My Oulu: Welcome to Oulu -festival invites everyone to Kuusisaari on Saturday

Welcome to Oulu Festival brings together Oulu’s cultural actors, organizations, and various sectors of the city to present their activities to the people of Oulu. Over 33 exhibiting partners include a wide selection of associations such as Metsähallitus Liminganlahti Visitor Center, Wellbeing services county of North Ostrobothnia, Employment office (TE-toimisto) or Sivakka rental apartments. You might find a new job or a hobby – or coordinates to a new unexplored nature trail nearby Oulu, so it will be worth to visit at all exhibition stands during the festival. City of Oulu’s services are on display as well in the festival, including Villa Victor, City Library, Oulu10, Business Asema, Tourist information or City Planning and Environment Office of Oulu.

Taste of Oulu’s cultural offering

What would a festival be without music? Oulu Symphony Orchestra will have an open-air concert at Kuusisaari, starting at 1pm. Oulu Symphony Orchestra will be led by british conductor Rumon Gamba, who is just about to start his term in Oulu. Concert will contain music from William Walton, Jaakko Kuusisto and Jean Sibelius. Besides classical music, Welcome Oulu -festival stages are filled with various music styles and artists for every taste and age from folk music to r’n’b. Three different program stages guarantee that one gets a good glimpse of Oulu’s performing talent during one afternoon. 

Also Oulu Theater will serve a tasting of what autumn program will contain at the theater. Trailers from upcoming plays and even a short glimpse from VARIKKO, an immersive play from Flow productions will be presented at the festival stage.

For all, but especially for the newcomers

The event invites especially the new residents of Oulu to Kuusisaari to spend a relaxed picnic event and get to know everything that Oulu has to offer its residents. The event has program both in Finnish and in English.

”I have moved between different cities, and I feel that a welcome wish to a new city immediately creates a feeling of a home. With the Welcome to Oulu Festival, we aim to bring the entire city to one event island, easily accessible to all city residents”, says Eeva Ojala, the producer of the Welcome to Oulu Festival.

You don’t need to be a new resident: everyone is welcome to the event to update their knowledge about Oulu and enjoy the high-quality program. The event is free and open to everyone.

There are no food services in the area and the event is organized in the spirit of a picnic. You can pick up a picnic lunch at the Arctic Food Festival, which is organized in downtown restaurants, or at the fall market organized in the marketplace.

The entire event program, regional map and the presenters can be found on the event’s own website. 

Full program of Oulu Days can be found from here.

This article has been published in My Oulu first time on 15th of August.