HS Espoo | The traditional sight disappears on the border of Helsinki and Espoo – Horses still race around their tracks, but spectators have lost their way

Vermon Wednesday Foods are the circles concept. But why on earth does anyone go to the raves on a dark night at the end of the year when they can watch the departures on the couch at home and play the truth online? You have to go to clear it at the Finnish main office in Espoo, right on the border with Helsinki.

The bright lights of Vermo flicker from afar – whether they came from Pitäjänmäki or Perkka. The temperature is zero in the evening. Goes to the frosty side when the ninth departure of the evening starts at 8:50 p.m.

“Not everyone starts right away because the last six departures of the evening will be a Toto 65 game,” Vermo CEO Heikki Häyhä says.

Poor is promised to share basic information about Vermo. He was hired from outside the food world as CEO of the Vermo Arena just over a year ago. Häyhä previously worked in Linnanmäki and as the chief operating officer of the Helsinki-based sea pool Allas Sea Pool. Now he is expected to come up with ideas on how to make raves an experience even for people who have never been to raves.

To put it bluntly, the customer needs to get some added value from being there. It means services. Poor advertises Vermon restaurants. Since betting is part of the rave, there is guidance for beginners.

“At the beginning of the year, we will start exciting tandem cart rides. Clients get to experience what trotting guidance feels like. An experienced instructor is behind and makes sure everything works, ”Häyhä markets a new temptation.

Poor as a child he sometimes went to the rave with his father. The family lived near Vermo in Pajamäki, Helsinki.

During the poor school years, the trotting was in full force, unlike now.

“Between 3,000 and 3,500 spectators gathered in Vermo every Wednesday in the 1980s and 1990s. Before Korona, there were 400–500 visitors, ”Häyhä says of the severe loss of audience.

At times, the feeds have been on hiatus due to the pandemic. At the end of November, there were about 250 visitors. The number of digital customers, on the other hand, has grown significantly.

For the winter, families with children are attracted to Vermoon’s Winter Wonderland, which has winter activities and pony rides, for example.

Vermon According to Häyhä, the average visitor is a man aged 45–70. Let’s look around. The message of the poor seems plausible. Of course there are also women and a few young adults.

There is a group of three men in the large hall downstairs. The oldest man has a cap that says, “Elian Web”.

“The warm-blooded Elian Web was born in my son’s stable in Kurika and is now competing in Sweden. It is among the five most earned horses born in Finland, ” Matti Rahko says proudly.

80 years old Rahko says that he has been in the raves since 1964. Growing up in Ostrobothnia, Rahko started horse racing in Seinäjoki and Vaasa.

“I drove furniture from Ostrobothnia and scheduled my drive so that I could get to the raves in different places for the evening. For 15 years I also drove furniture to Sweden and I always went there. ”

When Rahko moved to the metropolitan area, Vermo became a local track. He also drove a Vermo bus for a long time. In the table party Juhani Piekkala regrets that there is no longer transportation to Vermoo.

“It’s a little tricky to come here if you don’t come with your own car.”

Third the man of the party is Ville Mäkinen. Mäkinen also has its roots in Ostrobothnia, Jalasjärvi. He has been raving regularly for 40 years.

The men think the atmosphere on the ground is completely different than at home. The atmosphere also includes a debate about horses and handlers.

According to Mäkinen, it is especially great to be in the summer.

“For example, the summer huts in Loviisa have a great atmosphere.”

They also bet, usually for just a few euros.

Has there ever been a really big pot?

Rahko answers that it is not worth writing, but in 1981 he won FIM 15,000 in the Seinäjoki ravine, or about 2,500 euros. We note that the profit has been so long that whatever it is no longer a secret.

window next to a middle aged woman looking at the starting list. She is Johanna Wikström, which represents exactly the kind of viewers you want to add to Vermoon.

Wikström, who lives in Vuosaari, Helsinki, had no nutritional background when he left for Vermo, attracted by his wife, more than seven years ago. The spouse was excited about the rave with the work crew.

The world of food would suck Wikström completely. Not only did he start going to the raves but he completed elementary and basic driving exams at the Vermo Riding School.

“We now also have two partner horses. They are not competing today. ”

Wikström interested in monitoring the development of horses. He thought the animals could be advertised as rock stars. Of course, the superstars of the food world are already known. The interiors of Vermo include, for example, the certificates received by Mascate Match: Horse of the Year 2020 and Warmblood 2020.

“The team behind the horses and the stories would be introduced. Even in a sports box, there is usually only brief news that it and that horse won. It doesn’t attract new people to the sport. ”

Every Wednesday there are an average of 110 horses on the track with a backdrop, so there would be enough stories.

There are a few dozen people outside. Some come out from the inside when the new start starts, and go back inside again.

Outside you can also sit in the car park, ie you can drive from the gate near the track. There are only three cars in the car show tonight. One of them sits in the front seat Okki Nyman.

“Our horse is running today. Ninth start and number five: True Devotion, ”says Nyman.

In Romani culture, feeds are an integral part.

“We are born into a tragic atmosphere. It’s always exciting, of course, when your own horse is running. Raves are also fascinated by the fact that there may always be someone special and better in the horses, ”says Nyman.

According to Nyman, the feeds are no longer the same.

“Life is gone. The horses just run, nothing more. There is no kind of buzz like before, when there were a lot of people watching. ”

Outside and downstairs there are few people where there should be 250 spectators. So up the stairs and into the restaurant auditorium. There are people here eating and watching raves all over the wall window.

CEO Häyhä has said that theme nights are one way to attract new visitors. There is an American evening, a French evening and women’s food, among other things.

A French evening will be held on January 29, when Paris will host France’s largest trotting competition, the Prix d’Amérique. In Vermo you can watch the competition and the on-site trotting night. The dining is French themed. In the American evening, there are miles of trips the American way. The women’s restaurant features jewelery and perfume shows and sparkling wine.

At the top row of the restaurant table sits two men well known in the trotting circles. The other is the former CEO of Hippos, the central organization for equestrian sports Vesa Mäkinen and another food supplier Toni Sarkama. Nor do they have any stone of wisdom in making raves an experience for the general public.

“Maybe you could think about the length of the evening. You can go for four hours from a weekday evening. It’s a long time after work, ”Sarkama ponders.

Let’s go still in the stable area. Vermo has a stable with 93 horses from top coaches.

Against walking Jyrki Ojanen, Harri Peipinen and Mikko Salminen. They present themselves as Vermo originals. Ojanen, who owns the best warm-blooded Willow Bride in Finland, has also been a driving force at the Pori racecourse. Salminen’s father set up a racetrack in Forssa, and Peipinen’s father was the main sender when the trotters moved from Käpylo to Vermont.

“Ravens are needed in the universe only to entertain the people. There were already raves during the Roman Empire, ”Ojanen begins.

For him, the excitement of betting brings its own addition to the raves. At the same time, we eat medicinal sausage, drink beer and talk about the important things of the day. Nutrition is a social event.

According to Ojanen, food has to compete with all other hobbies.

“Would you go to the movies or the puddle match or would you go to the raves?”

Vermo is trying to keep up with the race so that more and more people are responding.

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