By Lauren DiRe, Intern

Food, music and games – including a cell-phone toss and a wife-carrying competition – highlight the Finland Summer Festival happening Saturday, Aug. 27 in Ballard.

The festival began in 2007 and happens every other summer in Seattle. This year it will take place once again in the old elementary school that is now the Crown Hill Activity Center, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Originally put on by one national organization, the festival is now run by 12 local Finnish groups, all of which exist to “promote and preserve Finnish culture,” said Ron Karjala, a board member of the Seattle chapter of Finlandia Foundation. “We all come together to put this festival on.”

The event will be filled with traditional Finnish activities, music and dancing.

“At least two folk dancing groups will be dancing the national folk dance,” said Rita Vermala-Koski, president of the local Finlandia Foundation chapter.

There will also be an opportunity for the audience to learn basic folk dance steps after the performances, Vermala-Koski added.

Along with several solo artists and singing groups, the Finnish Choral Society will perform several times throughout the day. Although the group sings in several different languages, their performances will be “mainly Finnish at the festival,” said Eva Mannisto, president of the Finnish Choral Society.

The choir will finish with an audience sing-along.

In addition to artistic performances, “we’ll have some silly (Finnish) games outside,” Karjala said. One is the “phone toss,” where participants throw a cell phone as far as they can.

“We’ll probably use Nokia phones because they’re a Finnish company,” Karjala said.

Another popular game is the “wife-carrying competition.”

“The entrants carry their wife or girlfriend on their back, or however they want to carry them, from the start to the finish line,” Karjala said. “Usually about half the entrants fall down from the weight or fatigue during the race.”

Although in Finland the winner of the wife-carrying contest traditionally wins his wife’s weight in beer, here they will just win chocolate, Vermala-Koski said.

Mölkky, another traditional Finnish game, will also be played. It’s a simple game that young and old can play, Karjala said. The game involves wooden pins with different numbers on them (equating to point values) that players throw other pins at to knock down. There will also be a spin-off game of Mölkky, called Palikka that people can buy at the festival.

Although all the events will be free, vendors will be set up in addition to a food court offering pulla, a Finnish sweet bread, coffee, and other refreshments, Karjala said. Attendees will also be able to purchase open-faced sandwiches as well as other classic Finnish foods,

“Vendors are encouraged to sell Finnish arts and crafts, and to promote their organizations,” Vermala-Koski added.

At the end of the day, the Finnish Summer Festival is a family-friendly event inviting all to participate in activities celebrating the Finnish culture.

“My favorite aspect is just being a part of the festival and sharing the experience with people with similar interests as me,” Karjala said.

For more information visit www.finlandsummerfestival.org.