Main Street Calumet to hold annual PastyFest July 1-2

CALUMET -- Main Street Calumet invites the public to the 2011 PastyFest Friday and Saturday, July 1 and 2, in Calumet's Agassiz Park.

The event celebrates the Cornish pasty [PASS-tee] -- named after Cornwall, England. These savory TURNOVERS consist of a short-crust pastry enfolding a chopped meat-and-potato filling. Other vegetables and sometimes fish are also used. In the 18th and 19th centuries, pasties were the standard lunch of Cornwall's tin miners. It was common to place a savory mixture in one end and an apple mixture in the other so both meat and dessert could be enjoyed in the same pasty.

A mainstay of Cornish miners and their families during the Copper Country mining days, the pasty was adopted by virtually all ethnic groups inhabiting the Keweenaw Peninsula in northern Michigan. Today the pasty stands as a local icon and is recognized as a traditional Copper Country dish.*

This year's PastyFest T-shirt is now available through Main Street Calumet. See below. (Photo courtesy Main Street Calumet)

Here is the Schedule of Events:

Friday, July 1:

4 p.m. - 7 p.m. -- Farmers and Artisans Market -- Agassiz Park**

7 p.m. -- Main Street Calumet Community Service Awards -- Calumet Colosseum Ballroom -- coffee and cake

6 p.m.- 9 p.m. -- First Friday Gallery Show Openings -- downtown Calumet

Saturday, July 2:

9:30 a.m. -- "The Great Pasty Chase" -- 5k fun walk / run -- $10 registration. Funds support the Calumet Wolverines Hockey Club. Corner of 5th and Scott Streets

11 a.m. -- PastyFest Parade -- 5th Street
11 a.m. -- Registration opens for Horseshoe Partners Tournament -- Agassiz Park

12 noon - 5 p.m. -- PastyFest in Agassiz Park: Music, Food, Vendors, Free Horse-drawn Tours, Games, Pasties!!

1 p.m. -- Pasty Bake-off Judging begins

4 p.m. -- Bake-off Winners announced

The 2011 PastyFest T-shirt is now available from Main Street Calumet. Click here for details.

*Visit the Main Street Calumet Web site for more about pasties.

** Click here for details about the GRAND OPENING of the Main Street Calumet Farmers and Artisans Market.

Photo of pasties courtesy Main Street Calumet.