A valley of beauty and excitement

Today on my way in to work I noticed that the signs advertising Fryksdalens Dancing were already being hung. For those that don’t know this is a four day open air dance festival which is held in Sunne every year. As I was looking at the sign I was also thinking back to this time last year and what I was doing then.
I was in the middle of writing a book about my life here in Sunne. In many ways the blogs you have been reading over the past two weeks follow closely to what I have tried to show in the book. I spent 2008 going to different places and trying things that were all a first for me. The book is not about Sunne. Its about “what makes Sunne.” Do you understand that? A place is just a name on a map until you find its soul.
Think of London and think red buses, think of Paris and think Eifel tower. Rome? Maybe the coliseum? Big cities all of them, for sure, but they also have “things” that make them. Small places normally don’t have big things, sometimes they get lucky and have someone famous born there or even die there! Small places sometimes have a yearly event which can gather attention or maybe if they are really lucky like Stonehenge for example. They have really old and big stones which sit on top of each other, no one knows why, so they dance around them!
So, my book is about the things that this place, by rights, shouldn’t have. National show jumping competitions, a marathon, an internationally acclaimed theatre, concerts in the park, classic car shows, world cup cross country skiing competitions, national downhill skiing competitions, national and international shooting competitions.
Should I go on? Are you getting the point? Yes a small place like this is entitled to its day in the sun but somehow Sunne got the moon and the stars as well. Along with a Nobel prize winner and ex England football manager! Carved out of the mountains in the middle of Värmland sits a valley and one of the most beautiful and exciting places you could ever find.
Sure it has its faults. The locals will say they want more restaurants and a few more bars. There could be more trains and buses and for god sake let’s get a few more taxis. From my side I think there are far too many hair salons but I think we are all missing the gold.
Think Water Park, golf course, hockey and football stadium, ski centre, brand new library, Cinema (bit of a sore point), Spa hotel, hotels, beaches, Rottneros park. What Sunne doesn’t have is a ski tunnel a place where you can ski all year round. But the closest town called Torsby, only a 20 minute drive away does. For the book I spent the morning at the water park then played three holes of golf and finished the day off with 2 laps around the ski tunnel. My suggestion to the two communes is get together advertise as one. The world will be more likely to come to you as a package. To all you well meaning people who may be sitting on committees or trying to think of ways to make Sunne better, with all humility I ask you to tread lightly and be thoughtful with your power. If something isn’t broken, you have no need to fix it.

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