The 2019 Outer Causalisian of the Year has made his hometown and the Folk Music Festival famous, especially last spring, when the Causisian Clam appeared on TV screens on Saturday evenings in the popular Putous sketch contest. On Thursday, the actor who plays the clam Mikko Penttilä was named Outer Cape Finn of the Year.
Penttilä is a graduate of a music high school and started practising folk dance at the age of four in the Kaustinen Youth Society. He has been a long-time volunteer and performer at the festival, including as a presenter and as an actor and director of the Kaustinen Kavalkad.
Mikko Penttilä is very honoured to receive the Outdoor Kaustonian of the Year award and promises to continue to carry the Kaustinen flag high and proud.
- The 38-year-old Simpsa from Kaustis wanted to defend the dwindling car jamming culture and get it on UNESCO's Intangible Cultural Heritage list. Simpsa is a love song for his hometown and all the culture that happens in this small but vibrant municipality, he says.
Penttilä will perform in the improvisational theatre group Stella Polaris on Saturday. She will also host on Thursday and Friday at the Arena. But is he a clam or a Mikko? That remains to be seen.
The Kaustinen Municipal Council elects the Outdoorsman of the Year every year. The election has been held since 2001. A person born in Kaustinen, now living elsewhere, who is proud of his or her roots and who, through his or her actions and activities, makes a positive statement about Kaustinen, is chosen as the Outer Kaustonian of the Year.