Pikkulaskiainen – the joys of a festival in wintery Turku

A downhill racing slope has been built on the Kauppiaskatu street, the Market Square has transformed into festival grounds and the Turku city centre is filled with thousands of students. Pikkulaskiainen has begun, and students are enjoying themselves. Pikkulaskiainen is a winter festival produced by students. In addition to following the appro map, it includes live gigs at the Market Square, the Gatorade Center and eight additional locations. In addition to the celebrations, there will be a downhill race in the middle of the city—this year, the slope has been built on the Kauppiaskatu street.

The overall colours reveal the student’s field of study and higher education institution. Pikkulaskiainen brings students from all over Finland to Turku. Photo: Kim Ibsen.

Building a festival in the middle of the city in one day

Turku is a real student city, as one in five Turku residents is a student. Pikkulaskiainen is Finland’s largest winter festival, and it brings over 13,000 students to the city. The urban space can easily be turned into an arena for student festivals and transport thousands of students through its streets from one restaurant to another. Students usually gather stamps from beverages to their appro map, but stamps are also available for buying lunch at the Unica and Kårkafe student restaurants.

The festival’s main location is at the new Market Square, where the event area with its snow slopes is built the day before the event. Valtteri Vuori and his core team have been responsible for building the entire event area and the slope area on the Kauppiaskatu street. The core building team has twenty people, but a hundred volunteers have participated in building the area. “The volunteers have been an invaluable help. Organising the event would not be possible without them,” Vuori says.

A downhill race team waiting for their turn.

A snow slope has been built on the Kauppiaskatu street for the traditional downhill race. This year’s race was won by the team of the student association of career counselling schooling at University of Eastern Finland, Opossumi ry. Snow for the downhill race does not need to be brought from far away, as it can be obtained from nearby ice halls, such as the Gatorade Center. The traditional downhill race grows larger each year and has the most imaginative racing vehicles racing down the slope. Vuori says that the downhill race participants’ contribution is a sign of enthusiasm for the event. “The vehicles built for the downhill race get more amazing each year!” Among other things, the spectators could see buses, opossums and a X-wing starfighter familiar from Star Wars films flying down the slope.

Event production skills during studies

Two hundred students from Turku School of Economics have participated in organising Pikkulaskiainen. The event is a festival among others and teaches its organisers skills needed in the event sector. “Pikkulaskiainen offers an incredible opportunity to see how festivals are organised. Although I have a background in technics, being responsible for the technology and infrastructure of an entire festival area is a completely new experience for me,” says Vuori.

Matilda Hyytiäinen ja Valtteri Vuori at Pikkulaskiainen 2023.

From the perspective of Matilda Hyytiäinen, organising an event is work but it also helps you to get out of your study routine. “If I would apply for work in the event sector, this would be a great merit. I am studying accounting, but here I have had the opportunity to get to know a completely different world, as I am responsible for the planning and operation of the serving of beverages at the event,” Hyytiainen describes the versatile skills you learn in the production of Pikkulaskiainen.

Harassment contacts give a face to help

The event is a joyful celebration for all the participants. Carefree fun is guaranteed by the participants’ commitment to the event’s etiquette and the ethical guidelines prepared by students of Turku School of Economics. The festival is safe for all participants when the etiquette of Pikkulaskiainen is followed. The etiquette asks you to take care of yourself, others and nature.

In addition to the etiquette, the event has easily accessible harassment contacts.  “The harassment contacts act as a link between the visitor and the event’s security personnel,” says Matilda Hyytiäinen, one of the harassment contacts at the event. The event’s appro map includes 115 checkpoints in the city centre area, and that is why the coordination of help requires specialised persons to ensure that, for example, security is  present if it is necessary.

“Harassment contacts are a concrete way to show that ethical guidelines are not just words on a paper. Help has a face, and you contact a person instead of a general customer service number,” says Hyytiäinen. Information on the event is also collected using a questionnaire, the responses of which are read after the event.

More about the event: pikkulaskiainen.fi