{"id":118,"date":"2019-02-20T13:29:22","date_gmt":"2019-02-20T11:29:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/velhonkota.fi\/?page_id=118"},"modified":"2019-03-04T14:58:16","modified_gmt":"2019-03-04T12:58:16","slug":"history","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/velhonkota.fi\/en\/history\/","title":{"rendered":"History"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Story behind Velhon Kota of Yll\u00e4s told by Kirsti and\nKalervo Uuttu.<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

It was on the first of May in 1985 when Kirsti and\nUuttu-Kalle were cross-country skiing and came to check the land as they were\ndreaming of own Lappish Kota. The father of Kirsti, Einari, had a Kota which\nwas built after the wars;  it was located close to the current Kota.\nKirsti and Uuttu-Kalle skied and they found a good spot close to the small\nstream; at the same place Karuliina, from Luosu, had had her tar making spot,\nwhere she had taken the barrels for sale along the stream. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A piece of land got new owners and Kirsi and\nUuttu-Kalle started to build the Kota in November. The fire place was built\nfirst then the rest of the kota around the fire place; relatives helped to\ndecorate the indoors. Uuttu-Kalle had thought that you do not need the\npermission for building a Lappish Kota but the local authorities came to ask\nfor the permission, at which point they applied.  Between February and\nMarch in 1986  the Kota was opened and was open till first of May. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Initially, the water was taken from the stream but a\nWell was built after advise from the local health authorities. In the beginning\nthe skiing track followed a road created by Einari which Kirsti and Uuttu-Kalle\ncleaned the track themselves using a snowmobile. Later the track network got\nbigger and more developed thanks to plans by Tapio Niittyrant and now is\ncleaned using bigger machines than snowmobiles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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To start with a small kitchen was located by the fire\nplace, where fresh coffee could be brewed and sausages cooked over the fire.\nDoughnuts were made at home, driven by car from Helukka to Sivulantie, then\nsnowmobile to the Kota.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After the first few years, when there was more and\nmore customers, a new kitchen was built. Buns and cakes were still baked but\nthen sandwiches were added to the menu in 1992 when Satu and Jari started to\nrun the business. Most of the clients stayed over in the main house. Kirsti\nremembers a time when she had to serve breakfast for customers in the morning\njust before heading to school. <\/p>\n\n\n