FESTIVAL REPORT: Kosmos Festival 2026
Kosmos Festival, AKA my favorite festival, almost didn’t happen for me in 2026. Indeed, I wasn’t certain I’d even be coming this year until a week or two before the event. Fortunately, the stars aligned enough to allow me to make a day trip out to the festival on Friday, July 10th, 2026, so I could recharge my soul in the gathering of electronic tribes once more.
Read the report from 2023 here!
Read the report from 2024 here!
Read the report from 2025 here!
A Brief Preamble
After Kosmos Festival in 2025, most of the people that I hang out with at the festival said the same thing: “I need a break next year.” While I understand the sentiment, I also don’t “get” it. You see, Kosmos feels like a place I have searched for my entire life. I am a wanderer, seeking community, art, and beauty, and Kosmos is a place of art, music, and kindness. If you lose something, someone will return it. If you need help, someone will help you. If you want to just have a pleasant chat, sit your ass down somewhere and give it 15 minutes—someone will pop out of the woods and join you. While several days of camping in a very loud, busy place can obviously be a lot, it’s also the place where I feel like my soul gets a little factory reset. Every time I come home, I feel like I finally understand what the Nummirock-goers refer to as “PND” or Post-Nummirock Depression. I, too, get Post-Kosmos Depression… insofar as I feel like I want my every day to be like Kosmos, and every time I leave the festival, I need to rethink my life. In a good way. Kosmos truly feels like a strange, liminal space where you can shed the shackles of capitalism and modern life for a few days and live truly and blissfully in the moment, and afterwards, I enter a space of ponderance about how to make my life more attuned to me and my health and longevity.
As such, I committed to coming for one day, all by myself. Or at least, by myself insofar as my date was someone who was supposed to come to Kosmos with me in 2022, but got sick and couldn’t make it, and then passed away in 2023. This felt like the right year to make up for that loss… as best as I could, at least.
Arriving
Prior to this year, I’ve always arrived at Kosmos on the Thursday before the event starts because I like to get a good camping spot before the buses arrive and the masses take over. This year was an interesting change of pace because everything I needed (raincoat, stool for the circus, emergency clothes) were all in my backpack. I had to take my partner to work before I could leave, so I was on the road to the festival before 16.00 and was arriving at the same time as some of the latecomers who may have still needed to go to work on Friday. This was good, because I’ve never needed to get my wristband so late and I had no idea how long people man the booth at the entrance. Turns out there was no concern there. There was some confusion at first—apparently I should have been issued a QR code, but they were able to sort it out pretty quickly. It was a little unnerving at first though, since I had no idea what was going on or what the problem was without context, and I would have been quite disappointed to have driven all the way out there only to be turned around at the gate. I’m grateful that did not happen.
What was first and foremost interesting this time was that the parking area had moved. If I were to guess the reason, it might be twofold: cattle graze in the parking area and they might have been rotating the fields this year, but also, last year there were a lot of people getting stuck in the mud. This has been a very consistent year with rain and sun on-and-off, and this new parking area was on much higher ground—I had no fear whatsoever of getting stuck after parking, which is good because we, too, were a little stuck last year when we left. Also, this new area was blessedly closer to the campground, with the path popping out at the far end of the campsite, meaning that the gear hauling distance was significantly reduced. I forgot to wrap my toes (AGAIN) this year, so my blisters were pleased that I wasn’t walking what seemed like a full kilometer at the end of the night.
Of note, this new setup also appeared to fix the unfairness wherein the first people to arrive inherently get the absolute worst parking spots! Color me delighted to feel like I deserved my last-minute distant spot this time.
There were two areas, one for cars and one for campers, but there didn’t seem to be a lot of people using the caravan space this year, so it was similarly pretty full of cars. I left at about 2.15 in the morning and the caravan/extra parking side was really full, though I do think there was still room, so if they’re able to do it this way in the future, that’d be great. I fully endorse this upgrade.
The Campsite
Campsite coffee shop
Naturally, I didn’t pay quite as much attention to the campground this year, since I wasn’t using it, but it seemed to be as per usual. The one space near the entrance, which some people have attempted to make into a private area in the past seems to have been roped off this year, though people were still camping inside of it. The tape might have just been to show that this is the area where you’re allowed to camp, and there didn’t seem to be any contentious people policing who gets to set up there this time, so that was nice.
The Festival Itself
Worth mentioning that last year, I had pondered the idea of day tickets for the festival, for us old fogies who can’t handle camping for 4 days and I was surprised that the festival organizers actually explained the reason for that: the festival does have a rather specific vibe that relies on attendees to have a certain attitude, which is really not conducive for “tourists.” And you know what? That’s extremely valid. As much as it would be wonderful to be able to bring my partner with me without him having to pay several hundreds of euros for only one day, I do think it’s much more important to preserve the atmosphere and community of the event. Goodness knows that I have finally, as of this year, become completely disillusioned with what has become of the deeply over-crowded Tuska Festival. I shan’t have my beloved Kosmos ruined by the mainstream too, if I can help it.
Now, since I was only coming for the better part of an afternoon and evening this year, I had to have a bit more of a gameplan than usual. Traditionally, when the gates open, we always do a preliminary walk-around to see as much of the area during the day as possible, so this was also my modus operandi this year. I went immediately to the info booth to get a shirt because I liked the art on it (though I admit that I really dislike the style of tank top they use… it’s really masculine and while normally I’m all for that, it makes me look blocky and it’s very unflattering). Admittedly, I’ve seen some people wearing Kosmos merch that predates my time at the festival… really cool hoodies and that sort of thing. As a dirty ol’ merch slinger myself, I’d love to see them have a bit more variety in their merch because some of those old hoodies are really awesome and I’m very jealous of them.
Of note, before I get started… I’m not sure who was playing on either Spacetime or Asteroid when I arrived, but it was a very bizarre feeling to arrive at Kosmos at a time when it aurally it sounded like a metal festival, haha. Not quite what I was expecting (though it’s not like I’ve never heard metal here before, it was just an unexpected greeting).
As is traditional, I started with the art path:
This year’s featured artists in the gallery were Terhi Adler, Tatu Hiltunen, Silver Kontus, Holi Art, and Viivi Esmerelda.
After that, I believe I took the path towards Spacetime and popped out by Asteroid, went around the LOVE sign to Gravity, down through the path to Vortex, and through the woods.
Vendors & Food
Was I tempted to get a new version (AKA differently colored) of the fae hoodie that I got from Fairy Factory 2-3 years ago at Kosmos because I like it so much? Absolutely, but I restrained myself (/they were closed at the end of the night when I would have wanted to go back to get it). Love that shop though and I’m glad that it seems to be there every year. The selection of shops this year did seem to be a bit scant, which was a bit of a shame, though most, if not all present did seem familiar.
The food selection, however, had changed up a bit once more, including but not limited to the usual Viet-Thai place with spring rolls and fried rice, Penalty Burger, Rihiyaki Japanese food, the same hot dog joint from last year (I think?) called Hodarikoju, Lebanese shwarma, a steampunk-looking coffee place (that was fun, I wish I drank coffee), and the CBD place that I keep meaning to get something from and keep consistently forgetting to return to (boo me, but in my defense, they do tend to close pretty early). The one new interesting place was a pizza joint. Now, please allow me to go on a little rant here.
Finland needs to learn about pizza slices! Full stop. Don’t get me wrong, by all means have the option of buying a whole pizza, that’s fine and dandy. But the only place I’m even aware of in Finland that you can pop into and get a slice is the Pizza Hut in downtown Helsinki by Kamppi mall, and I can only assure you that this was possible in 2009. In 2025, I went to the US with my friend and almost every other day we popped by a pizza joint that sold large pizza slices for all of $3 and I want that to be an option in Finland, but more than that, I want it to be an option at festivals. Nothing would have pleased me more than, at 1.30 when I was winding down and getting ready to leave, grabbing a slice of ‘za for the road. But under no circumstances did I want to eat an entire pizza as a driving snack. That’s a mess and a catastrophe waiting to happen, knowing me. And if I can’t finish the pizza while I’m at the festival, what am I gonna do with it? I didn’t have a tent to put it in (also, as a Canadian woodsman, leaving pizzas in tents feels awful because bears will come into your tent, though fortunately that is not an issue at Kosmos). Pizza slices, please! You will get all of my coins!
I had to settle for a hot dog once I realized I couldn’t get a single slice, and while I do like the taste of the sausages Hodarikoju sells, the proportions are a bit uncomfortable, meaning that I either need to eat the meat tips sticking out the ends, or then I’m getting a massive mouthful of blue cheese and marinated red onion and BUN and can’t taste the (mild) sausage anymore (I have baby-mouth, so I can’t get the spicier version). I feel like it would have made more sense to cut the dog in half just for the sake of proportions. I also had a burger from Penalty towards the beginning of the circus, which was perfectly fine.
I also feel like there were more bars this year. Don’t quote me on that because I never drink at Kosmos, so by default I tend to ignore bars, but a few times I was wandering around thinking, “has Asteroid stage always had a bar? Was there always a kiosk over here in the woods?” I have no idea if there were more this year or if I just noticed more, but I was impressed by the options.
Healing Spaces
This was also new. I mean, not broadly, there are always healing spaces at Kosmos, but this year I felt like there were more than usual. I wondered, in passing, if that was a consideration brought on by the state of the world, or was it by request.
Nevertheless, when you go from the Oasis down the art path, you usually pop out in a little area that has, before this year, had things like masseuse tents and maybe some über-organic psychedelic shirts that are far beyond my budget. This year, all of that was gone. In its place was a pleasant Oasis-like rest area with a book that allowed attendees to reserve “healing cottages.” Three small (truly, something like 3x6m) wooden cottages had been erected. I didn’t check them out, but I loved that they were there.
Music & Performances
Everyone should know by now that I seldom know the names of any artists performing at Kosmos, and this year, since I had no idea if I would even be going, I didn’t look at the lineup at all. I didn’t want to find an artist of interest on Saturday and then lament not being able to see them. However, I did wander around and enjoy the music a fair bit.
After I had done my circuit looking at this year’s festival art, I immediately bumped into some friends that I’ve been trying to bump into for about 3 years by now, and I think maybe last year I saw them for about 15 minutes in passing. I went to hang out with them and they were on their way to Vortex to check out Talpa. As per usual, I’d never heard of this DJ but I really enjoyed their set. It was just right for the time of day, very danceable and fun.
I was surprised to see that Spinsane wasn’t around this year, which was a bit of a shame. They usually do their sets during the day so I probably would have missed them either way, but I’ve been coming since 2022ish and I think they’ve been here every year, so that was a surprise—I had thought they were a bit of a permanent fixture at this festival.
I think I caught a bit of Electrypnose at Spacetime at 18.30, which seemed groovy and mellow.
Also, after my stint dancing at Vortex, can I just say that I love the people of Kosmos: Disco Jesus, Kosmos Gandalf, Safety Demon, Cosmic Jellyfish, and literally anyone who fits the description of “psychedelic butterfly,” of which I saw at least four people (also, shout-out to those of you who can pull off those psychedelic bodysuits because you all look amazing).
Talpa’s set was around 19-20.30 and I stayed long enough to see GROUCH and chuckled at their Finnish pronunciation during his intro. He mentioned that a tent in the camping area had turned into a portal to a cosmic kebab shop and I was quite thoroughly amused.
It’s also fun the way I discover something new that enhances a psychedelic dance party each year. I saw some cool arm ribbons that worked like poi, and these spandex-looking psychedelic pieces of art in little hoop frames that people were spinning on their fingers, and, naturally, light sabers.
Over at Spacetime, I happened upon Kryptine & Mocci who had some good zone-out beats. Then, later in the night I came across what I believe was Squaremeat & Midiliitto’s 30th anniversary set. It was really upbeat and felt like they had the exact right energy to be playing at that hour. Conversely, Bent over at Spacetime seemed a little too chill/house-y for the party hour, as nice as they sounded.
Artwork
Probably my favorite part of the festival, which is why I’ve saved it for last (though, don’t I also say that about basically everything?). One of these years, I’m going to have to try to convince them to let me bring my photographer for a day (she surely wouldn’t stay the weekend) so I can actually get some decent photos of the circus, but if nothing else, I’m going to need to invest in a better camera.
Riikka Arte/AvaruusDisco’s is, of course, my favorite and having gotten to know her a bit over the years, I love hearing about her dreams and goals at the festival. She mentioned that she’s wanted to put the Labyrinth of Love in the birch grove, in the hopes that it would encourage more people to hang out there (it is always a bit skant) and this year she did it, and I think it was a rousing success! I saw a lot more people wandering around there and hanging out, and there was the added bonus that it wasn’t a “true” labyrinth, because that might have been a bit chaotic for some people, heh.
I didn’t see a lot from VV Machine/Mermaid Slaughterhouse this year, but I did see one familiar piece I think in the mystical woods across from Vortex, so I was glad to see them represented one way or the other.
Emmi-Riikka was once again doing some live painting by Vortex stage. I paused to watch her for a moment but didn’t want to disturb her. Maybe one of these years I’ll actually work up the courage to say hello (to a lot of the familiar faces, I suppose, not just the artists).
I was sure I had seen some of Konna’s work, but didn’t confirm it until after the festival. The freaky faces on the path to Spacetime reminded me of some of their previous artwork and it seems I was correct. This was especially fun at night when some of the Kupla Kopla folks were blowing bubbles around it, giving it an extra layer of delightful strangeness.
Silver Kontus was my new favorite in 2025, so I was delighted to see him return. He is the dream artist for my psychedelic children’s book series and I just love the things his mind makes. I was really enjoying his “Birch Please” print and was low-key wondering, if it’s still available by the end of the festival, if I could find the money to bring it home.
I also really enjoyed the work of Holi Art as well, who was my this-year new favorite, with some intricate designs that were gorgeous during the day and a whole new experience at night. If I could hire them to design some tiles for my house, believe me, I would!
Forest Stages
Naturally, I must talk about the festival stages again. Vortex and Spacetime, my two favorites, were both completely redone. A Ukrainian artist named Ihti Anderson was responsible for Vortex this year—my favorite deco there was in 2024, but 2026 was a very close second. Plus, Nox Felix have redesigned the DJ booth with a bunch of psychedelic flowers that were often spinning during the sets and… I’m in visual paradise. Gosh I love this place.
Spacetime, meanwhile… let’s just say that if I had a lot of disposable income, I would hire Kiva and the Skipper Alley Pirates to design a new grillikatos in my yard. This year there were these… leaf shield -type things that were full of lights and it was completely magical. It looked neat during the day but boy did it get gorgeous at night!
I’m not sure who was in charge of the shelter space there, generally, but I recall in 2025 people were a bit confused by it. It had formerly been a sort of half-dome where people could just chill and rest on some cushions, nap, etc., but last year they built an honestly gorgeous but less functional structure there, with a raised platform that sort of just made it harder to find a comfortable place to chill out. This year, they decorated it gorgeously and I suspect maybe made some changes to it because it seemed less odd/awkward than last year, at least at a glance.
Levitation Station was exceptionally well-dressed this year, as it always tends to be. The stage had some unusual faces and hands on it, with a webbing of cool fabrics up in the canopy and some familiar canvas pieces in the entrance. I’m always a bit sorry that the really high-intensity music there isn’t usually my jam because it’s a great space to be in visually. Plus the artwork on the pathway there is always fun to check out.
Gravity stage is the one that I didn’t get the strongest impression of because I never entered the fenced area to get a better look at the stage. The cool hedrons that were around the area are still there and maybe moved around a bit (more of them seemed to be outside of the fence than inside, but that’s fine, more room for dancers). As such, I didn’t notice much going on at the stage, beyond some cool banners decorated the edges. Though… was that big hedron frame there before?
I also feel like I don’t tend to give the Asteroid stage enough love. It’s got the most natural design and hosts more traditional bands (as opposed to DJs) and they’ve been doing an awesome job with it, and I mean that in the traditional sense of the phrase “awesome,” as in it’s quite awe-inspiring. They do a lot of weaving with branches and natural decorations—less psychedelic, per se, but no less beautiful. This year they had some sheer/mesh -type fabric panels to either side of the stage that I didn’t quite understand during the day, but it all made sense when I came back at night, as apparently they were used to enhance the light show. Once again, I was sad that I didn’t have a proper photographer with me to document it. My photo doesn’t even touch on how cool it looked after dark.
The Oasis & Lagoon
I didn’t even see the lagoon this year, since I didn’t drive past it on my way in, but the Oasis was looking as spectacular as always, though also not notably different from 2025. As someone who tends to be too busy running around and looking at the art, I once again didn’t bother to look at the worshops, etc., because I knew I’d surely be missing most of them this year and didn’t want to bum myself out—as I do every year—looking at everything I want to check out and then never getting around to going. I will say that the decorations at the water point (still grateful for its introduction in 2025, by the way!) were also elevated. My photo once again only touches on it because the blue light was moving and shifting. So cool!
The Cosmic Circus
Everyone knows that this is a huge chunk of why I come, right? I am low-key obsessed with fire dancers and acrobats. And for the past several years, I’ve always mistimed my evenings to miss Roihu, so that’s actually why I chose to come on Friday instead of Saturday (okay, I won’t lie, part of me wanted to do two day trips so I could attend both circuses, but I had to be sensible and was offered a merch gig for Saturday for a band I adore, and I live far nearer to Helsinki than Ristiina).
Once again, arse that I am, I actually missed out on the first few acts, namely Hobutoh and Karita, arriving just as the latter’s aerial set ended, much to my chagrin. I was less disappointed about missing Hobutoh because I’ve seen them at least twice before (they’ve very unsettling, but in a cool way) and I did happen to see some wild Hobutoh in the woods over near Vortex at one point, which was almost as good because they ended up drifting right past me. I love the way they move, as though they don’t see the festival-goers, yet never touch them. It’s really odd and wonderful.
Nevertheless, I settled in for the next two acts, Satu & Chrisu, who did a great duet pole dance. DJane Crystal was in the booth this year, with, I believe, MeeriRosvo as the MC/Ringleader. I believe they were new this year and definitely an improvement over the past 2 years, though I’m not quite certain that I feel like I’m getting what I’m missing from the Ringleader yet. If nothing else, she sang a couple of tunes during the set-up/take-down of the pole a couple times, and at least seemed to have made an effort to get the artists’ names right, so it was definitely better than in the past.
I thought Galactic Hoop Bums were a familiar name but it turns out I was thinking of 2023’s Galactic Butt Hoopligans, though I’d be surprised if these groups aren’t somehow related to one another. They put on a very interesting show, wherein something that I can only describe as an Asian parade dragon, but with a small white tiger head and nondescript black body appeared, died, and then worms came out of it, which hatched into spiders and flies. One of them spent a lot of time shouting, but I’m not sure about what because it was in Finnish, they had no mic, and there was a quad idling next to my ear. Nevertheless, it was delightfully bizarre.
I did dip out during that performance because I had forgotten to eat all day—I had planned to do that before going to the circus but was distracted when I noticed it had already started. By the time I returned, I was bummed out to see that I had missed Mimi Von Starling, Dancing Monalisa (whom I recognized as having been a very good aerial performer in a previous year), and Silve, but arrived just in time to see Tulikukka ry.
Now, if you’re new to my Kosmos reports, I am someone who loves nothing more than to watch talented people be awesome at things, which is why I love the Cosmic Circus so much. It’s several hours of exactly that. And if you do really awesome things while, in any way, on fire, I am that much more enthusiastic. Each year, I like to also keep note of every new trick or prop that they might show off that I haven’t seen before.
Tulikukka’s set involved wands and snake charming music, poi and hoops, and fans—brilliant! The Spy-C Babes then told a tale about the highs and lows of life with their hoops. Lena Lumo & Yxpila art were a pair, one of whom did a very smooth, flowing, and elegant oriental dance while the other danced with an enormous tribal drum, whose stick drumstick was really more of a torch. Their second act involved a costume reveal, fire sticks, and flaming knuckles (I think that was a new one this year!). The belly-dance with a flaming crown of antlers was definitely a circus highlight and something new and unexpected!
Fiery acrobatic group Löyly was exactly what their name would imply. They started by raising one fellow up onto another’s shoulders, they brought out fans and did assisted cartwheels, there were poi boots (is there a proper term for that?) with dive rolling, doing flips over other acrobats, and dives through flaming hoops that got progressively higher. Another fun, new thing was their flaming equestrian, with blazing “stick” horses and a long flaming whip to leap over. They finished with burning palm balls and poles, fan acrobatics, and a sort of poi parade. Jolly good show!
I’ve missed Roihu too many times in recent years, so I was very happy to make up for that this year. The gents had bright painted beards, which probably looked really cool if you were out at the festival stages under the black lights. Their set had an attempted fire theft and juggling, pass juggling, some rather classically-styled slapstick shenanigans in a dance, and some quite brilliant side-to-side juggling between up to three fellows. Some double mini-hoop ladies joined in, and I think at some point “Hey Pachuco” came on and they danced to it with fans, eventually switching for poi. Later, a drunk stumbled into the dome, the janitor entered with flaming “broom,” which turned into a sweeping broom dance. I think from there on out it just kept escalating into a big, fun fire bonanza. Definitely glad to have not missed it this year!
Aazuh (is that pronounced like “achoo"?) did a more mellow, flowing dance, first with a long-chain poi and then with one of those axle poles with burning points on the end. It was very fluid and very cool. Then came Amnesia Fires, another solo performer with dual wands, extinguishing and reigniting on her tongue—this was a great fire dancing set, with added fire-breathing to make it spicier. If I understood correctly, Twinblaze then did their first ever performance with some hoops that had a cool, shifty effect in their lights.
Stargazers was a pole performance that had a Miyazaki theme at some point involved, and involved the love and loss and recovery of a very cute little stuffed dolphin, which integrated the pole spectacularly in the search for the lost friend. Then came Annina Nova, doing a dance with LED fans, and then LED hula hoops. This was a really mellow and delightful penultimate show.
Finally came Lähde, which was… well, a Jesus-like figure came out, turned water into wine, swallowed a fireball, then did a striptease, swapping into horns and losing the wig before disrobing into darker colors, and then lighting herself on fire by dragging it across her body. There were some more great pole moves and really impressive, prolonged poses, as well as a magnificent split and some really cool use of feet. Very stylish finale.
At this point, I was a bit confused, because I thought the circus usually goes until 2 a.m. (though I suppose it depends on how many performers there are), and it was only 00.45. More curiously, the online app had a final act, Nahkaparturi & Olga listed as having an hour-long slot, running until 1.45. And even more unusually, while I didn’t understand the MC clearly, I thought they wrapped up the event more or less after Lähde. So I waited for a while to see if anything would become clear and after it seemed like the dome was getting closed up for the night, I packed up to do my final walk-around, and noticed that there might have indeed been one final aerial set, but it was taking a fair while to get set up and at that point, I did want to see if I could get on the road sooner than later so I wouldn’t get home at 6 a.m.
Thus, I did my final walkaround and said farewell to my very favorite of all the Finnish summer festivals.
The New & What Could Be Improved
I need to give a couple of big shout-outs this year. First of all, I know they told me that last year they had more toilets but I didn’t notice any more toilets. This year, I did notice a longer length of them on the main path, so that was great. I never had to wait long. It is, as such, somewhat disappointing that so few men seem are willing to use them and just go in the woods. As much as I love seeing dudes whipping their dicks out in the forest (yes, sarcasm), some of the art paths have started to develop what seems like a slightly permanent outhouse smell that I can’t say I’m a fan of. The festival is making an effort to provide more toilets—please respect that and use them. I mean, could you at least go piss in the woods behind the WC area and leave the art spaces alone?
The second HUGE improvement that I need to mention is that the entrance to the Vortex stage from the central path. I’ve been harping on in my reports for a few years about wanting them to throw down a sack of mulch or something on the paths because, regardless of rain, it always seems to turn into a giant mud pit and it starts to get a little dangerous after a while. This year, they went ten steps further and just extended the wooden walkway out much further to make this place a complete non-issue. I already mentioned that it’s been a pretty wet summer and despite the lack of any mulch on the paths, my tread-less hemp sneakers that are the slipperiest shoes on the face of the planet (why were they designed that way!?) were completely and totally fine.
As for what could be better? Honestly, perhaps I wasn’t really there long enough to notice anything funky this year. I’ll never say no to a bit of mulch on the paths here and there in the muddy spots, but the biggest problem areas (named above) have been really well dealt-with from the festival’s end, and now it’s more on the respect of the attendees to keep it nice for everyone else.
As such, I’ll be curious to see what they come up with for next year!
Final Thoughts
After the circus, I did my final walk-around to take photos of all the cool nighttime artwork before leaving, and as I was making my way out of the art path, two fellows held hands and made an arch for me to pass through, grinning and giggling, which made me grin and giggle. Little moments like that are exactly why Kosmos Festival feels so special. It’s weird, quirky, and so non-judgmental. People can dress how they want, act how they want (as long as its respectful), and be who they want, and nobody’s gonna give you shit. Plus, I love these weird little friendly interactions I have with people. At some point in the afternoon, between hanging with friends at Vortex and moving over to the Cosmic Circus, I encountered a lovely young couple who were at the festival for the first time and I had a nice time sitting on some handcrafted birch benches sharing with them and just generally talking about both how great this festival is and how awesome a friendly community is, and how Finland needs more of this sort of healthy atmosphere.
For this fantasy author and semi-retired metalhead, Kosmos Festival is simply one of the best places in Finland in the summer to go and both recharge and get inspired. It’s perfect for the time of year, because it’s near enough to the halfway point (midsummer would be too light out since the sun never goes down) that it’s like another refresh after the winter solstice/new year. Don’t get me wrong, I wish I could have Kosmos or its atmosphere every weekend in my life, but for now, I’ll take what I can get and keep coming back to inject some pure light and joy directly into my soul for as long as they’ll keep having me. Who knows, perhaps one day I’ll be a 90-year-old one meter tall ancient hippy lady who gets brought into the festival each year in a squashy armchair that gets dropped by the Cosmic Circus so I can watch the fire dancers. I wouldn’t mind being a hippy festival granny when I grow up!
So, my time at Kosmos 2026 was short, but no less sweet, and I was pleased to have the opportunity to go where the wind blew me and enjoy the magic of the gathering of electronic tribes once more. Hopefully I’ll see you again next year!
Note from the Author: If you enjoyed this festival report, perhaps you might enjoy my slice-of-life low fantasy series, set in a fictional world where festivals and mindsets like that of Kosmos are the default norm. If that sounds interesting, please check out my novella series, The Vitmar Chronicles… a coming-of-age series that follows two brothers with healthy masculinity as they navigate life’s ups and downs in a world far kinder than our own.
Read the free sample here — Learn about the series here — Find it on Amazon, Google, and Kobo, or via paid subscription on Substack! The release of Volume III and crowdfunding for physical copies is tentatively planned for spring 2027!
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