The village of Kolkku in brief

Location

The village is located in the North-East corner of the community of Viitasaari, and shares borderline with Pihtipudas and Keitele. The distance to the central of the town of Viitasaari is about 36km - Kolkku is one of the most outlying and most sparsely populated villages in the Central Finland.

History

The history of the village dates back to the end of the 18th century, when the first families settled down on the shores of lake Kolkku. Swamps and forests were cleared and ditched to start the farming of the land. Roads to nearby neighbour villages were built. The village started to grow.

During the Second World War, nearly all men of the village were mobilized to fight in the Winter War and Continual War against Russia. Many brave men were lost. Times were very tough at the home front, too. Although the village itself was spared of military conficts (due to its distant location from the front lines), the war had a heavy impact on the village and on the lives of the villagers.

The golden years of the village were in the 60's and 70's. During those decades the village was very lively, and provided a home for many. Unfortunaly, the majority of the young people moved to the city in the 70's, as was the trend those days, and the village diminished in just a few decades.

Through the years, the most important achievements of the village are without doubt the arranging of the own school building and building of the road connection from Kumpumäki to the border of the community of Pihtipudas.

People

Currently (2006) the village has somewhat 26 house holds, and population around 60. On summer time the village blooms up to 120 inhabitants for the summer holiday season. Many former villagers have their summer cottages by the lake Kolkku.

Economy

From the beginning to the present day, the ecomony of the village has been mainly based on agriculture and forestry. However, the village also has quite a few etrepreneurs (green housing, machinery rental and repairing business, camping/accommondation/winderness trekking, etc.). Also, some of the village people are employed outside the village (mainly in the town of Viitasaari).