March 17, 2008
By RAELYNN RICARTE
News staff writer

There will be no St. Urho’s Day Parade in Hood River today due to just plain old-fashioned burnout on the part of Camille Hukari, the event’s longtime organizer.

“I planned the thing for 24 years and I don’t think that anyone believed me when I said that I wasn’t doing it this year,” said Hukari.

She said the annual celebration of Finnish-American heritage involves a lot of frivolity — but also a lot of work. She said no one stepped forward this year to take over the permitting process and organize the parade entries.

Hukari said the parade, which always takes place at noon, involves about 100 people and the theme is centered on some type of political satire. She has organized the fun-filled ceremony in recent years with assistance from her husband, Jerry Tausend, and a handful of other workers.

“I just wanted to enjoy being part of it this year and not be in charge of it,” said Hukari.

She is hopeful that one of the other Finnish farm families in the valley will take on the cause in 2009. She said St. Urho’s Day was established because the Finnish thought that the Irish shouldn’t have all of the fun with their March 17 celebration of St. Patrick casting all of the snakes out of Ireland.