Tori Marketplace
Click to enlarge
The Tori Market Place is the hub around which all FinnFest activities are centered.
Open:
Thursday-Saturday 10 am to 6 pm
Sunday 10 am to 2 pm
In communities all around the world, the Tori Market Place - with different names like forum in ancient Rome - has been the centerpiece of the common activities: a place where people get together for information, for shopping, to meet relatives and friends - and to have fun together. FinnFest 2011 Tori Market Place in San Diego will be all that.
The Tori Market Place vendors present:
- Goods and services related to Finland or Finnish-America
- Information about Finland and Finnish-Americans
- Information about FinnFest 2011 Program, and future FinnFest events
The FinnFest Tori Market Place is located in a spacious Exhibition Hall, with entrance from the Town & Country Resort & Hotel. There is space for about 100 vendors. The vendors can fall into the following categories: all Finnish, Finnish-American, or Nordic-centered:
- For-profit vendors selling
- Non-profit organizations selling merchandise and providing information
- Amateur/local crafters/traditional artists: people who work with Finnish-centered craft skills (e.g. woodworking, knitting, crocheting, needlework)
- Local artisans
- Food Products: jams, jellies, fish, sauces, baked goods...
- Amateur authors selling their self-published books
- People selling services related to things Finnish, e.g. genealogy work, photo restoration, scrapbooking, sauna building skills, translation, travel agencies...
There are also stands for:
- FinnFest 2011, where the festival souvenirs like T-shirts, hats, bags, pins, books, DVDs of the festival, postcards, napkins, stationery, posters, calendars and other memorabilia are sold
- Official FinnFest 2011 Post Office with postal services, including stamps
- FinnFest USA, with information about the organization and preliminary information about the future FinnFests
As a kind of small town downtown, the Tori Market Place also is a place where people can congregate to meet, see and find people. At the FinnFest 2011,Tori Market Place, you can expect the following services and happenings:
- Message Board where people can leave and receive messages
- A Meeting Point to regroup with family and friends
- Coffee Shop with Finnish specialties like pulla
- Live entertainment: music, dance, verbal performance with seats for the audience and a dance floor
- Kid's world for visitor's children
- Free internet access
The Tori Market Place is a non-political and non-confrontational area, and highly recommended also for a family-based audience.
FinnFest 2011 also offers opportunities for corporations at business-expo.
