Every design for Saarijärvi

Saarijärvi, a lake town in Central Finland north of Jyväskylä, is where Runeberg's stubborn peasant Paavo lived, the one who keeps going through every hardship in the poem. Daily life here moves at the pace of a small place: the OnniBus between Helsinki and Kokkola calls in, the local dishes include suutarinpaisti, a 'cobbler's roast' of vendace, and a swede porridge served with lingonberries.

What makes Saarijärvi unusual is how its centre is built. The town sits on peninsulas and isthmuses wrapped by water on every side: Summanen to the south, Lake Saarijärvi to the west, and Pieni-Lumperoinen, Iso-Lumperoinen and Pyhäjärvi to the east. People have lived here since the Stone Age, and Kivikauden kylä, the Stone Age village, tells their story. Pyhä-Häkki national park, with more than twenty kilometres of marked trails, lies within the municipality, and Saarijärven museo keeps the local history.

Then there is Paavon patsas, the statue of Paavo himself. Anyone from Saarijärvi knows what he stands for: keep going, whatever the year brings. That is something worth wearing.