Messukeskus Helsinki, Expo and Convention Centre’s centenary got off to a playful start with a slide set up at the venue.
Visitors were able to slide their way to the largest hall in Messukeskus, starting with the Matka Travel Fair.
The wooden slide was a great audience attraction already at the country’s first fair a hundred years ago. The slide will be available at almost all of the Messukeskus events during the centenary year.
Messukeskus is also celebrating its hundred-year-long story with a redesigned logo.
“All of us at Messukeskus are happy to invite our customers to join us in celebrating our centenary. For a hundred years, Finns have been an enthusiastic audience at exhibitions and fairs, and event marketing continues to be an excellent marketing channel both in Finland and worldwide,” says Messukeskus MD Anni Vepsäläinen.
The centenary symbol now forms a part of the new logo: Messukeskus – a century in the centre of events.
February will see the official launch of the centenary campaign, during which the customers and influencers of Messukeskus will share how its events and various encounters at its events have influenced their lives and careers. These stories will include those of the Creative Director of Hakola Oy, Annaleena Hämäläinen; the ocean racing sailor Ari Huusela; entrepreneur Hans-Peter Siefen and YouTube personality Mike Bäck.
The jubilee year will continue in March with the Mesoaja Gala hosted by Messukeskus. The fair and event successes of the year will be awarded at the gala. Messukeskus’s restaurant world and the hotel Holiday Inn Helsinki - Expo will reopen their doors to reveal the results of their complete refurbishment.
The Finnish Fair Corporation was founded on 19 October 1919, as Finland was taking its first steps as an independent nation, with the mission to promote Finnish business through fruitful encounters. The first fair was held in the summer of 1920 outside St John’s Church in Helsinki and grew to become a massive public festival and the largest media event of its day in Finland. Over 120,000 visitors from around the country flocked to the fair, nearly doubling the population of Helsinki at the time.
The journey has since taken the trade fair company to the former exhibition hall in Töölö and most recently to Pasila and the largest event venue in Finland. It organises now some 100 public and trade fairs each year, as well as around 2,000 meetings, congresses, parties and corporate events.
