In the years after World War II, the demand for smoked herring was growing rapidly. Feodor Dernjatin, who had founded a fish smokehouse in Helsinki in 1926 for smoking finfish, sent his son Nikolai to look for a suitable location for a herring smokehouse on the coast of the Gulf of Bothnia. A suitable location was found in Krooka. Merikarvian shore, where, thanks to net fishing, sufficiently large and uniform-sized herring were available throughout the summer.

Nikolai and his brother Boris built a smokehouse with docks on the plot. The smokehouse building, completed in 1950, included three smoking ovens, fish processing facilities, an office space and a room where the Dernyatin brothers could stay overnight. The operation continued until 1971, when Finnish trawl fishing changed the availability and marketing of herring. After the smokehouse, other fish processing companies operated on the premises for a while, until the building fell into disrepair and was finally transferred to Merikarvian into the ownership of the municipality.

In the early 2000s, the municipality renovated the building and opened it Gallery Vanha Savu -a cultural space. In the summer, the gallery has hosted art exhibitions, concerts and events, and the smell of smoke can still be felt in the old smoking ovens. The events and exhibitions have attracted around 3000 visitors annually.

From summer 2026 From now on, the Galleria Vanha Savu building has been rented out to private businesses. Art exhibitions will continue at Harjuntie 28, Koivuniemi Herran Farm premises.