the Twin Cities for creating the 612 Sauna Society co-op. He talked about the importance of creating a community experience that offers a sense of ownership. He is now in Arizona and mentioned that he is starting a “Thermaculture Sauna Skool.” Unfortunately, the Zoom feed was fuzzy and folks did not get to ask many questions.
Karen Ba and Lynette Reini-Grandell sang traditional sauna songs of blessing, healing and protection; their voices blended in haunting harmonies. They explained that they met at the annual Sommelo Ethno Music Festival in Kuhmo, Finland and have a shared interest in ancient runolaulu or runo songs from the region of Finnish Karelia.
During the talk titled The Ideal Sauna Experience, Eero Kilpi, Finlandia Foundation’s 2025 Lecturer of the Year, took a stand on the definition of sauna saying, “Finnish America has not been vocal enough about traditional Finnish sauna.” He explained that, historically, it was just one thing— to bathe in nature, hopefully with a body of water nearby–a peaceful experience “with no compromising practices.” He was joined by Kimmo Raitio (on Zoom in Finland) who leads guided tours of saunas and is known as the “Sauna Sherpa.” He added that in the sauna, “community is very important for me.” Larry Anderson from Copper Country Sauna has deep roots in the UP’s Finnish sauna traditions. His thoughts were that, for him, the ideal sauna experience includes “good company, good food and no time limits.” Kilpi says, “Tradition will prevail!”
Jim Kurtti, master storyteller and sherpa (or guide) to the next generation of storytellers headed a panel that talked about projects documenting Finnish sauna culture in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Videographers Daena and Amanda Mäkelä are a young couple who rediscovered sauna while living in the U.P. Their business, called 2nd Sandbar Productions, has undertaken a project to collect local sauna stories by holding interviews in a locally built sauna. Haley Goodreau was also present. She is creative director of Logbook Stories and received a grant from Finlandia Foundation National last year to support a sauna book project.
Keweenaw Sauna Stories, a project of 2nd Sandbar Productions.
Marko Huttunen, principal of Livady Architects, was a special guest all the way from Finland. He had a visually rich powerpoint that presented the smoke sauna he designed for a client in the Inkoo Archipelago in southern Finland. He also spoke about the challenges of restoring a historic farmstead with saunas, now an open air museum, using the old building methods and materials such as a birchbark for the roof.
Finally, one of the biggest names in the sauna world, Mikkel Aaland spoke by Zoom. He is best known for his 1978 book Sweat and Sauna Channel series The Perfect Sweat. He is also a co-founder of Sauna Aid, an initiative of the International Sauna Society. They provide mobile saunas in war torn areas such as Ukraine. He is the peacemaker, the mediator and appreciator of sauna in all of its diverse interpretations.
All of this leads me to consider–given my love of sauna, perhaps I too am a little bit Finnish. My father, who has taken a DNA test, could rightly say he has 100 percent Swedish heritage. His parents and grandparents were immigrants and the lineage is traceable in parish records as far back as the 1600’s. (Conservatively that accounts for several hundred Nth great grandparents.) Surprisingly, his current DNA report has only 71% Scandinavian ancestry. The rest is from Great Britain and Ireland with a hint of 3 percent Finnish. Even my mother, who descends from Scots as far as we know, came up with a 1 percent drop of Finnish. Does this mix come from ancient mingling and migrations between neighboring populations from the Baltic to the North Sea? Some family secrets will never be fully known.
When it comes to my interest in sauna I like to think of bones not blood quantum. Some things you feel in your bones. It can’t be measured or traced. I must have some Finnish in my bones because they feel so good after a sauna.
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