Ilosaari Island

Ilosaari Island – literally the ‘Island of Joy’ – has been the center for cultural activities, sports and merrymaking in the city of Joensuu ever since the year 1855 when the first garden pavilion with bowling alleys was built. Since then, the island has been THE place for swimming, dancing, drinking, rock music and love – and for maintaining the original broadleaf trees that were destined to be removed in 2016.

TThis small island was one of the only natural areas in the young town of Joensuu, so the city officials wanted to save the broadleaf trees such as maples and poplars. It became a popular place for people to hang out, especially when it got an outdoor pool and a bathhouse in 1978. In addition to bathing, the crowd got to dance, when a dance pavilion was built in 1895.

To prevent the fun getting out of hand, a temperance restaurant was built on the island – which wasn’t that successful in the seemingly thirsty city of Joensuu. As soon as the most eager waves of temperance calmed down, the restaurant got a liquor license and the place was more popular than ever. They even had to control the popularity by raising prices – they put such a high price tag on the drinks that the “brawling drunks from lower classes” kept out.

Later, the island has witnessed a whole new swimming facility, a diving tower – even an observation tower for taking in the magnificent view over town. A culture and theatre house was built to feed the hunger for culture. That was replaced by the current Karjalantalo in 1953 when the Association for Carelian culture wanted to build a house that would promote the Carelian culture and traditions in our country. The tradition is alive even today, as the restaurant Kerubi that occupies the house now serves both culinary and cultural experieces.

However, the most famous part of the island’s history is the music festival Ilosaarirock that was held the first time on the island in 1971. Local music enthusiasts started a rock event where local underground bands got to play. It started very small but over the years grew to be the massive event that it is still today. The memories that the young festival goers must have… One can only guess. Hefty tunes of rock’n’roll, bands playing on trucks, young people enjoying life to its fullest, finding love, perhaps?

So when the city of Joensuu decided to renovate the island in 2016, a great share of the trees had to go. This raised even heated discussion, and no wonder, because the trees had reached a significant age and formed the familiar park landscape. The cut trees were going there park trees usually end up – to be burnt for energy. So we made a phone call. We wanted to save these rowans, poplars, maples, alders and birches and luckily we got them to our workshop, waiting to be used for future project after a few years’ drying process.

Now the wood material is dry and the first pieces of furniture have been made out of it. We will use the wood for both our own Ilosaari collection as well as for bespoke customer projects.

Do you have memories of Ilosaari?