Tampere cuts Santalahti event park fee to attract organisers
Tuesday 13th October 2026 on 15:01 in
Finland
Tampere will cut the daily permit fee for events at Santalahti event park to 40 euros in summer 2027, hoping to draw more organisers to the underused venue, Yle reports.
The park has been ready for events since 2022 and can host up to 25,000 people across more than 60,000 square metres. So far, it has held just one major event: the Radio Nova festival in summer 2025.
The city’s permit fee is charged for use of the land. Organising larger festivals at Santalahti has previously cost thousands of euros. The new rate will apply to all events for each day the park is used. City attraction and advocacy director Anna-Kaisa Heinämäki made the decision last week.
The city says the lower fee is intended to encourage organisers to consider Santalahti, as some established event venues will become temporarily or permanently unavailable. The Hakametsä ice hall area will leave the events calendar as a sports campus is built there, while Hämeenpuisto and Eteläpuisto are also due for renovations.
Santalahti’s readiness for events was delayed by two years from the original 2020 target because of the Covid pandemic and work to protect and fence off a gas pipeline. The first event was held there in 2024. Extremefest sold a couple of thousand tickets, well short of its 7,000 target.
The Radio Nova festival drew 14,000 people over two days in 2025, below the city’s target of at least 25,000. No large public events were held at the park the following summer. A midsummer event held there in 2025 was not repeated the next year.
Heinämäki said the fee is only one factor in making an event successful. She pointed to the park’s location about three kilometres from the city centre and possible concerns about windy conditions by Lake Näsijärvi. A tram stop is now next to the park, but years of construction in Santalahti may also have affected how people view its accessibility and appeal.
Event permit fees elsewhere in Tampere generally range from 40 euros to several thousand, depending on an event’s size and nature. Small events such as outdoor exercise classes pay the minimum fee. The city charged Extremefest 3,000 euros, excluding VAT, to use Santalahti.