Järvenpään kaupunki
Coat of Arms Location
Founded	1951 (gained city rights in 1967)
Province	Southern Finland
Region	Uusimaa
Sub-region	Helsinki
Area - of which land - Rank	39.88 km² 37.46 km² ranked 439th
Population - Density - Change - Rank	37,505(2005) 940.45 inh./km² + 0.6% ranked 20th
Urbanisation	98.6%
Unemployment	6.8 %
Official languages	Finnish
City Manager	Erkki Kukkonen
Home page	http://www.jarvenpaa.fi/

Järvenpää (Träskända in Swedish) is a town and municipality of Finland.

History

Järvenpää was separated from its parent community Tuusula in 1951. Järvenpää was granted the status of a market town (kauppala) after the separation. Neighbouring districts Kellokoski and Nummenkylä were not added to the municipality of Järvenpää and the controversy over the issue still raises blood pressure fifty years later. In the event, Kellokoski remained part of the municipality of Tuusula. Järvenpää was granted full legal town (kaupunki) status in 1967.

Geography

Järvenpää is located on the Helsinki-Riihimäki railway track, some 37 kilometers north of Helsinki. Neighbouring cities are Tuusula, Sipoo and Mäntsälä. People also refer to Kerava as Järvenpää's neighbour, even though they do not technically share a border, thanks to the one kilometre-wide land area that belongs to Tuusula.

Traffic

The railroad goes through the city centre. In addition to the main railway station, there are Kyrölä, Saunakallio, Haarajoki and Purola railway stations.

The trip to Helsinki takes about half an hour, whether by rail or road, and to the airport of Helsinki-Vantaa about 20 minutes. Train connections to the capital are good. Uusimaa's trains leave the main station twice an hour (xx:12 and xx:41), and from other stations once an hour.

Culture

Järvenpää is widely known as the location of Ainola, the home of the composer Jean Sibelius. It is sited about two kilometers south of the city centre. The composer moved with his family to the cottage designed by Lars Sonck on September 24, 1904, and he lived there until his death in 1957. Ainola is open for visitors in the summer months as the "museum of Sibelius".

Juhani Aho moved with his wife Venny Soldan-Brofeldt to Järvenpää in 1897. They lived for 14 years in a villa, called Vårbacka, next to the shore of Tuusulanjärvi. The villa was later called Ahola.

Events

Events are held in the Järvenpää-talo throughout the year: concerts, theatre and art-shows. The favorite-place of children is Pikku-Aino's home, where children can play, make shows and so on.

There is a musical event, which is arranged every year, called Puistoblues. "Blues-week" starts from the "Blues street" of the city centre, and concerts and informal sessions are arranged in bars and restaurants. The main concert is at the end of Blues-week, and is arranged in Vanhankylänniemi on the Saturday.

Neighbourhoods

Järvenpää is divided into 25 neighbourhoods. The locations of individual neighbourhoods are shown below.

1. Wärtsilä 2. Nummenkylä 3. Pietilä 4. Haarajoki 5. Jamppa 6. Peltola 7. Isokytö 8. Mylly 9. Saunakallio 10. Sorto 11. Pajala 12. Loutti 13. Pöytäalho 14. Terhola 15. Satumetsä 16. Mikonkorpi 17. Kaakkola 18. Keskus 19. Kinnari (Järvenpää) 20. Satukallio 21. Vanhakylä 22. Lepola 23. Kyrölä 24. Terioja 25. Ristinummi

Management

Järvenpää belongs to Uudenmaan vaalipiiri (electoral district of Uusimaa) and its town council has 51 councillors. The town council's political groups are Suomen Sosialidemokraattinen Puolue (The Social Democratic Party of Finland) (14 councils), Kokoomus (The National Coalition Party) (13), Järvenpää 2000 Plus (7), Keskusta (The Centre Party) (7), Vihreä liitto (The Green League) (4), Vasemmistoliitto (The Left Alliance) (3), Kristillisdemokraatit (Christian Democrats) (1), Suomen kommunistinen puolue (Communist Party of Finland) (1) ja Liberaalit (Liberals) (1). The president of the council is Ari Åberg (Kokoomus).

Sister cities

• Vác, Hungary
• Rødovre, Denmark
• Lørenskog, Norway
• Täby, Sweden
• Jõgeva County, Estonia
• Volkhov, Russia
• Buchholz in der Nordheide, Germany
• Pasadena, California, USA
• Ho, Ghana

External links

• Official site
• Puistoblues festival