Every design for Äänekoski

Ever noticed that Äänekoski comes last in any alphabetical list of Finland's municipalities? People here have heard that one before. What they would rather talk about is ordinary life between two stretches of water: the town centre sits between Ääneselkä, the open part of Lake Keitele, and Lake Kuhnamo, a short drive north of Jyväskylä.

Äänekosken taidemuseo gives the centre its cultural corner, while summer belongs to the beaches, Kasperin uimaranta and Kellonkannan uimaranta, and families head for Huuhan perhepuisto. The town takes its name from the nearby rapids, where Swedish records already mention a salmon fishery, and it grew into an industrial town once the first factories arrived around the turn of the twentieth century. Suolahti, Sumiainen and Konginkangas have since joined it, so the map now reaches far into villages, lakes and forest. Keitele is the deepest of its many lakes, and the Hitonhauta gorge is protected as a nature site.

If your days begin and end in Äänekoski, you know it is anything but last. Wear it like the first name on your list.