A Festive time had by all at the Harvest Booya Fest!

The Harvest Booya Fest is always a won­derful fall festival to look forward to. It’s filled with tradition, cherished memories, and culture. Many people gather each year to visit with each other, shop at the var­ious on-site vendors, enjoy the music and, of course, grab a bowl of the Booya. This year’s fest was held on Satur­day, October 5th, at the Clair Nelson Center in Finland, MN.

What is Booya you ask? Booya is, more simply put, a stew made up of various meats, vegetables, herbs & spices. I was able to learn a more detailed explanation for anyone who was curious. In this year’s bowl of Booya there was pork and beef bones, rutabaga, car­rots, onions, garlic, potatoes, calabria, cel­ery, herbs and spices, beef and pork.

The famous Finnsk­ogen Sourdough Bread was served along with the Booya. The Finnskogen Farm started selling their sourdough about 8 to 10 years ago and it has been served at the Booya now for about 4 years.

The room was not only filled with mouth watering scents, but also the beautiful sounds of live Finn­ish music by Teresa Aho and The Northern Stars & Lauluaika!

There was an amaz­ing raffle held by the Tuesday Talents Craft Group. They have been holding this raf­fle for around 7 years. They craft a lot of the items themselves and create baskets of goodies to raffle off. All the proceeds are donated to help the Veterans, libraries and children. What a won­derful effort on the la­dies’ behalf.

The Finland Com­munity Nature Child­care offered a place for the children to make little apple pies. It was a very neat, hands-on project for them to participate in during the Booya fest. There was also Apple press­ing available outside.

When asking peo­ple what their favor­ite thing about the Booya Fest is, I re­ceived a wide vari­ety of answers. Here are a few: Seeing the smiling faces, visiting with everyone, mak­ing the lefse, cooking the Booya, the music, eating the Booya, the raffle, the fresh apple cider, giving out treats to the kids, and carry­ing on the tradition. It was interesting and fun to see such a wide variety of answers. It truly shows just how much everyone enjoys the Booya Fest and how much it means to everyone involved.

The Booya Fest has a long history. It’s held at the Clair Nel­son Center now, but in earlier years it was held at the Finland Rec Hall, which holds a lot of fond memories for many. For numer­ous years, it was held outside under a large tent. The Booya was stirred with a canoe paddle made by Earl S. (The original canoe paddle was unfortu­nately lost in the fire in 2013.) The Booya was cooked over an open flame, outdoors, over­night, while different people took shifts, volunteering to watch the pot and continue to cook it.

Zion Lutheran Church started the Booya Festival in the late 1970’s or ear­ly 1980’s in order to raise money for steel roofing, which was manufactured in the country of Finland, for their building. Jim and Verna Sinderman had learned the Rosemount Fire Department down in the Twin Cities was hosting Booya Fes­tivals and raising all kinds of money. They would cook it in a ca­noe and stir it with a paddle. The Sinder­mans brought the idea back to the church as a fundraising idea for their roof, and so be­gan the local Booya Festival.

The church ladies all gathered together, chopping vegetables and meat, preparing everything, including Lefse, for the Booya. A large tent was erect­ed, which eventually had to be replaced by another due to wear and tear over the years, to welcome the fest-goers.

When talking with some of the women at the Booya Fest this year, they said that some of their favor­ite memories were preparing everything, getting together and making Lefse. They also made pies to sell.

Many vendors came to sell their wares and crafts. There were Finnish dancers for entertainment. The “Viihurit”, a Finnish dance group from Du­luth, entertained the visitors and donated their talents since the roof came from Fin­land. Bob Nikolai stayed up all night and cooked the big kettle of Booya every year. Mary Nikolai and Ver­na Sinderman stayed nearby in a camper to assist. Unfortunate­ly, there was a fire on July 6, 2013, when the Zion Lutheran Church burnt down. The church was rebuilt and it is now named the Baptism River Community Church. The Baptism River Community Church still participates in the current Booya Festival that is held at the Clair Nelson Center by sell­ing some tasty treats and Lefse.

This year’s Harvest Booya Festival was made possible by the following:

Finland Food Chain
Finland Wild Rice House
Yker Acres Farm
Medicine Creek Farm
AgroEcology Center
Finnskogen Farm
The Food Farm
Wolf Ridge Organic Farm
Round River Farm
Maxwell’s Woodland Nursery
Kallico
Organic Consumers Association
Barefoot Enterprises
Baptism River Bar­becue
Finland Community Nature Childcare
Lovin’ Lake County
The many Volunteers that helped out.

It really takes a whole community to have a successful Booya Fest last this many years.