One week till crunch time: the Baltic Sea Day, launched by the John Nurminen Foundation, brings together more than 150 organisers of the Baltic Sea celebration

On Baltic Sea Day, 27 August, we celebrate the multifaceted cultural heritage and environment of the Baltic Sea all around Finland. We have participants also from St. Petersburg and Stockholm, and Tallinn in particular is busy with events from morning till night.  The Baltic Sea Day, launched last year by the John Nurminen Foundation, is celebrated always on the last Thursday of August. More than 150 Finnish and international Baltic Sea Day partners, ranging from cultural stakeholders to cities, restaurants and companies, have already registered close to one hundred activities and events on the balticseaday.fi pages.

Morning of the Baltic Sea Day kicks off on the Espa Stage

The Baltic Sea belongs to us all! discussion will kick off the Baltic Sea Day at 8:30 am on the Espa Stage; the event is part of the Helsinki Talks discussions, which are open for everybody. The event is joined by e.g. Krista Mikkonen, Minister of the Environment and Climate Change, Jan Vapaavuori, Mayor of Helsinki, and Tarja Halonen, President. The morning discussions will be about the history of the Baltic Sea, and the versatility of its nature and culture. There to inspire us and to introduce us to new perspectives will be e.g. Laura Kolbe, professor, Juha Hurme, author and director, Lea Kauppi, Director General of the Finnish Environment Institute, Markku Ollikainen, professor, Tarja Halonen, President, and Sophia Jansson, Creative Director and Chairman of the Board of Moomin Characters. The voice of the youth will also be heard, both in the discussion and in the form of song. The event is hosted by Baba Lybeck. The event will be streamed online at the Baltic Sea Day’s home page. See the full programme here.

“At the launch last year, we set out on our journey with a small team. In just one year we have managed to bring in a large number of partners with whom we celebrate the Baltic Sea Day and highlight in various ways our shared treasure, the Baltic Sea. The Baltic Sea Day is our way of contributing to society by reminding people of the unique and diverse nature and cultural heritage of the Sea we love. My warmest thanks go to all participants: because of their inventiveness and generosity, we have succeeded beyond our expectations”, says Annamari Arrakoski-Engardt, Managing Director of the John Nurminen Foundation.

The Baltic Sea Menu takes over restaurants and home kitchens

The easiest way to participate in the Baltic Sea Day is by eating. Many staff canteens and restaurants around Finland are offering a Baltic Sea Menu, i.e. Baltic Sea-friendly food made of, for instance, sustainably caught shoaling fish of the Baltic Sea. Around 300,000 meals are in fact available in schools, staff canteens, in the armed forces, and in senior centres. On the balticseaday.fi pages, you can find tips on how to create a Baltic Sea Menu at home. Top chefs and home cooks alike have been challenged to prepare their own Baltic Sea Menus, using the ingredients available in the Baltic Sea and on its shores. Recipes are posted in social media with the hashtag #balticseamenu.

All of Finland takes the plunge at 6 pm

You can also participate in the Baltic Sea Day by swimming. At 6 pm, we all dip in in the various Take the Plunge events, celebrating the waters and waterways nearby, also in mainland Finland. At Kuusijärvi, Vantaa, we have a larger Plunge especially for families with children. At the Kuusijärvi Plunge, you can join a clown diving school, try out swimming with a life vest, hone your lifesaving skills, or try lifesaving with a bucket or open water swimming, all with instructors provided in collaboration with clown divers and the Finnish Swimming Teaching and Lifesaving Federation. Plunges are shared in social media with the hashtag #takeaplunge.

The Baltic Sea Day can be seen and heard in many cities

Cities that join Baltic Sea Day celebrations include e.g. Espoo, Helsinki, Kotka, Lahti, Pori, Rauma, Turku, Vaasa, and Vantaa. In the metropolitan area, you can find all kinds of events, for both adults and children, all day long. From the lobby of the Helsinki City Hall, a virtual Baltic Sea carnival will be streamed live. You can see the event on Helsinki-kanava. At the Citycenter mall in Helsinki, you can get acquainted with the marine memories of the Finns in the John Nurminen Foundation’s Sea of Memories exhibition. Turku and Kotka have created a comprehensive and inspiring set of events. On Baltic Sea Day at the Maritime Centre Vellamo in Kotka, you can learn about wrecked warships through videos; in Åbo Akademi, Turku, you can attend a creative writing workshop focusing on writing about memories of the sea.

In Helsinki, the Cathedral parish invites you to a singalong of sea-themed songs at the Suomenlinna Church, and the Helsinki Region Environmental Services Authority HSY welcomes all interested parties to attend a virtual presentation on how a wastewater treatment plant works. The museums in the city of Vaasa participate in the Baltic Sea Day with many kinds of events. Plans include information on the renewal of Terranova and on marine protection, workshops, and readings of Moomin books. In its storytime hour, the Hamina City Museum whisks our youngest participants away to join the adventures of Tiny Roach.

 You can join the Day also online and in social media

We were ready to make the day a fully virtual celebration, and many events around Finland are in fact available online. The Foundation has created many videos, graphical guidelines and templates as well as comprehensive materials for social media that are free for our partners to use. All Baltic Sea Day events and activities can be found on the balticseaday.fi website. Participation in the day is free of charge to our partners, and not linked to our fundraising operations. We ask our partners to commit to our shared values – to respect the Baltic Sea community and the other partners of the Day, and to encourage everyone to join in – with the goal of inspiring as many as possible to take part in the Day, in the way they find most suitable. The next date of the celebration is the last Thursday in August, 26 August 2021.

www.itämeripäivä.fi www.östersjödagen.fi www.balticseaday.fi
#itämeripäivä #östersjödagen #balticseaday

More information:

Annamari Arrakoski-Engardt
Managing Director, John Nurminen Foundation
+358 (0)400 477 878
annamari.arrakoski-engardt (at) jnfoundation.fi

Tuula Putkinen
Communications Director, John Nurminen Foundation
+358 (0)400 907 809
tuula.putkinen (at) jnfoundation.fi

Images and logos are available at the Baltic Sea Day materials bank: https://itameripaiva.fi/materiaalipankki/

Baltic Sea Day

The John Nurminen Foundation launched the Baltic Sea Day on 29 August 2019. The Baltic Sea Day is celebrated annually on the last Thursday of August with various events and rallies. The goal of the theme day is to highlight important marine themes, and encourage people to take concrete action for the Baltic Sea. The Day celebrates the versatility and immeasurable value of the Sea. Moreover, the celebration seeks to disseminate information on marine nature, culture, and history. The Baltic Sea Day is celebrated on the last Thursday of August (in 2020, the 27th of August) with events, rallies, and education.
www.balticseaday.fi

John Nurminen Foundation – Baltic Sea protection and marine culture

Founded in 1992, the purpose of the John Nurminen Foundation is to save the Baltic Sea and its heritage for future generations. The Foundation has been awarded for its work as a communicator of information and producer of marine content. The goal of the Foundation’s Clean Baltic Sea projects is to improve the condition of the Baltic Sea with tangible measures that will reduce the load and environmental risks directed towards the sea. The work is steered by measurable results and impact. www.johnnurmisensaatio.fi/en