Lights in Helsinki at night

At half past eight in the evening, you can still borrow a basketball from Central Library Oodi. The library will close in half an hour. The ball must be returned.

“Hanging out, making friends. I’d rather be here than at home, staring at my phone and feeling depressed,” says 16-year-old Elias, who hangs out at Oodi almost every night.

“With your friends, that’s important,” adds Anki Herlin, an outreach youth worker.

Herlin has been working with young people for almost 30 years. Tonight, she is working with youth worker Kalle Fagerholm. Outreach youth work is always carried out in pairs.

Over the course of the evening, the youth workers talk with, listen to and help young people. Many of these interactions are positive, including those in Oodi’s courtyard today. The young people are sober. They are having fun with each other.

“However, excessive actions prompted by the summer holiday spirit, intoxicants, fights and sexual violence are more prevalent on summer nights,” says Herlin.

Youth workers cooperate with the police, child welfare services and organisations, among others. They guide young people and make sure that they leave the streets and go to a safe place, such as their home or a shelter. They also look up contact information and help young people in their daily lives.

Where do you find young people?

“You learn that through intuition and experience. At shopping centres, parks and beaches,” says Fagerholm.

Part of an age-old chain

In the magical twilight after midnight, the city has a beat that you can sense when you land on the quay at the Market Square. This is how Santeri Velin, captain of the Suomenlinna ferry, feels.

“There has been some type of transport service available to Suomenlinna since the 18th century. The Suokki ferry has been in use since the Helsinki 1952 Summer Olympics. This is part of an age-old chain,” he describes.

The ferry transports tourists, day visitors and residents of Suomenlinna alike. In the summer, you also see unhoused people and those with nowhere to go.

When you go out to the sea, your soul rests. It calms you down, even if you’re navigating in rough weather conditions.

“When you go out to the sea, your soul rests. It calms you down, even if you’re navigating in rough weather conditions.”

Navigational buoys guide navigation in all types of weather. When it is dark or foggy outside, you also use radar. The ferry’s final departure from the Market Square each day is at two in the morning. A deliverer of the Helsingin Sanomat newspaper usually also comes along on this 20-minute trip on the sea. After that, the ferry takes the longest break during its night shift, lasting around three hours. This also gives the crew time to sleep.

The quiet hours are a time for repairs

At two in the morning, the beat of the city centre slows down. There is a quiet period that lasts until five in the morning, during which time repairs are carried out on roadways and pedestrian and cycling routes. This work is done when there are few road users.

Last summer, we were doing crack sealing on Eerikinkatu. There was a certain charm to it, with the sun rising from behind the buildings at four in the morning.

Senior Supervisor Juha Ovaska from Helsinki City Construction Services (Stara) says that working days in the summer can stretch to 12 hours when the maintenance crew replace worn road markings and repair cracks.

Stara is responsible for almost half of Helsinki’s road network. The work responsibilities may include things such as repairing a crack in a road with crack sealing, which involves pouring a hot sealant, heated to around 200 °C, into the crack and sealing the road. The crew often use an excavator and heat the sealant on site in a pot designed for this purpose.

“Last summer, we were doing crack sealing on Eerikinkatu. There was a certain charm to it, with the sun rising from behind the buildings at four in the morning.”