Every design for Ikaalinen

At the northern end of Lake Kyrösjärvi, north-west of Tampere in Pirkanmaa, the old heart of Ikaalinen is built on a peninsula reaching into the water. For centuries it belonged to Upper Satakunta, and the lake and the ridge of Hämeenkangas were its highways; the old Kyrönkangas road from Häme to Ostrobothnia ran along the ridge, and church boats crossed the water until the early twentieth century.

That position shaped its history. Ikaalinen broke away from Hämeenkyrö as a parish of its own in 1641, and its market town, now the Vanhakauppala district, was the oldest in Finland, though it stayed the smallest, since nearby Tampere drew people away. Armies marched through on their way north during the wars of the eighteenth century, and a field in the village of Vatsiainen later gave up the largest coin hoard ever found in Finland. Rahkolan kartano and Ikaalisten kotiseutumuseo keep those layers close, and today the town is better known for its spa, part of Seitseminen national park and the old Sata-Häme Soi festival.

Pesäpalloilijoiden muistokivi honours the town's ballplayers of Ikaalisten Tarmo, and anyone who cheered them on will know why a map of Ikaalinen belongs on a shirt.