Record number of visitors at the Summer Festival

There were almost 3800 guests at the Summer Festival. Foto: Arto Jääskeläinen

The Evangelical Lutheran Mission Diocese of Finland (ELMDF) has its annual Summer Festival at the Loimaa Evangelical College at the turn of July and August. This year’s Festival was a success by many measures: the weather was favourable, the arrangements went well, the Lord blessed us with a rewarding programme and three new workers. In addition, a record number of visitors attended the festival over the weekend, with nearly 3,800 guests. This surpassed the previous record set a couple of years ago by about 450 visitors.

God’s great blessing

The operational director of the summer festival, Rev. Miika Nieminen, explains how the number of visitors is calculated:

“The total number of visitors to the Summer Festival is estimated using three indicators: The ushers count the estimated number of participants in the tent and its immediate surroundings. The hostesses count the plates distributed at the main meals, and the traffic controllers count the number of cars per day. These metrics are used to estimate the highest number of participants for each day. This year, the daily estimates were 800 participants on Friday, 1,400 on Saturday and 1,550 on Sunday, which adds up to a total of 3,750 festival visitors.”

What would explain this record number? According to Nieminen, it is God’s blessing.

“We have experienced God’s great blessing on many different levels in the preparation, implementation and then dismantling (tents, etc.) of the Summer Festival. The number of participants is only one part of this whole, although it is often the most visible and noticeable,” he explains.

Rev. Nieminen understands the Summer Festival now reaches a wide audience, both from our own congregations and, for example, from the traditional revival movements in Finland.

“The festival already has history behind it. I believe that a message which is strong on content and the joy of personal encounters has spread to our church congregations. There has also been an increase in openness in different areas of the church. Perhaps the revival movements within the church have ventured further than before to get to know this newcomer on the spiritual summer festival scene. I have no information about the festival guests from the immediate locality, but I hope and pray that the ELMDF Summer Festival will reach more and more people living in the Loimaa area to share in the gospel.”

The Divine Service on Sunday had the most participants. The long lines waiting for Holy Communion were impressive. The Lord Himself once again fed and cared for so many souls! Foto: Arto Jääskeläinen

A large group of volunteers made the festival a reality

The other operational director of the summer festival, Rev. Harri Lammi, says he is pleased and grateful for the volunteers’ contribution to organising the festival:

“I would like to express my sincere gratitude to each and every volunteer for contributing your gifts, skills and time to the preparation and implementation of the Summer Festival. I am very appreciative of the good spirit and commitment with which you did your work and made the festival possible. We thank God for his protection during the volunteer work and the festival.

According to Rev. Lammi, 360 volunteers helped to organise the Summer Festival, which covered 99% of the need. Only six more volunteers were needed for traffic control.

Rev. Lammi invites all volunteers and guests to the Summer Festival thank-you celebration in September:

“This year, thanksgiving celebrations will be held in different parishes as far as possible, but the Good Shepherd Parish in Loimaa will also hold a Summer Festival Thanksgiving Celebration on Sunday 14 September 2025. This will begin with a divine service at 10 a.m., followed by a thanksgiving meal, a thanksgiving celebration and, of course, coffee and cake. The Mission Diocese’s music camp will be in Loimaa on the same weekend and will serve us at the divine service.”

During the weekend of festivities, there were many things to rejoice over: In Saturday’s Family Fest, we rejoiced over the birth of Isaac! Foto: Arto Jääskeläinen

The Summer Festival will continue to be held in Loimaa in the coming years

Joel Kerosuo, Dean of the ELMDF, also has fond memories of past celebrations:

“The success of the summer celebration requires a great deal of effort and dedication from many employees and even more volunteers. But if it takes a lot, it also gives a lot. The celebration left me with a good feeling of being blessed.” 

Kerosuo says he has noticed that the Summer Festival has established its place in the life of our Church. He is delighted that it also offers new attendees a good opportunity to become more widely acquainted. In terms of organisation and financial development, he believes it makes sense to continue holding the festival at the Loimaa Evangelical College:

“The location in Loimaa works well, and we have agreed to hold it there in the coming years. Although it would be nice to hold the Summer Festival in different locations around Finland from time to time, a familiar location offers many advantages. It is easier to address areas of development and improve the festival year after year in a familiar environment. Furthermore, the Summer Festival should not be a financial burden on the Church. More detailed figures will be available in the autumn reports, but in summary, the Summer Festival’s finances should be balanced, and the hope is to achieve a small surplus.”

Original text: Pauliina Pylvänäinen

English translation: Thomas Toepfer