CALUMET - What is believed to be a record crowd came together to celebrate the area's iconic food at PastyFest on Saturday.
The traditional meat pie, imported to the Keweenaw by the Cornish, was celebrated Saturday with food, games, music, vendors and a parade.
People packed Fifth Street to catch the marchers and the floats, including one with a recipe for pasties.
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Garrett Neese/Daily Mining Gazette
A float in Saturday’s PastyFest parade honors “The Birthplace of the Pasty,” in addition to providing a recipe. The annual Calumet event celebrates the pasty, which was brought to the Upper Peninsula by Cornish immigrants.
"The kids love it," said Tony DuBord, visiting from Eagan, Minn. "They get full bags of candy." But for him, the best attraction was the music.
After the parade, people made their way to Agassiz Park for a variety of activities.
Several businesses sold pasties; lines often snaked through the park.
By 12:30 p.m., the Old School Baking Company had already sold 200 pasties, including 50 vegetarian, said Sam Lockwood.
"It's hard to keep up, but we're going to bake fresh all day long until 4 p.m.," he said.
As always, companies and residents battled to see who could create the perfect pasty in the bakeoff. This year's winners were Roy's Pasties & Bakery (commercial and vegetarian), Dan and Marsha Klein (individual), and Leslie Hines (non-traditional - breakfast pasty).
At other booths throughout the park, people browsed through arts and crafts, sampled homemade food or even got their face painted.
Judy Isaksson, 8, and Daisy Isaksson, 6, both of Calumet, had freshly applied noses and whiskers as they ate pasties under a tent in the park.
Judy called the festival "great." Her highlight: The inflatable bouncy house.
Sue Dana of Main Street Calumet called the day "wonderful."
"I think we've got more people here today than we've ever had," she said. "It's a beautiful day. And everybody's having fun."