Every design for Kurikka

Behind a rock called Kusikivi, so the story goes, the Swedish king Adolf Frederick relieved himself on his tour of Finland after his coronation, and Kurikka has kept both the stone and the joke. It is that kind of town: down to earth and fond of its own lore. The name means a wooden club or washing beetle, which has earned it the playful nickname Paitapiiska. Farming shaped the place, local politics still lean towards the Centre Party, and the old railway station, silent for passengers for decades, now serves lunch instead.

Kurikka covers a huge stretch of South Ostrobothnia. With Jurva and Jalasjärvi joined to it, it is the largest town in the region by area, crossed by national roads and by the Kyrönjoki, which runs through the centre. Lehtivuori, the highest point, rises just west of the centre, flying squirrels live in the protected forests of Metsäkylä and Isokorpi, and in Jurva engines roar at the Botniaring racing circuit. At Jyllinkoski the rapids share their name with an electricity works museum.

Legenda, the statue of the cross-country skier Juha Mieto, stands for everything Kurikka is proud of, and makes a big-hearted figure to wear.