A huge number of people gathered at the Oulu2026 Opening Festival to celebrate the launch of the European Capital of Culture year on 16–18 January. Around 200 events across Oulu city centre attracted over 250,000 visits. The programme offered a wide range of cultural experiences, from concerts to ice hockey, acrobatics to car tuning, panel discussions to pub quizzes, and from art exhibitions to dance parties in the snow.
The European Capital of Culture year in Oulu was officially opened by the President of the Republic of Finland, Alexander Stubb. During his visit, he also explored several programme highlights, including the newly opened Children’s Cultural Centre Kotilo.
“The Opening Festival truly warmed the hearts of people across the region. Based on visitor numbers, the festival is believed to have become the largest event in Oulu’s history. This is a wonderful way to continue the European Capital of Culture year,” says Piia Rantala-Korhonen, CEO of the Oulu Culture Foundation Oulu2026.
President Alexander Stubb opened the festival on Friday at Oulu Market Square, where approximately 9,000 people gathered to witness the opening ceremony.
“A winter festival on this scale has never been organised in Oulu before. People showed that celebrating festivals is possible even in January,” says Sandy Kantola, Executive Producer of Oulu2026.
Events were held at around 20 venues across the city centre. At Shopping Centre Valkea, visitor numbers remained high throughout the weekend and exceeded expectations.
“From our perspective, the weekend was a success. Visitor numbers even surpassed the busiest periods of the Christmas shopping season. Compared to a typical January weekend, footfall was almost doubled. The event exceeded all of our expectations, which were already high,” says Johanna Kylli, Marketing and Events Manager at Shopping Centre Valkea.
A wide range of contributors from around the world
A large number of volunteers and students took part in the Opening Festival. During the opening weekend, Oulu2026 volunteers contributed a total of 1,187 hours of volunteer work, supporting visitor guidance, assistance, communications, cultural companionship, and construction and dismantling tasks. In addition, several associations and students from various fields at vocational college OSAO contributed thousands of working hours in different roles.
For example, OSAO media students were involved in planning and producing content for the Oulu2026 TikTok account. Third-year student Olivia Nyholm describes working as a content creator for the European Capital of Culture’s social media channels as an incredibly fun and rewarding internship experience, even though it could be busy at times.
“A huge thank you for the success goes to all the volunteers and students who helped in so many different tasks. Without their contribution, we could not have achieved such a successful overall event,” Executive Producer Sandy Kantola says.
The Opening Festival programme was delivered by a large number of people and organisations from the Oulu2026 region, elsewhere in Finland, and from abroad. The festival offered a comprehensive preview of how the programme for the entire European Capital of Culture year will take shape.
“The year’s events can be found in the Oulu2026 event calendar, so now is the perfect time to explore what’s on offer and mark your favourites,” encourages CEO Piia Rantala-Korhonen.
Several events were also streamed on the Oulu2026 website. The Opening Festival streams accumulated 30,000 views, with the highest audience during the opening ceremony and the President’s speech.
The events and related programme were produced by a wide range of artists, professionals, companies and communities. The overall programme was coordinated by the Oulu Culture Foundation. Corporate partners of the Opening Festival included Pohjolan OP, Kaleva Media, Osuuskauppa Arina, Pörhön Autoliike, Kontiotuote Oy, Oulun Kärpät, Kauppakortteli Pekuri, Kesko, Hauru, OSAO, Oulun Pysäköinti and Haverinen Logistics.
