Co-Creating Places through Events: The Case of a Tourism Community Event in Finnish Lapland

Abstract

Events can convey strong meanings for communities and they can be important builders of place identity (Getz, 2008). This chapter explores the relationship between a community event and the place where it is held. The empirical case discussed here is the Walpurgis Day celebration (Vappu in Finnish), which is organised annually by a community of domestic tourists and tourism workers in Pallas, a ski resort situated within a national park in Finnish Lapland, 200 kilometres above the Arctic Circle. There are no permanent residents in Pallas, however, the ski resort hosts approximately 100,000 tourists every year. Walpurgis Day is a carnival-style celebration usually held in the streets of Finnish towns and cities on 1st May. This one-day community event has been celebrated in Pallas for the last 20 years, originating from the desire of a group of tourists to regularly engage in Walpurgis Day festivities in the area. The event’s popularity and success has its roots in the voluntary activities of the community, and through the years, they have capitalised upon the non-profit, voluntary, and free-of-charge nature of the event. The celebration is inclusive in nature and welcomes all visitors to the resort.

Full text

ACCEPTED COPY
Haanpää, Minni, García-Rosell, José-Carlos and
Tuulentie, Seija (2016). Co-creating places through
events. The case of a tourism community event in Finnish
Lapland. In: Allan Jepson and Alan Clarke (Eds.),
Managing and Developing Communities, Festivals and
Events (pp. 34-50). London: Palgrave macmillan
Publishers Ltd.

Co-Creating Places through Events: The Case of
a Tourism Community Event in Finnish
Lapland
Minni Haanpää, José-Carlos García-Rosell and Seija Tuulentie
Introduction
Events can convey strong meanings for communities and they can be
important builders of place identity (Getz, 2008). This chapter explores the
relationship between a community event and the place where it is held.
The empirical case discussed here is the Walpurgis Day celebra- tion
(Vappu in Finnish), which is organised annually by a community of
domestic tourists and tourism workers in Pallas, a ski resort situated
within a national park in Finnish Lapland, 200 kilometres above the Arctic
Circle. There are no permanent residents in Pallas, however, the ski resort
hosts approximately 100,000 tourists every year. Walpurgis Day is a
carnival-style celebration usually held in the streets of Finnish towns and
cities on 1st May. This one-day community event has been celebrated in
Pallas for the last 20 years, originating from the desire of a group of
tourists to regularly engage in Walpurgis Day festivities in the area. The
event’s popularity and success has its roots in the voluntary activities of
the community, and through the years, they have capitalised upon the
non-profit, voluntary, and free-of-charge nature of the event. The cele-
bration is inclusive in nature and welcomes all visitors to the resort.
A multitude of literature can be found on managing the economic,
promotional and operational aspects of community events. Despite this
expertise, understanding of the social impacts of events and the dimen-
sions of attendee experiences can be viewed as a crucial management skill
for developing community events in the future (Biaett, 2015, p. 20).

This chapter contributes to this call by exploring the communal co-crea-
tion practices of an event where tourists and tourism workers, by means
of their immaterial and material labour, add cultural and affective elem-
ents to the place market offering (see Cova & Dalli, 2009). The Walpurgis
Day celebration in Pallas is a result of inclusive community planning,
and it celebrates a particular way of life with strong connections to space
and time (see Jepson & Clarke, 2013, p. 7). The members of this event
community express a strong feeling of belonging and possess and share
specialised knowledge, skills and experience related to the content of the
event and the particularities of the place (Rihova et al., 2013, p. 560).
Our chapter concentrates on the co-creation of place through a commu-
nity event (see Hamilton & Alexander, 2013). By studying the co-creation
practices of a non-business originated event, it is possible to consider the
nature of the value it posits to the tourism offering of the place and how
this is negotiated between the different parties involved. Policy makers
often expect a lot from events in terms of place marketing and reputa-
tion. However, in theory and practice, these expectations are usually
directed towards large-scale and mega-events, while smaller community
events remain under-researched (Foley, McGillivray & McPherson, 2012;
see also Viken, 2014). By examining a small-scale, community-organised
event in a remote, uninhabited tourism destination outside of regional
development goals, this chapter can increase and enrich understanding
in event policy discussions. The chapter investigates the social and
material dimensions of event co-creation. In doing so, it aims to answer
the following questions: how does a tourism community’s knowledge
of a place shape the event? How has the meaning of the event to the
community developed over time? Finally, how does the event inform
the place offering, in this case to stimulate tourism?
The chapter is structured as follows. First, the empirical event context
is introduced. Next, discussions centre on the theoretical underpinning
of the study: co-creation and place marketing. Finally, the methods used
and the results of the study are discussed.
The event context: Pallas Fell Resort, Lapland, Finland
The event takes place at the Pallas Fell Resort, which is located in the
municipality of Muonio in northwest Lapland. Lapland is the north-
ernmost province of Finland and the European Union. With 3.5 per
cent of Finland’s population and approximately 30 per cent of Finland’s
total area, Lapland is by far the least densely populated region in
Finland. It is highly dependent on income from the tourism and hospi-
tality industries. In particular, small tourism companies specialising in

Figure 3.1
Walkers and skiers heading to the event location in Pallas
Source
: José-Carlos García-Rosell (2015).
accommodation, catering, activity programs and other services directly
or indirectly related to tourism are an integral part of the local economy.
It is a major employment source and a major driver of economic and
social development in the province (Regional Council of Lapland, 2011).
Both Finland’s Tourism Strategy to 2020 (Ministry of Trade and Industry,
2006) and Lapland Tourism Strategy 2011–2014 (Regional Council of
Lapland, 2011) emphasise the development of tourism zones and large
tourist resorts in the region.
The tourism industry in Muonio employs relatively more people than
the tourism industries in other municipalities in Lapland. Indeed, more
than 80 per cent of employees in Muonio work in the service sector, and
most of them are employed in services related to tourism and hospi-
tality. Tourists visiting Muonio represent various market segments from
domestic, tradition-oriented skiing tourists, hikers and cottagers to
foreign cross-country skiing training groups, adventure tourists, incen-
tive groups and tourist-like car testers (Tuulentie & Lankila, 2014). Pallas
Fell is an example of a wilderness and nature-based tourist site in Muonio.
The area’s tourism potential was discovered in the 1930s by a group of
female skiers who were looking for a suitable site for cross-country and
alpine skiing in Finland (Kari, 1978; Sippola & Rauhala, 1992). In 1938,

just before the area became a national park, a hotel was built in the fell.
Thus, the new hotel came to be situated inside the conservation area, a
fact that has had a large influence on the development of the place as
a tourist resort. The hotel was burned down by German troops during
the Second World War, but it was rebuilt and reopened in 1948 (Sippola
& Rauhala, 1992). Since the 1960s, there have been proposals for the
enlargement of the resort as well as the hotel itself. However, the hotel
building has not been altered since the reopening.
The development of Pallas differs significantly from neighbouring large
ski resorts. They followed the common ideals of tourism destination devel-
opment, with highly concentrated services and massive infrastructure,
while tourism in Pallas is wilderness and nature-based and attracts a higher
proportion of international tourists. Currently, the only buildings in the
Pallas Fell Resort are the hotel, which was sold by a state-owned enterprise
to a private entrepreneur in 1997, a national park visitor centre, and some
accommodations for employees. Additionally, there are two ski lifts and
a caravan site (Ministry of the Environment, 2008; Tuulentie & Lankila,
2014). The place is also an important gateway for hikers and cross-country
skiers heading to Pallas-Ylläs National Park, which is the most visited park
in Finland, with 436,000 visits in 2010 (Metsähallitus, 2011).
The community event discussed in this study was created in the Pallas
Fell Resort when tourists began to gather to celebrate Walpurgis Day,
which is one of the four biggest Finnish holidays along with Christmas
Eve, New Year’s Eve and Midsummer. While Walpurgis Day is held on
the 1st of May, the eve of May Day is usually a carnival-style festival held
in the streets of Finland’s towns and cities. The event in Pallas Fell is an
exception because it is held in a non-urban context – the wilderness
surroundings are only accessible by walking or skiing. The history of the
event goes back more than two decades when it began as an informal
gathering of friends. As one of the founding members of the event
community stated in a Finnish tourism magazine:
In the beginning, we sat shyly in the snow holes in Vatikuru gorge,
popping sparkling wine bottles, peeking for others. Gradually, we
made acquaintance with like-minded people, and as the years passed
the event found its way into Pallas’s marketing materials. (Särkkä,
2011, p. 4)
This shows how the event was initiated by a few congenial people and
grew gradually as new people became involved, including the local ski
school instructors.

Figure 3.2
Celebrating Walpurgis Day in Pallas Fell, Spring 2011
Source
: José-Carlos García-Rosell (2015).
Since the event’s inception, between 50 and 200 people each year have
come to celebrate Walpurgis Day in the snowy slopes of the fells. The event
includes a parade of the participants and the arrangement of picnic tables
to hold food and drinks that are free for the enjoyment of anyone joining
the event. The tables are produced by teams of people, usually groups of
friends, who decorate them according to a chosen theme and sometimes
even dress accordingly. An essential part of the event is the awards cere-
mony for the best table of the year. Currently, the Pallaksen Pöllöt (the
Owls of Pallas) ski school, which was founded in 1965 and is the second
oldest ski school in Finland, plays an important role in organising the
event. The group is composed of seasonal ski instructors who work as a
hobby during the high season of late February to early May. In addition
to teaching cross-country and downhill skiing, they arrange many types
of programmes for those staying at the hotel in Pallas. Other active groups
organising the event include caravanners and second-home owners in the
area, as well as those who once worked as instructors in the ski school and
now live in other parts of Finland but return to attend the event.
Co-creating place offerings through community events
The relationship between community festivals, events and place
marketing has been investigated comprehensively (see e.g., McClinchey,

2015). However, there is a lack of research on the impact of festivals
and events upon the meanings and constructions of place (McClinchey,
2015, p. 137). Places are created and maintained through meanings that
result from people’s emotional attachments to physical settings. Physical
spaces become places when people endow them with value. This occurs
through the interplay between the social and physical elements of a
specific space (Tuan, 1977). Recent theorisations in place marketing
tend to subscribe to this idea of place as a materially and meaning-
constructed entity (e.g., Kavaratzis & Hatch, 2013; Warnaby & Medway,
2013). Such approaches pave the way for the investigations that are
needed in community events research. Events shape and alter both the
social and physical realms of places. Event experiences are synonymous
with tourism experiences as they are consumed and produced at the
same time as embodied practices (e.g., Raki
ć
& Chambers, 2012; García-
Rosell et al., 2007). Through temporary constructions and new means
for encounters, festivals and events contribute to or even play a key
role in the creation of a ‘sense of place’ (e.g., Andrews & Leopold, 2013,
pp. 92–96; see also Warnaby, 2009).
This study works towards a better understanding of community events
and their relation to place offering by drawing on the idea of co-crea-
tion. As a theoretical concept, co-creation has been extensively discussed
in marketing literature over the last decade. It originally refers to the
widening role of consumers in the production of different services. It
can be defined as the manner in which companies interact with their
customers in the activities of designing, producing and the consuming
of their offerings to co-create value. In such interactions, knowledge of
the consumers and the use of such knowledge become key resources for
companies (e.g., Vargo & Lusch, 2004; Prahalad & Ramaswamy, 2004).
The concept of co-creation has also gained ground in discussions of
tourism management. However, co-creation studies mainly focus on
the customers of specific tourism enterprises and their involvement in
the development of companies’ services (e.g., Hjalager & Nordin, 2011;
Konu, 2015; see also, Hamilton & Alexander, 2013). Yet, in the field of
tourism, co-creation not only happens inside companies but the know-
ledge of consumers and communities can also contribute to the wider
notions of destination or place (e.g., Hamilton & Alexander, 2013). To
date, there are some studies on event and festival co-creation (e.g., Van
Limburg, 2008; Lugosi, 2014; Rihova et al., 2014). The focus of these has
not been on community-organised festivals but rather on institutional
or commercial festival organisers and their customers.
The concept of value is central to co-creation. This research considers
value as a social construct in line with scholars of cultural marketing

and consumer research (e.g., Holbrook, 1999; Peñaloza & Venkatesh,
2006; see also Rihova et al., 2014). It is ‘co-created, realised, and assessed
in the social context of simultaneous production and consumption
process.’ Value is not measured in monetary terms; instead, it is subject-
ively evaluated by customers and providers (Echeverri & Skålén, 2011,
p. 353). The notion of value lies in the meanings and experiences that
are created in the interaction of the community of people involved, who
simultaneously provide and benefit from the outcome. Value is symbolic.
It is historically and culturally situated and strongly connected with
consumers’ life projects and narratives (e.g., Holbrook, 1999; Peñaloza
& Venkatesh, 2006, p. 310; Pongsakornrungsilp & Schroeder, 2011,
pp. 305–309).
In an event context, the attendees often seek authentic ways to express
their social experiences (Rihova et al., 2014, p. 75). In community events,
the members of the event community add cultural and affective elem-
ents to the place offering through their material and immaterial labour.
They act as a ‘repository of value’ for the event and, more widely, the
place by creating and contributing to the ‘sense of place’ (see Derrett,
2003; Cova & Dalli, 2009; Warnaby, 2009). The members of the commu-
nity engage in co-creation voluntarily because of their affective rela-
tion to the place. They are willing to offer unpaid contributions to the
event and place offering as an act of free will and an expression of their
identity. Other stakeholders of the place are free to enjoy the outputs
of the co-creation process as well (see Cova, Pace & Skålén, 2015). By
co-creating the value proposition of the place, the tourism community
makes provision for and promotion of the destination (Hamilton and
Alexander, 2013, p. 173).
Value for the event participants is most often viewed as something
created in the event community’s social practices (Rihova et al., 2014,
p. 75). These refer to different forms of communal activities, such as
bonding, communing or belonging (Rihova et al., 2014, pp. 78–79).
However, the social practices are conveyed by the realm of space. They
are embodied human activities that are materially mediated and organ-
ised around a shared practical understanding (Schatzki, 2001, p. 11).
These practices act as an avenue to expand the consideration of the rela-
tionship between the co-creation of an event and the place where it
is held. Accordingly, value can be co-created through spatial, material,
performative and representational practices in the event context (e.g.,
Lugosi, 2014, p. 177). In the community event under investigation, the
temporal practices related to the wilderness setting of the place play an
equally important role in value creation (see Rantala & Valtonen, 2014).

When taking a practice-based stance on value co-creation, it unfolds as
a series of dynamic interplays between different actors and spaces rather
than an operationally managed entity, thus offering a more fruitful
premise for analysis (Lugosi, 2014, p. 177).
Data collection and analysis methods
The main sources of data for this study included participant observation
and semi-structured telephone interviews. The study was ethnographic-
ally informed, aiming to understand the researched phenomenon as a
social construction that exists in lived, perceived, conceived and physical
space (see e.g., Pritchard and Morgan, 2006). While participant obser-
vation was suitable for examining the socio-cultural context in which
the event unfolds (Jorgensen, 1989), the interviews were particularly
useful in gaining a better understanding of the organisation of the event
and the meanings given to it by its organisers (Eriksson & Kovalainen,
2008, pp. 82–83). The participant observation conducted by two of the
authors during the entire event on 30 April 2011, constitutes the main
source of observational data. By writing field notes, not only were the
researchers able to keep records of their observations but they were also
able to reflect on their personal experiences (see Hammersley & Atkinson,
1996). While one of the researchers participated in the event for the
first time, the other had attended it several times before. Participant
observation was also recorded using photographs and videos. A total
of 262 photographs and an 80-minute video recording of the event in
2011 formed part of the visual data collected in the study. The visual
material helped to not only reconstruct the event but also examine the
emotional, embodied and performative nature of the social practices
related to it (Scarles, 2012). Following Hammersley & Atkinson’s (1996,
p. 185) advice, we also relied on our memories to fill in and re-contextu-
alise recorded actions and utterances.
A total of 11 semi-structured telephone interviews with people directly
involved in the organisation of the event were conducted in December
2012. The interviewees were selected using the snowball sampling tech-
nique (Atkinson & Flint, 2004). After each interview, interviewees were
asked to suggest other potential interviewees. The first person to be inter-
viewed was chosen for two main reasons: her active role in the organ-
isation of the event and a magazine article published at the end of 2011
in which she wrote about the event and her relationship with the Pallas
Fell. The interviewees included hotel customers, second-home owners,
caravanners and staff members at the hotel and ski school. The ages of
the interviewees were between 40 and 70 years (with only one under

age 50), and both genders were equally represented. The interviews,
which lasted between 30 and 60 minutes, were audio recorded and fully
transcribed. The analysis was conducted as a qualitative theory-based
content analysis. The organisation and interpretation of the data were
performed using the conceptual themes drawn from the theoretical
framework (e.g., Moisander & Valtonen, 2006).
Knowing the place, co-creating the place: Walpurgis Day as a
communal celebration of Pallas Fell
The slopes of Pallas are the best in Finland. So we visited the fell
often and noticed that the conditions there only get better as the
spring progresses. Nights are already light, the sun only goes down for
a few hours at that time of the year, and in the morning, you’ll have
steel hard, great snow conditions. It’s the nature and the conditions
and such things that draw us to this that the people noticed that
this is the best time to be at the fell. And on top of that, the Walpurgis
Day celebration and some hearty activities ’ (Interviewee 2)
In this chapter, we elaborate on the ways in which the community event
at the Pallas Fell Resort informs the place offering. First, we discuss how the
community’s knowledge of place shapes the practices of the event (e.g.,
Rantala, 2009; Lugosi, 2014). As the interview excerpt shows, the event has
its roots in the community members’ emotional attachments to the place.
This was a strong theme in the data when the interviewees discussed the
beginning of the event. The visitors who come annually to spend their
holidays in Pallas began to wonder if they could spend even more time
there during the spring and came up with the idea of the Walpurgis Day
celebration. The place has a strong influence on how the celebration is
organised with respect to its surroundings. Although the premise for the
community event is copied from an urban carnival, the atmosphere is
more moderate than that of the urban celebrations because of the setting.
The spatiality and materiality of the place set a strong premise for the
event. As one of the interviewees stated:
We don’t play loud music or such things, we follow the preconditions
given by the nature of Pallas in a way and that is good it is fine that
when we leave there, there is no litter at all. We will take care of that,
all right. (Interviewee 1)
The wilderness surroundings and the fact that the event is located
inside a national park have an impact on the event’s material practices

(e.g., Rantala, 2009; Lugosi, 2014, pp. 174–175). Because the natural
elements of the place have been a strong influence on community
members’ emotional relationships with it, respect for nature emerged
in the interviews. The volume of the music is kept low, and most of the
picnic tables are built of snow and melt afterwards. The members of the
event community spoke about leaving the place as it originally was and
took special care and pride in how all of the litter is collected and the
place is left almost untouched after the event. This is in contrast with
annual discussions in the national media regarding how urban celebra-
tions leave a large mess in the streets. The wilderness also has direct
effects on material practices because temporary facilities, such as lavato-
ries, must be built for the event in the fell.
In addition to the material practices inside the event, the know-
ledge of the place informs the spatial practices of the event (see Lugosi,
2014, p. 174). To ensure the smooth running of the event and partici-
pant safety, the ski school instructors choose the location according to
the weather forecasts and observations made on the morning of the
event. If the weather is poor, the event is held closer to the hotel, and
it has even been held indoors in extreme conditions. The ski school
instructors also take responsibility for other safety issues related to the
event and arrange transportation from the hotel to the fell for goods
and people with physical difficulties, using snowmobiles (see Rantala &
Valkonen, 2011; Rantala, Valtonen & Markuksela, 2011). Temporal prac-
tices are arranged according to the place: because the event is held in a
remote location at the end of the season, it does not always take place
on the actual Walpurgis Day. Instead, it is held on a day that best fits the
schedules of those in the tourist community (see Rantala & Valtonen,
2014). The interviewees revealed that many participants have a long
drive home. The celebrations only last for one day because of the loca-
tion: having a picnic outside in wintry conditions is fun for a few hours,
but not for a long period of time.
The performative practices concerning embodied acts, such as phys-
ical actions, gestures and communication, are place dependent as well
(see Lugosi, 2014, p. 175). Because of the relatively remote location,
the event participants have to be able to access the site either by ski or
on foot. The interviewees stressed that the excessive consumption of
alcohol that is usually associated with Finnish Walpurgis Day celebra-
tions is not common in Pallas because it would affect the participants’
abilities to perform the required embodied acts. Some of the inter-
viewees expressed concerns for their own or others’ abilities to partic-
ipate in future because of ageing and the physical activity needed to

Figure 3.3
A picnic themed according to the British royal wedding
Source
: José-Carlos García-Rosell (2015).
reach the site of the event. The representational practices, those related
to different visual and textual representations in the event context and
outside of it, are very moderate (see Lugosi, 2014, p. 176). Nevertheless,
the community members took pride in the appearance of the event on
the hotel website, set up for marketing purposes.
The community’s practices and the meanings attached to the event
have evolved over time. At first, the Walpurgis Day celebration was a
gathering for a few like-minded people. Since then, the community
has gradually grown and has also begun to play a significant part as a
builder in creating the event’s atmosphere. The interviewees highlighted
the place as a primary reason for attending the event, but the second
reason mentioned was the community and socialising with good friends
(e.g., Rihova et al., 2014). The event has clearly grown to be a signifi-
cant influence on the community’s holiday patterns in Pallas as well as
the participants’ personal life narratives (see Rantala & Valtonen, 2014;
Pongsakornrungsilp & Schroeder, 2011).
... my co-workers and friends always ask: ‘are you going to Pallas
again for Walpurgis Day?’. ... Well, it is definitely ... I call it the home
fell. (Interviewee 11)

It is important to be able to celebrate Walpurgis Day in Pallas and socialise
with all of the friends and acquaintances associated with the event. The
members of the community want the event to retain its ‘original feel’
over the course of time. Nevertheless, as they age, they express concerns
regarding the future of the event. Some of the members mentioned that
the younger generations of their own families have joined the event
community and seemed to take special pride in it.
The Walpurgis Day event has no officially organised management,
but the members of the event community seem to know their part in
the event co-creation. Since the event began, the main organisational
responsibilities have gradually shifted to the ski school instructors.
However, according to the data, the other parties involved also play a
clear role in organising the event. Despite this fact, the interviewees
would talk in a depreciative manner on their own role in the organisa-
tion of the event because it is performed voluntarily and in a hobbyist
way. Nevertheless, these voluntary co-creators are highly committed
and invest their time in building ‘local tourist culture’ for themselves
and others (see Cova et al., 2015). In this communal co-creation, people
have begun to concentrate on things they are interested in or good at,
from collecting lottery prizes from different companies to brainstorming
ways to provide different amenities to support the event’s location in
the wilderness. Different practices have developed communally and
quite freely over the years (see Hamilton & Alexander, 2013).
Because the Pallas Fell Resort is in a wilderness environment with no
permanent residents and only one hotel, the hotel can be viewed as
the most influential tourism actor in the area. The hotel recognises the
event by setting aside some of the ski school instructors’ work time for
the organisational tasks. The event is also part of the hotel’s marketing;
for example, it is included on its website. This is a fact that most of
the interviewees mentioned and seemed to be proud of. Despite this
sense of pride, the connection between the community event and place
marketing is a minor issue to most members of the event community.
The major theme in committing time and effort to the co-creation
process is the love for the place and the feeling of community (see Cova
et al., 2015). The members of the community do not engage in offi-
cial marketing practices by themselves, nor do they have any strong
opinions about them. The event also extends the tourism season for
the hotel. The representatives of the hotel mentioned that without the
Walpurgis Day celebration, the hotel would probably close a few weeks
earlier. The Walpurgis Day celebration in Pallas is the first such celebra-
tion in the fell resorts of Lapland. Many of the interviewees pointed this

out, and they also stressed that their event is ‘the original Walpurgis Day
celebration’, which was later copied by other fell resorts in the region.
These ‘copies’ were described as being more directly organised, like
urban celebrations, and the community members strongly wanted to
distinguish their event from those ones. The safeguarding of the event
and the place’s atmosphere was a strong priority in the interviews. As
one of the interviewees put it:
The world has changed around us, but Pallas has not changed. We are
sort of in our own world that ... I’ve said to everyone that Pallas is like a
time machine – once you come here, time stands still. (Interviewee 7)
Conclusion
In this article, we have elaborated upon the relationship between a
community event and its place offering. We have looked at the co-cre-
ation practices of a community event in a remote tourism resort. It can
be stated that the community’s understanding, and the meanings given
to the place where the event is held, shape the event in many ways. This
well-known cultural celebration is customised according to the place
where it is held. Although it began as a place-based celebration, the
meaning of the event community to the participants has become more
significant over time. The Walpurgis Day event in Pallas now acts as a
celebration of both the place and the temporary community. Regarding
the place offering, the community event creates a temporary ‘place
inside a place’ and adds value to the tourism community members’
experiences of the place. In this way, the celebration makes the place
more significant in the community members’ life projects than what
would be expected based on the time they spent there.
The question of the role of such events for place offering on a larger-
scale, strategic level remains. They clearly create meaning-based value
for the people and places, but the monetary value created is often
marginal. There is a visible discrepancy between the notions of value at
different levels. Often, the strategies and policies of places perceive
value in terms of economic development and growth – as in the case of
Lapland. Nevertheless, the value for the community lies in non-mon-
etary meanings and experiences and cherishing the notion of place.
Local, small-scale community events are not viewed as proper policy
tools in strategies. However, these initiatives should be given more
consideration and analysis.

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