Finland opened the world's quietest festival with no sound system

Finland opened what it calls the world's quietest festival on Saturday, in Valkmusa National Park about a 90-minute drive east of Helsinki. The event, officially Hiljaa Fest, or "Quietly Fest," has no lineup, no sound system, and no headliner louder than wind through peat moss. It runs through the end of October and bills itself as the first Festival of Nature Listening. The park holds 40 types of mire habitat, along with black grouse, common cranes, and the occasional lizard sunbathing on a boardwalk. Four "stages" guide visitors through the grounds, from the pine-scented entrance to the rocky Moronvuori Cliffs. Admission asks one thing of attendees: leave no trace. "Every performer appears on their own terms, in their own habitat, and according to their own schedule," the festival announcement reads. Creative director and wilderness guide Simo Peri put it plainly. "It is a festival trip designed to nurture one's soul and one's mind."