HANCOCK – At least 40 employers and well over 200 job seekers packed the Finnish American Heritage Center Wednesday for the third annual Keweenaw Job Fair.

Employers offered a wide range of opportunities, from summer jobs at Michigan State Parks to long-term careers in health care, law enforcement, banking, manufacturing and more. For the first time this year, several local high schools bused students to the fair, swelling the ranks of job seekers that also included plenty of college students and community members.

“It’s definitely a lot larger than last year,” said organizer Jenna Ollanketo of the Finlandia University Business Club, which co-hosted the fair with Michigan Works!, the Keweenaw Chamber of Commerce and Finlandia University.

“We had more in the first half-hour than all of last year,” she said, noting that the club and Michigan Works! had been able to recruit employers well before the fair, freeing up time in the last few weeks for extensive advertising on Facebook and in the community.

High school students were largely attending their first job fair, and while some said more summer or part-time opportunities would have been a plus, others took the opportunity to pick the brains of long-term career recruiters while getting in a few applications for shorter-term work.

Hannah Tuomi, a Chassell High School senior, said she applied for summer jobs at WalMart and a couple of hotels and also spent some time chatting with Michigan State Police recruiters.

“They answered questions about their jobs and stuff,” she said.

The Michigan Department of Natural Resources had plenty of openings for summer workers in state parks, said McLain State Park Supervisor Jamie Metheringham, for everything from maintenance to customer service to Explorer Guides who put on educational programs for visiting kids. The job fair looked like it would go a long way toward filling them, he said.

“We’ve gone through close to 30 applications,” said Metheringham. “It’s been a mixed bag, not just kids, but retirees looking for something to do and all kinds of people.”

Shawn Doll, working the check-in for Michigan Works, said his organization was excited by the big turnout after a slow fair last year had them reconsidering whether the fair was worth their time investment.

“It was kind of do or die for us,” he said.