Calumet Heritage Celebration Aug. 17-19

Part of Rowe Furniture's window exhibit for the 2007 Calumet Heritage Celebration displays these memories of the 50s -- juke box and real sodas! Rowe's display took First Place as the Judges' Choice and tied for Third Place with the Croatian Fraternal Union Lodge #270 as People's Choice in the window competition. (Photo © 2007 Gustavo Bourdieu)

CALUMET -- Main Street Calumet's 2007 Heritage Celebration will offer activities for the whole family Friday, Saturday and Sunday, Aug. 17, 18 and 19. Heritage Days recognize the courageous emigrants who settled in the Calumet area and worked to become Americans. Come and celebrate Calumet's cultural diversity with music, dance, food and traditional arts.

Croatian folk dance and music is represented by this colorful exhibit of the Croatian Fraternal Union Lodge #270 at 200 Fifth Street. Their window display tied with Rowe Furniture for Third Place as People's Choice in the window competition. The dolls' colorful costumes offer a preview of the Duquesne University Tamburitzans, who will perform ethnic folk dance and song at 7 p.m. Saturday in the Calumet Theatre. (Photo © 2007 Gustavo Bourdieu)

Friday's events include the Miss Coppertown Pageant at 7 p.m. Friday in the Calumet Theatre, preceded by the Elks Chicken Barbecue.

Saturday offers events for the whole family, including the 8th Annual Heritage Celebration Horseshoe Tournament in Agassiz Park, the Coppertown USA Museum open house and Mining Co. Employees' Reunion, the Second Annual KMMC Great Deer Chase Mountain Bike Race starting at Calumet Coliseum and proceeding down 5th Street, the Great Deer Chase Kids' Bike Race beginning at Cross Country Sports on Oak Street, "Houghton County Potato Farming" presented by Erik Nordberg and "Farming U.P. Mining and Timber Cutover Lands" by Terry Reynolds as well as the ongoing Key Ingredients Exhibit at the Keweenaw Heritage Center, Guided Trolley Tours* and Horse-drawn Wagon Tours from Agassiz Park.

Maple Sugar Folk, pictured here at a December 2006 concert in Lake Linden, will perform music from Québec Saturday, Aug. 18, in Agassiz Park as part of the Calumet Heritage Celebration "French and Irish" theme. (Photo © 2006 Michele Anderson)

Artists, traditional artists, food and music will be offered all day Saturday in Agassiz Park. Music from Québec will be provided by Maple Sugar Folk and Celtic music by Fiddlehead alternately between noon and 4 p.m. Saturday to celebrate this year's "French and Irish" theme. The Calumet Elks Beer Garden also begins at noon in Agassiz Park.

Fiddlehead, pictured here at the Spring Art and Music Festival in Houghton, will perform Celtic music Saturday, Aug. 18, during the Calumet Heritage Celebration in Agassiz Park. (Photo © 2007 Gustavo Bourdieu)

As you stroll down historic Fifth Street and Oak Street, be sure to admire the windows decorated to commemorate Calumet's ethnic history and the "food" theme as part of the Key Ingredients Exhibit.

Winners of the Windows Competition are in two categories:

I. The Judges' Choice: One winner was chosen by the panel of judges: First Place to Rowe Furniture, 212 Fifth Street.

II. The People's Choice, voted by the public, awarded three top prizes:
1. Red Jacket General Store, 412 Fifth Street

The Red Jacket Store, 412 Fifth Street, won First Place in the People's Choice category of the Calumet Windows Competition. (Photo © 2007 Gustavo Bourdieu)

2. Curves for Women, 207 Fifth Street
3. Croatian Fraternal Union Lodge #270, 200 Fifth Street, tied with Rowe Furniture.

The People's Choice awarded Second Place in the Windows Competition to this display of handmade aprons at Curves for Women, 207 Fifth Street. (Photo © 2007 Gustavo Bourdieu)

Other registered entries include the following window exhibits:
Copper World, 101 Fifth Street; Conglomerate Café, 104 Fifth Street; Calumet Mercantile, 107 Fifth Street; Houghton County FCE, 109 Fifth Street; Dawn's Designs, 119 Fifth Street; Daily Mining Gazette, 203 Fifth Street; The Miner's Daughter, 209 Fifth Street; Calumet Floral, 221 Fifth Street; Beadazed Studio, 300 Fifth Street; Cross Country Sports, 310 Fifth Street and 507 Oak Street; Northwoods Memories, 320 Fifth Street; Oak Street Inn 331 Fifth Street; J. Thiel and Associates, 436 Fifth Street.

Many other windows were decorated with the theme through out the village, but not officially entered in the competition.

Saturday's evening events include a Karaoke Contest from 4 p.m. to 11 p.m. in Agassiz Park and the Duquesne University TAMBURITZANS at 7 p.m. in the Calumet Theatre.

Kim Hoagland, right, chair of the Key Ingredients Steering Committee, and Michigan Tech historian Larry Lankton welcomed visitors at the opening of the Key Ingredients and Michigan Foodways exhibits in the Keweenaw Heritage Center on July 14, 2007.** Lankton spoke on the history of food during Copper Country mining days. The exhibits will be open during the Calumet Heritage Celebration this weekend. (Photo 2007 Michele Anderson)

On Sunday, the Key Ingredients Exhibit continues in the Keweenaw Heritage Center from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and the Calumet-Keweenaw Sportsman's Club will hold a Gun and Sports Show from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the Calumet Coliseum.

Visit Main Street Calumet for the complete schedule of events.

Editor's Notes:
*See our photos of Frank Fiala driving the Red Jacket Trolley, which will be available for rides during the Calumet Heritage Celebration.

** Read more about the Key Ingredients and Michigan Foodways exhibits on Keweenaw Now.