Meet Nicolle: National Sauna Week 2026 Giveaway Winner
Written By:
Minea Herwitz
Finlandia Foundation National (FFN) is proud to announce that Nicolle Littrell of Belfast, Maine has been selected as the winner of its National Sauna Week Grand Prize Giveaway—a trip to Finland to attend the internationally renowned World Sauna Forum. The award represents a remarkable milestone for the organization and may mark the first time in FFN’s more than 70-year history that it has sent an individual from the United States to Finland through a national cultural campaign.
National Sauna Week, organized annually by Finlandia Foundation National, is an educational and cultural awareness initiative that introduces North American audiences to the Finnish sauna tradition through webinars, partnerships, community events, and collaborations with sauna businesses across the continent. The program highlights sauna as a deeply rooted element of Finnish culture—one tied to wellness, community, and connection to nature.
Through partnerships with organizations including Finnair and Sauna from Finland, FFN was able to offer the grand prize: an opportunity to travel to Finland, the birthplace of sauna culture, and participate in the World Sauna Forum—a gathering of sauna operators, designers, cultural leaders, and enthusiasts from around the world.
The campaign’s visibility was further strengthened through collaboration with Finnish comedian Ismo Leikola, a Finlandia Foundation National grant recipient and longtime collaborator who has engaged with FFN chapters across North America. With a substantial international following, Ismo contributed a short, humorous video used to launch and promote the National Sauna Week giveaway online. His participation helped introduce the campaign to new audiences in an accessible and culturally resonant way, significantly amplifying reach and engagement. Behind the scenes of Littrell’s selection is a broader collaborative effort—including this type of creative partnership—that helped bring the campaign to life.
For Littrell, the experience represents a remarkable turn in what has already been a transformative year.
“If you’d said to me a year ago that I’d have my own sauna business and then win a trip to Finland to attend the World Sauna Forum, I would have laughed out loud,” Littrell said. “The whole thing has been magic.”
Littrell’s sauna journey began in 2025 through a winter wellness collaboration during the Belfast Ice Festival in Belfast, Maine. Working with Selkie Sauna, a mobile sauna company based on Mount Desert Island, she helped create a popular “Ice Row + Sauna + Dip” experience combining rowing, sauna, and cold-water immersion. The program drew enthusiastic crowds and sparked a recurring question from participants: why didn’t Belfast have a wood-fired waterfront sauna year-round?
“That question stuck with me,” Littrell said. “I kept hearing people say, ‘Why isn’t there a sauna here all the time?’ And I was asking myself the same thing.”
Determined to make the idea a reality, Littrell applied for funding through Women’s Net, a national organization supporting women entrepreneurs. She received a $10,000 grant in the Health & Fitness category—allowing her to purchase and launch her sauna business, Salty Witch Sauna.
“It felt like the sauna was meant to be,” she said. “Like it already existed in Belfast. I just had to make it happen.”
After months of searching for the right structure, Littrell discovered a sauna built by an Amish construction company in Unity, Maine. Constructed from Maine white cedar and white pine and heated by a traditional wood-fired Harvia stove, the sauna seats six people and includes a changing room and porch for cooling between sessions. It now sits on Belfast’s waterfront, becoming the first wood-fired sauna operating along the harbor.
The sauna—named Melusine, after a legendary two-tailed mermaid figure—represents the newest addition to Littrell’s growing wellness ventures. She also operates DoryWoman Rowing, offering rowing lessons and tours in Belfast Bay throughout the year.
“Both rowing and sauna are about being in your body and connecting with nature,” Littrell said. “There’s transformation in both practices. There’s magic and play. I want people to feel good and have fun.”
Community sauna is central to her business model, with daily public sessions and private bookings available throughout the week. The sauna’s location near a public beach allows visitors to alternate between heat and cold plunges in the harbor—an experience deeply rooted in Finnish sauna culture.
Through the National Sauna Week campaign, Littrell entered FFN’s international giveaway and was ultimately selected to travel to Finland for the World Sauna Forum.
“I have so much to learn about sauna culture,” she said. “I’m excited to go to the motherland of sauna and soak up everything I can—meeting sauna operators, experiencing Finnish sauna in its place of origin, and sharing that knowledge with my community.”
Littrell says she is particularly inspired by the tradition of women as keepers of sauna culture in Finland.
“Learning about the history of women as sauna keepers during National Sauna Week was incredibly moving,” she said. “It makes me think about the women sauna keepers and operators here in Maine who helped guide me on this journey.”
Finlandia Foundation National leaders say Littrell’s story captures the spirit of National Sauna Week—connecting individuals, businesses, and communities through a shared cultural tradition.
“This campaign shows how a centuries-old cultural practice can inspire new entrepreneurship, wellness, and community connections,” said FFN Communications Director and Director of National Sauna Week Minea Lindqvist Herwitz. “Sending someone to Finland through this initiative represents a meaningful moment for our organization and the growing sauna community across North America.”
For Littrell, the opportunity is both personal and communal.
“I want to bring back everything I learn,” she said. “So the sauna experience I offer in Belfast can be as authentic, nourishing, and joyful as possible.”
Learn more about Nicolle and her sauna: www.dorywomanrowing.com/saltywitchsauna