Hyvää Urhonpäivää! Happy Saint Urho’s Day!
You’ve heard of Saint Patrick—but Saint Urho? The tongue-in-cheek legend of Saint Urho says he chased the grasshoppers out of Finland by uttering the phrase Heinäsirkka, heinäsirkka, mene täältä (roughly translated: “Grasshopper, grasshopper, go to hell!”). The feast is celebrated by wearing the colors royal purple and nile green. In the end, the day offers all of us—Irish, Finnish, and everyone else—a time for music and a good party. Join the Ameriikan Poijat brass ensemble for an afternoon of merriment. Wear purple and green! Reception to follow. This event is free and open to the public.

The brass septet Ameriikan Poijat (Boys of America) was founded in 1990 and has been appearing at ethnic festivals, regional tours, and music conferences to present authentic social dance music and concert repertoire ever since. In recent years, Ameriikan Poijat has traveled widely in the US and Canada and played at events such as Finnfest USA. In 1997 they appeared at the Great American Brass Band Festival in Danville, Kentucky. And in 2005 they performed the entire brass septet repertoire of Jean Sibelius at the International Sibelius Conference held at the University of North Texas in Denton.