Photos: Lisa Niittynen
Every Monday morning, the familiar scent of fresh Finnish pancakes fills the halls of Hilldale Lutheran Church. Inside the kitchen volunteers move with practiced precision, pouring batter onto well-seasoned griddles while coffee cups fill almost as quickly as they empty. Out in the hall, organizer Kari Jämsä keeps the morning running smoothly, checking in with volunteers and stopping at table after table to chat with regulars and newcomers alike. At the front door, Liisa Luoma and Osmo Kankkunen greet guests with a smile, sell tickets, and welcome everyone as they arrive. In the dining hall, conversations drift effortlessly between English and Finnish. Friends greet one another with warm hugs, laughter echoes from table to table,and newcomers are made to feel at home.
For $10, guests receive three Finnish pancakes, pulla, and coffee. Sausages are available for an extra dollar, and birthdays are often marked with cake shared among everyone. On an average Monday, volunteers serve between 80 and 100 breakfasts and make about 10 gallons of pancake batter.
But no one comes only for the pancakes. “It’s not just the pancakes, because I can make pancakes,” said regular attendee Satu Groombridge with a laugh. “It’s everything around the pancakes. It’s the social.”
For many in Thunder Bay’s Finnish community, Monday mornings have become a weekly tradition, one rooted in friendship, heritage, and belonging.
A place to gather
Hilldale Lutheran Church has long held a special place in my family’s story, including my parents’ wedding there in 2014. Over the past year, Monday breakfasts have become part of our routine, bringing together grandparents, aunts, uncles, lifelong family friends, and people whose stories I’m only beginning to know. Every visit ends the same way: with a full stomach, a few more familiar faces, and the feeling that you’ve spent the morning exactly where you were meant to be.
Creating that sense of belonging was exactly what Jämsä hoped to achieve. The story begins several years ago, after the closure of Hoito Restaurant. For decades, one group of regulars gathered almost daily upstairs in the Finlandia Club’s Embassy Room. Known as the “Bay Street Boys,” they gathered for companionship as much as for coffee. The caretaker brought coffee upstairs, the men paid for their cups, and the proceeds supported Finlandia.
Carrying Bay Street forward
For generations, Bay Street represented the heart of Thunder Bay’s Finnish community. Finlandia served as a second home for countless people, where birthdays were celebrated, organizations met, ideas were shared, and friendships grew stronger over countless cups of coffee.
When Finlandia closed, the tradition didn’t disappear. The men continued meeting outside in the parking lot, sitting in lawn chairs while the caretaker brought coffee outdoors. Their friendships mattered more than the building itself. But when winter arrived, Jämsä explained that they “had to have a gathering place,” and Hilldale Lutheran Church soon became that place.
The gatherings began with coffee. Everyone contributed five dollars to a church fund, continuing a tradition of giving back. The money was set aside in what became known as the Bay Street Boys account before one simple question changed everything: why not open the gathering to everyone?
“We decided to open up for making pancakes and get the general public in it,” Jämsä said. From that simple decision, the Monday pancake breakfast was born. Word quickly spread, and the breakfasts soon welcomed people from across Thunder Bay.
Today, proceeds support Hilldale’s ministries. Jämsä hopes that future donations from the Bay Street Boys account will also help the Dew Drop Inn, a local organization that has provided free meals to people in need for more than 45 years.
Preserving community one Monday at a time
Volunteer Tuisku believes the breakfast serves a purpose far beyond food. “It’s the camaraderie and the hustle and bustle,” he said.
Looking around the crowded hall, Tuisku said the breakfast has taken on an even greater responsibility as Bay Street has lost many of its Finnish businesses and longtime gathering places. “I think there’s a lot of goodwill here,” he said. “The main thing is preserving the Finnish community. Especially with the loss of Bay Street.”
For Groombridge, preserving traditions has become increasingly important as Thunder Bay’s Finnish community grows older. “There’s mostly Finnish spoken here, so that’s really important to me,” she said. She values that the breakfast happens every week rather than as a once-a-year fundraiser. “It’s weekly. A lot of fundraisers are not.” When asked why the tradition deserves to continue, her answer carried a quiet urgency. “All our Finnish traditions are dying off,” she said. “Thunder Bay has a hundred-year history.”
Longtime attendee Barbara Jarvela summed it up simply: “This is where we meet everybody.”
A seat at every table
For retired Hilldale pastor Jari Lahtinen, the breakfast has become something much larger than a fundraiser. “This is a wonderful community event,” he said. “It gathers people from all over the place and from different churches too.”
People linger over coffee long after their plates have been cleared, and there is never a rush to leave. That welcoming spirit extends beyond the Finnish community itself. Lahtinen smiled as he introduced his friends from Vietnam, Quoc Huong and Thien Phűc, who have become regulars at the breakfast. Week after week, they return alongside lifelong Finnish families, drawn by the same welcoming atmosphere that has made Monday mornings at Hillside special.
A tradition that reaches beyond Thunder Bay
Among Monday’s guests were Katrina Leukuma Vaara of Pequot Lakes, Minnesota, and Jodi Hyrkas Lawson of Calumet, Michigan. The pair travelled to reconnect with friends, enjoy Thunder Bay’s Finnish traditions, breakfast at Hilldale, and of course, the city’s famous saunas.
Their visit reflected something many regulars already know. Hilldale’s breakfast has become more than a local tradition. It has become a destination for people looking to experience the warmth and hospitality that have long defined Thunder Bay’s Finnish community.
Yet every Monday morning offers proof that those traditions are still alive. They live on in volunteers arriving before sunrise, recipes passed between generations, and conversations shared in both Finnish and English.
As the morning winds down, guests linger over one last cup of coffee before promising to see one another again the following Monday.
Years after Finlandia closed its doors, Hilldale has become exactly what Kari Jämsä hoped it would be: a gathering place for old friends, newcomers, and everyone in between.
Hilldale’s Monday breakfast also became part of a cross-Canada charity ride this summer. Read more about Andrew and Judah Turnbull’s visit here.
