HaVe Step paved the way for this year's best Elomarkkinakulkue group

The Hamina Food Market was first held in Hamina in 1973, and the 54th opening ceremony and program were held on Thursday, August 13, 2026, at the market square, on the Vepa stage. The Food Market Parade also marched through the streets of Hamina in the traditional way. This year, the parade had the theme, CHILD-FRIENDLY HAMINA, as UNICEF awarded the city of Hamina the Child-Friendly Municipality award at the end of last year. 

So far, 39 municipalities in Finland have received the Child-Friendly Municipality recognition. In Hamina, development work according to the model began in 2022. The nature of the recognition is such that continuous work must be done to earn it. The Child-Friendly Municipality model ensures systematic development of the city's operating culture based on the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. This means that children are included in decision-making and the development of services in different sectors and units of the municipality. 

Unicef ​​has praised Hamina for, among other things, promoting the inclusion of children and young people, and for collecting feedback on the city's services and developing child-friendly feedback methods. In Hamina, communication aimed at children has been increased and developed to be more child-friendly. Hamina has also invested in ensuring that children's rights are widely studied in all sectors and that personnel have been trained purposefully. In addition, the city has made excellent progress in promoting the introduction of child impact assessments. In all work, children's participation has also been taken into account and attention has been paid to continuous learning.

Cultural services also played an active role in the Elomarkkina opening program. The program included circus, dance, and live music, mainly performed by young enthusiasts.  

HaVe Step ry, which performed several different dance performances in the opening program, was awarded the prize for the best Elomarkkinakulkue group this year. The certificate of honor, the trophy for the round, and flowers were received by the dancers who performed on stage and their dance teachers. 

This year, the jury for the winning group was made up of education and training professionals from the city's organization: Titta Erkkilä brought her experience as a school educator and Johanna Oleander brought her perspective from the early childhood education side to the jury. A representative of the Youth Council was also supposed to be present to bring the voice of young people to the selection, but unfortunately that plan was suddenly canceled this time.

The jury was impressed by the performance of the HaVe Step group, among other things, by how HaVe Step had taken on this year's theme. The group had invested in choreography and showiness. The performers included children, young people and adults, dancers of different ages, who had the space to showcase their own special dance skills (e.g. Latin kids); the variety of the association's hobby offerings was visible in the performers. In addition, the music choice supporting the group's performance, the sauna-related Bara bada bastu song, was a current one in Hamina and also a "rally" familiar to many ages, which fits perfectly with this summer public event. The music provided a fun idea for the procession's joint dance moves.