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Kokkola’s Venetian Night Festival

A celebration of water, fire and light

According to a centuries-old tradition, the residential areas and coastal residents of Kokkola end the summer season with a Venetian festival. In Kokkola, in the Sandstrand residential area, bonfires and paper lanterns were already lit at the end of the 19th century. In the early 1980s, Venetian celebrations began in the Kokkola market square and the idea of the then mayor Esko Lankila gave rise to Suntin Soutu (Swe. Sundrodden), which has since become a tradition.

Other events of the Venetian weekend

Venetian Week is often celebrated around the city. Follow the city’s events calendar to find out what’s happening and where!

  • To begin with, it was fine to mark the festival on any day in August. The most important thing was that it took place during the darkening summer evenings. In this way, the special feature of the celebrations – the play of light and fire on the surface of water – was best on display.

    The Venetian Night Festival featured extensive and varied lighting effects in the different villas. Bonfires, lanterns, tar pots and even fireworks were used to light up the darkening summer evenings. Indeed, the name itself refers to fireworks. In the 1500s and 1600s, the art and technology of fireworks was brought to Europe via Italy, and the new phenomenon was named ‘Venetian fire’ after the Italian city of Venice, which was a centre of trade at the time.

    A standard form for the Venetian Night Festivals gradually took shape, and the celebration began to be always held on the last Saturday of August. As the villa residents moved to their urban apartments in late August or early September, the Venetian Night Festival became established as the closing celebration for the villa season.

  • The last Saturday of August is the moment for the magnificent culmination of the holiday season on the west coast. The darkening evening, the water and fire are the elements that conjure up an unparalleled, rich atmosphere at the closing celebrations of the summer season for the thousands of villas and summer cottages.

    As summer cottages become more widespread, the Venetian Night Festival has come to be enjoyed by an ever broader range of people. These days, the fires of the Venetian Night Festival form a ribbon stretching several kilometres along the coast through the Kokkola summer cottage areas.

    In recent years, the celebration of the Venetian Night Festival has expanded to cover the whole weekend. This event, held always on the last Saturday of August, has over the years become the largest public summer event in Kokkola – one which brings together thousands of people.