Graham Jaehnig/Daily Mining Gazette A giant, human pasty greeted more than a thousand visitors to the village of Calumet Saturday for Pasty Fest 2023.

By GRAHAM JAEHNIG

gjaehnig@mininggazette.com

CALUMET — Nature provided a beautiful sunny afternoon for Pasty Fest 2023, which included musicians at several locations providing a variety of live music all along Fifth Street.

Dozens of vendors set their tents up offering everything from face painting to antiques to jewelry, arts and other crafts. In addition to the vendors and musicians, however, there were — pasties.

Graham Jaehnig/Daily Mining Gazette
An endless stream of people waiting patiently in line for turn to purchase — and devour — pasties. So many people bought pasties, in fact, that within the first ninety minutes of the event’s open, some businesses had sold out their entire inventory. Krupp’s Mini Mart brought 1,200 pasties to the four-hour annual celebration.

No less than six vendors were on hand to sell pasties, including Slim’s Cafe, Jen’s Bakery, Griffin Cafe, the Matador, as well as Krupp’s Mini Mart, near Twin Lakes, which brought 1,200 pasties to the fest. There was even a Wisconsin vendor, Sheboygan Pasty Company, in attendance.

Village President Rob Tarvis said within the first 90 minutes after the fest began at noon, some vendors had already sold out.

“There’s a company here from Sheboyan, so I thought I would check them out,” Tarvis said. “But the lines were full.”

Tarvis said he could not say whether the attendance on Saturday was a record, but he did say he loves to see it.

“This is the goal,” he said, “to bring back Calumet — and to see all these people here, enjoying themselves and having a good time, and spending money in our village. It’s what it’s all about.”

Richard Byrd/For the Mining Gazette
The Michigan Tech Huskies Pep Band entertains the crowd in Calumet Saturday during the annual Pasty Fest event.

While the Pasty Fest was enjoying a huge turn out on Fifth Street, the Calumet Theatre was also open for tours as well as to sell tickets to the Saturday evening Pam Tillis concert. As of 2 p.m., one staff member in the ticket office said that sales were already nearing the sell-out point.

The festival’s success was a welcome sight for Main Street Calumet, and its nearly two dozen Pasty Fest sponsors, along with Visit Keweenaw, the Calumet Theatre, Calumet Village and the village’s businesses.

Graham Jaehnig/Daily Mining Gazette
August provided a perfect summer day for Calumet’s Pasty Fest 2023 on Saturday. Thousands of people attended the event to eat pasties, enjoy live music, visit the dozens of vendors displaying their merchandise all along Fifth Street, and to enjoy a cultural celebration.