This photo from their Facebook Page, shows the acrobatic juggling duo Bob & Trish performing. The Michigan Tech alumni are a new addition to this year's Pasty Fest entertaining and will host a juggling workshop.

CALUMET – What do medieval times and pasties have in common? Both will be represented in full force this weekend Calumet as the 21st Pasty Fest commences. A full schedule of events can be found on the official Pasty Fest website at www.uppastyfest.com.

According to Jesse Wiederhold, public relations and events coordinator with Visit Keweenaw and planning committee member for Pasty Fest, the Renaissance Faire theme was “wildly successful” last year. “We loved how many people came dressed up with capes, fairy wings, horns, and chainmail walking down Fifth Street in Calumet!”

Fitting with the theme and returning after being popular last year, visitors can try out sword fighting and archery, or put a friend into the stocks. New this year, members of the Keweenaw Roller Derby squad will put on a jousting show by Agassiz Park. Hobby horses and roller skates might not be accurate to medieval times, but it is sure to be a great time for visitors of all ages.

Also new this year is the acrobatic juggling duo Bob & Trish. The Michigan Tech alumni have traveled the world entertaining young and old. They will give a full performance of their routine at 1:30 p.m. Saturday in the Calumet Greenspace. Before showing everything they can do, they will host a “Learn to Juggle” session for kids at 12:30 p.m. in the same area.

Departing from the medieval theme but sticking with the traditions of two decades of Pasty Fest, there will be a pasty bake-off that visitors can help judge. There are 100 kits available at $40 each and they sell out feast, so those interested in judging should get to the Bake-Off Booth quickly.

Plenty more pasties will be for sale from local vendors beyond those kits. According to Wiederhold, 3,500 pasties were sold last year. The Mohawk Superette alone sold 1,500. That is a staggering number of pasties, and even more impressive that these sales are just in a four-hour window.

For those who do not need to savor their pasties, twelve people can compete in a five-minute pasty eating competition. This is not for the faint of stomach.

Leah Polzien, main event coordinator for Pasty Fest and executive director of Main Street Calumet, is excited the home baked pasty bake-off is back again after an eight-year hiatus. “It’ll be great to get the community back into the pasty baking competition. We’re starting out small this year with five people able to enter in each of three categories.” Those categories include “Best Copper Country Pasty,” “Best Cornish Pastry,” and “Best Non-Traditional Pasty.” Sign-ups are available the Pasty Fest website and Polzien encourages more people to participate, saying, “there is still space available!”

For those creative people passionate about pasties, this year’s Pasty Fest has a music competition. Eva’s Hideaway will host an open-mic night from 7pm – 8pm on Friday, August 15th (as opposed to the other events listed which take place from 12pm – 4pm on Saturday, August 16th). Wiederhold said this is, “open to people of all ages and experience levels,” adding he, “wants people to sing their hearts out!”

With the artists permission, the goal is to have many of these entries available online and perhaps even on a CD, according to Wiederhold. Polzien is also excited for the competition, saying she, “can’t wait to see what the creative people of the Copper Country come up with.” Submissions need to be received online, through the Pasty Fest website, by August 10th.

Wiederhold also recommends people make sure to catch the opening procession at noon on Saturday. “We love a good parade up here, but that is hard to do with Pasty Fest. We compromised on this opening procession, but we put more thought into it and have it more scripted this year.” With the MTU pep band and the CLK marching band on hand, Wiederhold thinks people will really enjoy it.

The Pasty Pull, a truck pulling competition for those seeking a “grand contest of strength and valor,” according to the Pasty Fest website, received an upgrade this year. “UPPCO is sponsoring the truck pull and gave some professional equipment this year,” commented Wiederhold. He thinks the truck pull could be “the highlight of the day, outside of eating pasties.”

“The planning committee puts so much time into this event, particularly in the days leading up to it,” said Wiederhold. “We usually just get a light breakfast and are running around all morning on Saturday, so getting the warm, fresh pasty in the afternoon really brings it all home.”

Polzien said she is also looking forward to the pasties, saying her favorite part of Pasty Fest is “seeing 5th street in Calumet filled with people from the 100 block nearly down to Pine Street. I love seeing so many people come to Calumet, being in town, and celebrating this place.”

Wiederhold mentioned they know at least 2,500 people attended Pasty Fest last year and are expecting two to three thousand people attending again this year. They believe “Pasty Fest is the busiest single day in Calumet” for the past several years.

“Pasties are a cultural heritage touchpoint,” said Polzien. While delicious and filling, “pasties are a piece of a lot of people’s heritage, they have a nostalgic value to many people, and we just have a lot of fun celebrating the pasty.” Everyone is encouraged to stop by the Keweenaw National Historical Park Visitor Center, at the corner of 5th Street and Red Jacket Road in Calumet, to learn more about Cornish history and the importance of the pasty. The Visitor Center is open from 10 a.m. – 5 p.m., there is a ranger guided tour starting from the Visitor Center at 11 a.m., and there is a ranger led illustrated talk at 4 p.m. in the Visitor Center.

Both Polzien and Wiederhold say the thing that has kept Pasty Fest going for so long is not just the food, but the people behind it. The people who live here and the people who return here, the businesses who support the event and support the community, and the people who, long ago, brought the pasty with them as they migrated to the area, are those that make it possible to put on this event.

If you are interested in seeing Pasty Fest from a different perspective, and snag a guaranteed pasty as a reward, Wiederhold recommends volunteering for the event. “The more the merrier, we can always use volunteers,” he said, adding, “it’s also a great way to make friends.” You can find information and submit your interest at uppastyfest.com/volunteer.html.