One group working behind the scenes to make Ilosaari Rock function is the reserve staff. When they’re called in to perform a job it means that all other means has been used and that the end of the world is swiftly approaching. They are simply there where help is needed, ready for anything, and prepared to put their wide range of skills to work.

One member of this willing reserve is Eve Pietarinen, who gives her skills to ensure the smooth running of things today, Sunday. You can usually find Pietarinen right near the front gate or at information sites. There she waits with one finger on the trigger, one the edge of springing into action. The jobs she’s expected to perform are simple to name: everything. Pietarinen could just as easily get called to help in the drink-serving areas as to check wristbands at the entrances. Her contribution is irreplaceably important as the festival is composed of ever smaller and smaller area, each with its own task.

Pietarinen names problems with wristband exchange as one of her most challenging tasks. People, and festivalgoers in particular, are over time able to come out with more unbelievable excuses, I mean reasons, to explain where their wristband, ticket stub, or, in the worst cases, whole ticket, ended up. Some have even tried to use the age-old “my dog ate it” excuse, Pietarinen admits. One of her best encounters with a terrible explanation happens last year at Ilosaari Rock, when two worried young girls approached reserve staffmember Pietarinen. The girls in questions claimed to be barefooted Turks, despite the fact that they spoke with easily identifiable North Karelian accents. This times it appears that their tickets were accidentally left of the train coming to Joensuu, which greatly annoyed these “Turks.” This encounter reaches it peaks as the girls’ eyes brimmed with tears, trying to sway Pietarinen. No surprise, it didn’t work.

Text: Siiriliina Riikonen
Translation: Matti Erpestad

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