See you at events

This article has originally been published in the Espoo Magazine 3/2022.
Read other articles in the Espoo Magazine 3/2022
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The importance of events has been identified and elevated to a development item in Espoo. The aim is to make it as easy and feasible as possible to organise events, whether small-scale urban events or major mass events. 

There is a demand for events. This was amply demonstrated in the past couple of years when events ground almost completely to a halt. 

“Events provide a platform for interaction and engagement, so it is no exaggeration to say that the sudden absence of events had an impact on our wellbeing, contributed to feelings of loneliness and made life seem lacking in content,” says Programme Manager Lea Rintala. 

Events generate wellbeing and meaningful experiences for city residents while also generating employment, income and positive publicity for the city. 

Accordingly, one of Espoo’s cross-administrative development programmes during the current council term focuses on events. 

“There are already numerous sports and cultural events in Espoo, along with smaller events initiated by residents. We have the potential to host major national and international events, and to this end, we are developing the Event City Espoo operating model that will help Espoo become a well-functioning platform and enabler for major events,” says Rintala. 

“We have discovered that by working together we can make things happen. Organising events is very much a collaborative effort. Major events in particular always require close cooperation between various authorities – police, rescue services, environmental inspectors – and the various parties and operators that manage the event venues. By bringing operators together and by devising shared procedures, we can make things easier and more streamlined for events in Espoo, thereby gaining more events,” she adds. 

An example of this is in the three large festivals held in Espoo this summer. One of these is the Tapiola Festival, which is under way at the time of the publication of this issue. 

“This event has been planned since 2017. The Kivenlahti Rock festival was discontinued in 2015, and a replacement has been sought ever since. The working title of the new event was the Metro Festival. It was delayed first because of the delay in completing the metro line extension and then because of the Covid lockdown. Now it is finally happening,” says Petri Bakker, Partnership Coordinator with the event organiser, Loud ‘n Live Promotions. 

Accessibility is key. The new festival will be held at the Tapiola sports park primarily because of transport connections. 

“You can get here easily by train and metro. We want to encourage people to use public transport, of course,” says Bakker. 

Organising the event requires close collaboration between various city authorities. Because the venue is a sports park, Nina Grönmark, Liaison Manager at the Sports and Exercise Unit, was the point of contact. 

“We hold joint meetings and bring event organisers together with various other parties. The organisers are responsible for things like permits, of course, but we remind them of what is needed,” says Grönmark. 

All collaborative events in the sports sector land on her desk, including the Ringette World Championships, the Espoo shore marathon, the Davis Cup in tennis, the matches of the national basketball team and Finlandia Trophy Espoo. 

The Tapiola Festival is the largest non-sports event to be held at the sports park. There were a lot of things to look at. 

“When we start talking about collaboration, we always bring in the field manager or head of sports instruction who know the venue like the back of their hand. They can say for instance whether a stage that weighs X kg can be built on the field,” says Grönmark as an example. 

The negotiations between the event organiser and the Sports and Exercise Unit include working out how the event organiser’s plans can be translated into reality. 

“Very often we bring in a coordinator from Building Site Services and the Environment and Building Control Department to consider the environmental aspects, for instance.” 

Everything is considered. The City of Espoo requires event organisers to consider local operators and residents too. In June, when we conducted this interview, Loud ‘n Live had just held a briefing for the clubs that use the sports park, informing them of the practical impacts of the festival on other users. 

“We have the place booked for exactly a week. We begin construction on the Monday of the festival week, and on the following Monday, there’s a championship league game between FC Honka and HIFK,” Bakker explained. 

Residents and passers-by also have to be considered. 

“There are a lot of cyclists in the Tapiola area. We need to make sure that they stay safe,” Grönmark points out. 

Safety in the event area is always part of the responsibilities of event organisers. With the coronavirus pandemic, hygiene and health aspects have become more important than ever, and the resulting practices will probably be permanent. 

“Once it became possible to organise events again, it took some time for people to actually dare to go out and attend them. Customers were happy that the sector was up and running again, but many potential audience members were still in wait-and-see mode. Towards summer, audience numbers picked up, and festival tickets in Espoo sold well,” says Lea Rintala. 

A rescue plan is always devised with the rescue services in the early stages of event planning. 

“Emergency exits, number of people attending, vehicle access, parking,” Grönmark lists. 

More customers and work. Espoo has a good, solid foundation for partnerships. Sports and culture events are routinely organised on a partnership basis. The city has a natural role to play as a facilitator, for instance by offering venues for use.  

“We know the city and can help and advise event organisers. It is the job of the city authorities to make Espoo as appealing and interesting as possible, not just for residents but also for event organisers, so that they are willing to bring their expertise and organise events in Espoo that are of interest to residents,” says Rintala. 

In keeping with the Espoo story, services are produced by the entire city community. 

“We always encourage event organisers to leverage local entrepreneurs and organisations,” Grönmark notes. 

At the Tapiola Festival, for instance, catering is managed by local businesses, and local sports clubs help with building, dismantling and cleanup. 

“And of course, an event of this magnitude will generate demand for restaurant and accommodation services and will bring people into shops. For many audience members, festivals are the high point of summer, a chance to buy new clothes and to go out with their friends,” says Bakker. 

The city aims to enable events accessible to everyone, including events for children and senior citizens that are free of charge, and also local happenings such as small-scale resident and community events.  

“These are of great importance for community, identity and wellbeing,” says Rintala. 

Development continues. The development programme headed by Lea Rintala has the long-term goal of making Espoo a resident-oriented and client-oriented city of events that is sustainable and full of vitality. The principal goal for this year was to facilitate the execution of the programme celebrating the 50th anniversary of Espoo as a city together with residents and partners. The year culminates in Espoo Celebrates! week next week; the programme of the week is discussed in detail in the article Espoo celebrates! 

“During this council term, we aim to develop processes for event organisation in collaboration between city authorities, residents and partners, remove obstacles to event hosting, and devise a model for welcoming more national and international events to Espoo,” Rintala explains. 

The development of the Event City Espoo model, on the other hand, is a lengthier process, and its results will not be immediately apparent. However, this is the platform that will eventually make it easier to organise all kinds of events, large and small. “Our goal is to bring together all of the information that facilitates event organising and to lay the groundwork for a one-stop-shop for advisor services. I believe that this will bring more events to Espoo and provide residents with more opportunities for participation and for organising their own events. I believe that commercial events will also increase,” says Rintala confidently. 

Espoo only has a handful of MASS EVENTS this summer, but there are plenty of minor events and experiences. One of the organisers of such minor events is the Olari brewery, which combines beer culture with music, skateboarding and graffiti art, among other things. 

“Combining various branches of culture creates a diversity of experiences,” says Managing Director Tommi Koistinen, who is himself deeply rooted in the sub-cultures of Olari. 

During the summer, the brewery terrace has had live music performances every week and a DJ on all other days to entertain customers. 

“We have a lot of pop-up events where everyone is welcome,” says Koistinen. 

He gives heartfelt thanks to the city for their collaboration. 

“I have organised events elsewhere, and I am familiar with operators in the sector. Espoo has a no-nonsense approach and a willingness to help with the arrangements, which is not something that you can take for granted. For instance, City Events gave us ideas for tech setups and timing regarding this weekend’s block party. When you have an event facilitator like the City of Espoo backing you, your own ambition for creating the event automatically rises to the next level.”