Iisalmi

History

Iisalmi traces its roots back to 1627, when the parish of Iisalmi was formed around the local church.

In the 18th century, when Finland was under Swedish control, Sweden was frequently at war with Imperial Russia, and the area of Koljonvirta in Iisalmi was a battlefield on which one of the greatest Swedish victories occurred. However, Sweden lost its last war with Russia and had to surrender Finland to the Russian Empire in 1809.

Iisalmi gained its status as town in 1891.

Economy

Olvi, the last big independent beer brewery in Finland, has its factory and headquarters in Iisalmi. (Other big Finnish breweries have been bought by multinational companies.)

Genelec, the manufacturer of high-quality active monitors and loudspeakers used in recording studios worldwide, has its factory and headquarters in Iisalmi.

Normet, engineers and manufacturers of mechanised equipment for underground rock-mining and tunnelling, also has its factory and headquarters in Iisalmi.

Profile Vehicles Oy, makes ambulances and police cars.

Iisalmi has its own railway station on the VR network. The line between Iisalmi and Oulu was electrified in December 2006, replacing diesel haulage of trains.

Music

Currently the most famous Iisalmi-based band is a humorous country-rock orchestra Halavatun Papat. A rough translation of the name is "Damn Grandfathers".

20th-century composer Joonas Kokkonen was born here, as were singer-songwriter Jaakko Teppo and jazz pianist and composer Jarmo Savolainen.

Events

Iisalmi, even though being a relatively small town, has many cultural events on small and somewhat larger scales. One memorable event of the many is "Rompepäivät", which translates as "the days of old junk and stuff". People gather together bringing all kinds of old stuff imaginable from small sewing needles to old tractors for everyone to see and a lot of small things to be sold. Small amount of old restored cars, trucks, motorcycles and tractors, some of them Finnish made, are displayed for others to see. Here people talk about "good old times" or wonder over "ancient artifacts". Sometimes some of the finely restored machines are for sale to anyone interested to buy—of course if they can afford it.

"Oluset" is a music festival organized each July annually. The main sponsor is local brewery company Olvi. "Oluset" roughly translates to "a few beers". Also a smaller festival, "Limuset" (Little soft drink festival" is organize as well by Olvi. "Limuset" is mainly dedicated to kids and young people, and no alcoholic drinks are sold in the area.

Sports

Iisalmi is best known for its football club, PK-37 and ice hockey club, IPK (Iisalmen Peli Karhut). Other known sports clubs are FBI (floorball club), Iisalmen palloveikot, Klubi-36, Iina, Iisalmen Visa and Koljonvirran ratsastajat (riding club).

Iisalmi has many good alternativities for sports. There is a very nice frisbee golf place near the Paloisvuori ski center. There are also many good beaches in Iisalmi, for example Perttu's beach and Beach of City. Many beaches offer an opportunity for beach volley too. In winter time Iisalmi offers good ski trails, skating rinks and also opportunity for downhill skiing and snowboarding in the Paloisvuori ski center. In addition Iisalmi has good facilities for gym workout, swimming, bowling and minigolf.

Twin towns — Sister cities

Iisalmi is twinned with: