Two national traditions will combine Sunday, March 15, at the annual Mojakka Cook-Off, when at least 15 area cooks will show off their best Finnish soups, all washed down with the buyer’s choice of green or purple beer. The cook-off starts at 1 p.m. at the historic NorthEastern Hotel on Dunlap Island in Cloquet.

The mojakka and the purple beer pay homage to St. Urho’s Day, March 16, the day that St. Urho dined on a hearty bowl of the soup before heading out to rid the Finnish vineyards of a plague of grasshoppers.

The green beer, of course, is in honor of St. Patrick, who chased all th...