JOLLY JULY – a summer festival for all the family!

Summer time – the moon is hiding
but the nightingale is singing.
In the woods a magic tree
is decked with tales and poetry.
Come with us and hit the trail,
follow it oe’r hill and dale.
Check out what is going on,
Enjoy yourself, have lots of fun!
For now’s the month of Jolly July,
just come along and time will fly!

Jolly July is an important part of the Kuhmo summer: a time when there’s plenty for all the family to do together – culture, nature and exercise. Grasp the activity summer with both hands! Don’t be put off by the heat or the rain. July is just for you and your children, just for you and your parents and grandparents. Fun, dreams, music, silence, feeling good, being together and surprises.

Once again the Kuhmo Jolly July team promises all this and more besides in summer 2011. Jolly July will this year be held for the fifth time, from June 30 to July 31, taking in 121 first-class culture and nature events for children, families and the young-at-heart in general.

The founders and main organisers of Jolly July – Juminkeko, the Sommelo Folk Music Festival, the Kuhmo Chamber Music Festival, the Kuhmo Arts Centre and the Petola Nature Centre – have recruited 10 other members for their Children’s Kuhmo team: Kainuun Pirtti Oy, Kainuu Orienteering Week, Kalevala Spirit Kuhmo, the Kuhmolainen Athletics Cup, the Tanssin Ystävät dance association, Kuhmo Library, the Kuhmo 4-H Club, the Kuhmo branch of the Mannerheim League for Child Welfare, the Tuupala Museum and the Winter War Museum. Together they have created a programme of events lasting 32 days and packed with music, sport, handicrafts, nature trips, poetry and exhibitions.

Responsible for the music are the Sommelo Folk Music Festival, the Kuhmo Chamber Music Festival, the Kuhmo branch of the Mannerheim League for Child Welfare, and the Kuhmo Arts Centre. As their names suggest, Sommelo will be offering folk music, but also shadow and puppet theatre and story times, and the Kuhmo Chamber Music Festival classical music: two children’s concerts, demonstrations of musical instruments, and fine concerts by students on the music courses. The summer musicians at the Kuhmo Arts Centre will be playing both classical and folk music, and also light music at their coffee concerts, and the Kuhmo branch of the Mannerheim League for Child Welfare will be bringing children’s music to Kuhmo at its Rokkiritari (Rock Knight) concert on July 2.

Kainuun Pirtti and the Kuhmo 4-H Club will be organising lots of fun with handicrafts. Visitors to the Kainuun Pirtti workshops can do various things with wool, and the 4-H Club will be looking not only at crafts but also at domestic animals.

Nature lovers should head for the exhibition tours arranged by the Petola Nature Centre and devoted to cubs. Different days will be set aside for the wolf, bear, wolverine and lynx.

Anyone wanting some fun and exercise may enter for the Kuhmolainen Athletics Cup or attend the Kainuu Orienteering Week events, or join a Tanssin Ystävät dance course. There will be running races and long-jump in the Cup, orienteering on graded tracks of course during the Orienteering Week, and contemporary dance, show dancing, hip hop and jazz dancing on the dance courses. And at the end of the dance course pupils can demonstrate what they have learnt at a show.

Verbal art is the domain of Kuhmo Library, which will be putting on nursery-rhyme sessions and a “Poetree” exhibition.

Information about the Kalevala, Finland’s national epic, will be provided by Juminkeko. Each day there will be a multi-media show and other activities connected with the Kalevala world. Plus, of course, a chance to explore the Juminkeko exhibitions and books.

The museums will be putting on special tours for children: the Tuupala house museum looking at life on the farm as seen by a young serving girl, and the Winter War Museum the wartime work of the little auxiliary girls. The summer programme of Kalevala Spirit Kuhmo includes a Kalevalaic triathlon made up of three events: walking on stilts, horseshoe throwing and long-jump without the run-up.

All of these will be available during Jolly July in summer 2011. Jolly July will officially begin at the Kuhmo Arts Centre at 6 pm on June 30 with a children’s concert by the summer musicians. The whole of the opening day will be packed with various events, for June 30 also marks the start of the Sommelo Folk Music Festival, including a work commissioned by Sommelo and a coffee concert by the summer musicians.

The idea behind Jolly July is to demonstrate to anyone working with children and young people the importance of quality culture and nature experiences to the favourable growth and development of the child. The events will, it is hoped, attract audiences and participants of all ages, because shared fun or thought-provoking moments linger as pleasant memories far into the future.

The marketing of Jolly July has been sponsored by Kuhmon Osuuspankki bank, Neste Kuhmo, Oy Kuhmon Etäpalvelukeskus Ltd, the Kuhmo Savings Bank Cultural Foundation and the local newspaper Kuhmolainen. The Jolly July balloons were funded by Neste Kuhmo and Oy Kuhmo Etäpalvelukeskus Ltd.

A Jolly July brochure has been published and information can also be found on the www.lastenkuhmo.fi website. The info on this website is regularly updated. The visual image of Jolly July is once again the work of Klaus von Matt.

Further info:
www.lastenkuhmo.fi
or
members of the Children’s Kuhmo team:
Juminkeko, Sirpa or Markku Nieminen,
tel. +358 8 653 0670
Sommelo Folk Music Festival, Pekka Huttu-Hiltunen, tel.+358 044 250 1396
Kuhmo Chamber Music Festival, Sari Rusanen,
tel. +358 44 544 5162
Kuhmo Arts Centre, Matti-Jussi Pollari,
tel. +358 8 6155 5451
Petola Nature Centre, Eeva Pulkkinen,
tel. +358 205 64 6380