Cedar and Stone Nordic Sauna
Sauna
The distinctive smell of cedar wood in a hot, wood-fired sauna locked into the memory banks of Justin Juntunen at an early age, “when I was maybe 3 years old.”
Growing up in Esko near Duluth, Justin says saunas were “an essential in our family, in our culture,” a Finnish tradition that was handed down through the generations.
Justin carries on that family tradition in a big way now as founder and CEO of Duluth-based Cedar and Stone Nordic Sauna, which designs, builds and sells Nordic saunas. The company has seen steady growth since opening its doors in early 2020, as saunas ride the megatrend of wellness and healthy living. Saunas are hot these days, in more ways than one.
That health and well-being trend fits nicely with Justin’s vision; he considers Cedar and Stone a “stress-relief company,” not a sauna company.
“All we do every day is destroy people’s anxiety … how we do that is through the old
Nordic practice of sauna … hot, cold, rest, re-hydrate, repeat … and sauna is a verb, not just a place. You sauna!”
You, also, according to Finns, should pronounce it as “sow-nah.”
Saunas have long been a mainstay of Finnish immigrants and their descendants who settled throughout the Lake Superior region. So much so, that, among Finns, the area is known as the Sauna Belt, says Jim Kurtti, honorary consul of Finland for Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, who lives in Painesdale. He explains that the belt runs from Thunder Bay in Canada, down into Minnesota’s Iron Range north of Duluth, through the northern edge of Wisconsin and across Michigan’s Upper Peninsula and the Keweenaw Peninsula.
In Thunder Bay, saunas are “a huge deal … and other cultures here have embraced the Finnish sauna,” says Diana Milton, owner of Finnport, a Finnish gift store in Thunder Bay. Most homes, apartment buildings and nearby cabins (“camps” to Northern Ontarians) all seem to have saunas, Diana says.
Of course, as Jorma Halonen points out, the “sweating tradition isn’t only Finnish.” Jorma, a retired resident of Thunder Bay who is active with the local historical society, explains, “Indigenous people have their sweat lodges, Turks have the Turkish Hammam, Russians have the banja and so on.”
Sauna builders thrive in the Big Lake region. In the Upper Peninsula alone there are barrel, stand-alone and in-house contractors such as The Sauna Guys in Baraga (who lay claim to being the “original” barrel sauna builders); Keweenaw Saunas in Chassell and Copper Country Sauna in Atlantic Mine, just to name a very few. (You likely can find at least a couple sauna builders in your nearby Big Lake neighborhood.)
The Finnish sauna tradition started in public or community bath facilities, explained Justin of Cedar and Stone. In fact, in the 1880s and 1890s, a large Finnish bathhouse was located on Duluth’s waterfront in an area called Finntown, in what is now the Canal Park area, according to the 2012 book Lost Duluth, by Tony Dierckins and Maryanne C. Norton.
But, eventually, when Finns got jobs, they bought farms and houses and lake cabins, and the sauna moved into people’s backyards and basements.
“So, people have grown up only knowing sauna as a private experience at the cabin during the summer, or in the basement, or a poor-quality version at a hotel or gym,” Justin says.
Now, those seeking out that public or communal experience have triggered a resurgence of the community sauna. Several regional resorts and hotels even feature them.
Other Finnish public saunas in the Big Lake’s region have been around a long time, such as the 108-year-old Ely Steam Sauna in Ely, and Kangas Sauna in Thunder Bay, which has been open since 1967 and connects to a café: “Come for the sauna, stay for the pancakes!”
As for Justin of Cedar and Stone, he plans to launch “North America’s first floating sauna” this summer in Duluth’s harbor, a concept he first experienced when he and his wife visited Finland and tried out a floating sauna on the Baltic Sea.
Learn more about Finnish saunas at FinnFest USA July 26-30 in Duluth and celebrate National Sauna Day on June 10. – Angelo Gentile