​2nd Sandbar Productions has been working in the Keweenaw since 2018. Daena, lead editor, has been a professional video editor for over 12/13 years. “We are in the business of visual storytelling,” said Amanda Makela, intrepid founder of 2nd Sandbar Productions. “That has really evolved over the years. Daena edits television/film remotely for clients outside Michigan, all while we actively produce media ranging from social media features for Visit Keweenaw and From the Ground Farmer’s Market to videos disseminating research from Michigan Tech. We’ve created small business profiles, product shoots, event coverage, music videos, live streams, fundraiser media, news B-roll, and hopefully more documentary storytelling – all manner of visual media.”

Makela says 2nd Sandbar takes on many social media management roles as businesses and organizations begin to understand its value. Social media connects users with the right products, services and businesses to meet their needs and fuel their wants. 2nd Sandbar’s goal is to help organizations get off the ground, by setting things up in a way to be taken over at the end.
Getting involved with Pasty Fest was a natural step for Makela.

“In 2019, we made a community interest piece with Leah Polzien describing Pasty Fest as a way to build our portfolio,” said Makela. “My best friend, Rebekka Mikkola had already been a longtime volunteer at Pasty Fest. She had adopted the Eating Competition as her personal project, and in the ensuing years I joined Rebekka’s cause in a supportive role. Leah was honestly just relieved to have one less thing to manage, and let Rebekka and I go nuts.”

Makela and Mikkola felt the eating competition embodied the spirit of rock and roll. This spawned a t-shirt sale idea that turned into a $1,000 fundraiser for Main Street Calumet. Now, a yearly design is released, building hype around the eating competition and driving pasty lovers to the annual celebration.

“I am particularly touched by the spirit of the Keweenaw,” said Makela. “A sense of community, of support grows off the year. There’s an obvious kitsch value to Pasty Fest that appeal to me – those who know me, know I’m pretty odd myself. I see Leah at Main Street working her butt off for Calumet, and I can’t help but be drawn to the underdog story. A small town, a niche fest… let’s show the world how awesome it can be!”
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If you’re looking to get in touch with 2nd Sandbar Productions, visit their website.

From the farm to your home freezer – Frozen Farms Co. is bringing ethical, fresh meats to the table. Looking for home grown beef, lamb or pork in the Copper Country? Look no further than Frozen Farms! You can get local, pasture raised beef you can trust. Owned by Jean and Nathan McParlan, they aim to bring high quality meats and farm products from their family to yours.

Whether you are just trying to get dinner on the table or preparing for a special occasion, Frozen Farms has you covered! They offer a plethora of spices and sauces to compliment the wide range of cuts they stock. In addition, you'll find artisan kitchen tools, local honey, and even fresh produce.  Frozen Farms is a great spot to shop for those special gifts for birthdays and holidays too, with a selection of high-quality gift ware and kid friendly items!
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With every purchase at Frozen Farms, you’re supporting a movement supporting ethical sourcing, community connections and the joy of shared meals. If you’re looking for the perfect cut for a celebratory feast or looking to surprise your loved ones with thoughtful gifts, Frozen Farms Co. is ready to welcome you into its world of culinary delights.

The McParlan family recently opened The Copper Scoop, an artisan ice cream parlor, with ice cream made on-site, highlighting local flavors. Located just two doors down from Frozen Farms, shoppers can now enjoy a range of high-quality products from both locations! 

You can find Frozen Farms Co. at 320 5th St, Calumet, MI 49913.

​​Visit Keweenaw promotes Michigan’s Houghton and Keweenaw Counties as a destination for tourism. Tourism, and the broader visitor economy, generate social, cultural and financial benefits for our community members and is a pillar of the region’s economy. Formed in 1986 as the Keweenaw Tourism Council, later the Keweenaw Convention & Visitors Bureau and now Visit Keweenaw – we’ve been the region’s leading destination marketing organization for more than 35 years.

Visit Keweenaw is a leader in knowledge of outdoor recreation. Thousands of people each year come through the welcome center asking questions about the area, and talking about everything they want to see. Being at the forefront of travelers, tourism trends and outdoor recreation, Visit Keweenaw invests in its communities through Destination Development Awards.

Helping coordinate and execute high-energy events is something Visit Keweenaw has been assisting with. Calumet’s Pasty Fest, Houghton’s Jibba Jabba and From the Ground Festival were all instances of Visit Keweenaw helping promote and market events to the public and broader visitor area. Bringing in locals and visitors to events are important to diversify your crowds and spenders in your economy.

Visit Keweenaw encourages visitors to Leave No Trace in the Keweenaw, recreate responsibly and find new favorites when you adventure north.

Visit Keweenaw supports Pasty Fest because it’s an incredible event that fills Calumet’s historic 5th Street and brings smiles to the whole village. Events like Pasty Fest speak to the cultural and historical significance of an area and its people. Bringing visitors to an area familiarizes them with a new destination and allows them to support locally owned businesses and cultural icons – like the pasty!

Stop in to learn more about the Keweenaw at 56638 Calumet Ave #1965, Calumet, MI 49913

​Calumet Electronics is a power leader in the engineering industry. Providing bright minds with relevant jobs in the Keweenaw – Calumet Electronics brings “a culture of honest hard work that helps set the standard for American PCB manufacturing.” Calumet Electronics rewards “skill and potential with competitive salaries, high quality training and career advancement opportunities. The result is a stable, long-tenured workforce that brings the high standards needed to prove excellence in American manufacturing.”

As a Pasty Fest sponsor, Calumet Electronics supports Main Street Calumet, and the greater community.  “We live and work in an area with a tradition of hard work and dedication. When local copper mines closed in our northernmost tract of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, Calumet Electronics was founded to provide career opportunities and great, family-sustaining manufacturing jobs. Today, as we continue to thrive, Calumet Electronics remains as tough as the people who work here, and as strong as the town that inspired our name.”

Committed to “high-velocity, high-performance printed circuit board (PCB) engineering and fabrication solutions in North America,” Calumet Electronics is an industry leader in the Copper Country. The company intends to “provide our customers with the highest quality and most reliable PCBs that will stand up to their most rigorous applications.” Calumet Electronics strives to improve its manufacturing capabilities over time. It gives the community long-term employment opportunities to remain in the area and do meaningful, relevant work. You can find roles in Quality Control, Human Resources, Safety, Sales and much more at Calumet Electronics.

Its “need for brilliant early-career and experienced engineers to help advance the company’s engineering and manufacturing capabilities” could drive the next step in your career. Calumet Electronics reports “a majority of experienced American electronics manufacturing engineers are nearing retirement age. Our industry is in great need of an infusion of talented young engineers with the drive and passion to rebuild this great industry.” If you’re looking to advance your career and fuel a bright American future, look at current job offerings at Calumet Electronics.

​IncredibleBank in Calumet is a big piece of the community. Incredible Bank contributes to the history and growth of Calumet by supporting local businesses, families and individuals reaching their financial goals. Incredible Bank celebrated its 150th anniversary in the Copper Country on July 16, 2003. The bank was established in 1873. Historically called “Merchants and Miners Bank” in Calumet, Incredible Bank continues to serve the community of Calumet. “We offer Calumet a trusted partner for their financial needs,” said Jamie Thyrion, Incredible Bank market manager. “From personal banking services to business solutions, we strive to empower the community by providing accessible, reliable and innovative financial resources.”

 As a Pasty Fest 2023 sponsor, Incredible Bank is proud to be a part of the celebration. “Pasty Fest brings an energy of culture, tradition and history with a bit of fun and quirkiness,” said Thyrion. “It’s an opportunity for locals and visitors to bond over delicious food, lively entertainment and shared experiences, enhancing our sense of spirit and drawing attention to the area’s charm.”

Incredible Bank recently announced IncredibleWealth, a new financial planning and investment service in collaboration with Ameriprise Financial Services, LL. It also launched an online appointment scheduler you can use on its website or on your mobile banking. Another new service, AutoBooks, is an easy-to-use solution for businesses interested in digital payment acceptance and invoicing directly inside your mobile and online banking with Incredible Bank.

“We are privately owned by the Nicklaus family,” said Thyrion. “Ron Nicklaus originally began his career in farming and after years of working closely with the banking industry they bought controlling interest in River Valley State Bank in 1983. What’s truly special to IncredibleBank and the Nicklaus family is the people we serve. Our customers are more than just clients – they are part of the IncredibleBank family. Throughout the fall and summer months the Nicklaus family deliver fresh produce from the farm to each location to be given away to employees and customers. This personalized approach, coupled with out commitment to providing exceptional financial solutions, sets us apart and makes our business deeply meaningful.”

Stop in IncredibleBank in Calumet for all your financial needs, located at 56500 US Hwy 41, in Calumet.

Why did you decide to move to Calumet?
Our story might be a bit unique.  We grew up in northern Wisconsin and had dated each other in high school. We lost touch with each other a couple of years out of school as we both went on to college and beyond.  We got back in touch 32 years later, and having found each other again, we dated and got married.  For a portion of our honeymoon road trip we drove to the Keweenaw - a place that each of our family's had visited regularly.  On a day that the entire Keweenaw had lost power, due to a powerful thunderstorm the previous night, we pulled into Calumet - and fell in love with the town and area.  We spent the entire day driving around the perimeter of the Keweenaw and that feeling just grew stronger.
  
By that time, I had been a “remote worker” for a major telecom company for several years.  When we got back together, we were living in Tennessee.  The area is beautiful, as we lived in the foothills of the Smoky Mountains, and had easy access to miles of hiking and mountain bike trails.  However, the summers were getting hotter and hotter, and the winters were wet without snow.  Each season felt like we were being forced inside, either by the heat or the wet coldness.  We thought about selling our house and moving north - and after much internal debate, decided to move forward with it.

How did you find a house?
We looked for homes online.  Once we’d narrowed down what looked good, and what had what we needed, we contacted a Keweenaw area agent.  We then drove north in February, and spent 3 days looking at 12 different homes.  We didn’t make an immediate decision, but again, once home, deliberated on which would be best until we decided.  At that point we put our home in Tennessee up for sale, and put an initial bid on the home here we liked.  The offer we placed was contingent upon the sale of our home in Tennessee.

How much did you have to spend to get your house improved? What did you do to your house? 
We can put it this way; The home we owned in Tennessee was a 1500 square foot 1930s English Cottage style in a very nice historic section of town.  Upon putting the house on the market, we immediately received 3 full price offers.  With the money we received from the sale of that home we could afford to buy a home here for 1/3 the price of the home in Tennessee.  However, we did need to invest a considerable amount, perhaps another 1/3 of the price of the home, to conduct some repairs to the roof and internally.  Upon moving into the home, we lived on the first floor, sleeping in the dining room for a month or more, while we updated the second floor. We did the painting, stripping and refinishing floors, updating the bathroom, and a number of other small repairs.  All this time I worked remotely.
 
The key to all this is that even though we did this work, our overall mortgage was much smaller, and we were able to save even more by performing a lot of the work ourselves. 
  
How do you like winter? Is it what you thought it'd be?
Summers and falls are very easy to love here - they are some of the best in the country.  However, we really love winter.  It isn’t an in-between winter; it’s a full on winter.  The snow is wonderful, the x-country skiing is world class, and the fat tire biking is great. What was even more surprising is the quiet - the snow dampens the sounds of everything.  We had been told, mostly by people that live in the south, that we would hate the winters and would soon be back to the warmer climate. Well, not a chance - this is everything we could want.

What's your favorite part about living here?
The area is so very unique - hiking, biking, skiing, camping.  If you even like the outdoors just a little, you could not find a better place to live.  And, there is that lake - it is awe inspiring each and every time you come over the crest of a hill and see it….
 
What's the hardest part about living here?
The hard part of living here can be the travel times if you have people that you want to go see, or if they want to come here.  We’re not on the way to somewhere else, you have to want to come here…It is important to know that at this time local flights are routed through Chicago.

Would you do anything different in regards to your transition to Calumet (would you have rented somewhere first, etc)?
If there was something to have done different, it would only be that we would have come here earlier.

What do you do for work?
 As mentioned, I work for a large, international telecom company.  My clients are very large multinational financial/banking companies.  I spend my days speaking and working with customers in all parts of the world (i.e. Hong Kong, Singapore, Hungary, the UK, Ireland, and of course the US and Canada).

Would you move to Calumet without a remote job?
If there were a job here comparable to what I do now, perhaps.  However, I’ve become very comfortable working from home.

After we moved here, we collected as many links as we could find that would have helped us make our move. You can find them at Main Street Calumet Living and Working.

And even more importantly, visit this site for tips on moving during a pandemic. 

Consider the Keweenaw!

​What's your name? 
Barbara Flanagin
What's your Calumet connection?
I've lived in Laurium since 2006.
How can people see/ buy your work? Please provide a social media handle, website, or other location where people can follow you/find your work?
Cross Country Sports has some of my prints and cards and the Art Center has a tile or two.
How long have you been creative? Did you have any formal training?
I've enjoyed drawing since I was a child, and took various classes growing up. The Botanical Art Certificate Program from the Morton Arboretum was the most formal training I've had.
What type of art do you make and what's your preferred medium?
Two dimensional, usually, so painting or drawing, but also clay.
What have you been working on lately? What's been inspiring you?
Views from the edges of cliffs
Tell us whose work you've been admiring lately!
Mary Brodbeck, Jessica Steinhauser, Nick Cave

Main Street Calumet is proud of Calumet's "artsy" reputation.  #MixedMediaMonday is our way of sharing the tremendous human capital that our area has in the form of artists with everyone else. Almost every week you will see a different artist featured here! 
What's your name? 
Melissa Beth Johnson

What's your Calumet connection?
Hancock-born and Wisconsin-raised, I came back to the U.P every summer. Enamored with the remnants of the copper boom, I knew the Copper Country was home. After moving back to the area in 2016, I made it my personal quest to explore the Keweenaw Peninsula whenever possible, while capturing my adventures to share with others.

How can people see/ buy your work? Please provide a social media handle, website, or other location where people can follow you/find your work?
Currently, my photos can be seen on instagram: _yoopy_ . I currently have about 300 matted prints of all sizes, as well as canvas, metal and glass prints in larger sizes just waiting to be sold. I currently do sales through my instagram, however, I also have an Etsy page in the works which should be up and running in a couple of weeks. My Etsy store is named "yoopnative".

Mary Swetich was the queen of fudge making.  She was the one who created all of the 30 plus  flavors we offer today.  As time went on, she perfected her fudge making skills and turned her fudge into an art.  She loved coming in to make it after a busy weekend.  Throughout the years she won many awards for her fudge.  Mary made fudge for the Calumet Mercantile until she passed away In 2017.​

Joyce Bausano took over the kitchen in 2017 and has continued the tradition of fudge making.  She had big shoes to fill.  As the years have gone by, she has perfected her own techniques and has kept the tradition alive.  We do believe Mary would be proud!  The fudge tastes and looks almost the same as if she was still behind the kettle.

What's your name? 
Donna Lenard

What's your Calumet connection?
I work at Insight Eyecare in Calumet. I’ve been an optician for 35 years. I also show my watercolors at the Calumet Art Center. I teach my watercolor techniques at the center as well.

How can people see/ buy your work? Please provide a social media handle, website, or other location where people can follow you/find your work?
My work is available at the Calumet Art Center and I regularly show at the Poor Artist Sale at Calumet High every December . I have a page on Facebook Donna Lenard Watercolors with videos I’ve been developing for the last few weeks. I also have a booth every year at the Keweenaw Art Affair and Art in the Park in Copper Harbor.

How long have you been creative? Did you have any formal training?
I have been exploring watercolor for 20 years. I am self-taught. I moved to Alaska when I first started watercolor and had good guidance from the Fairbanks Watercolor Society. I showed my work at every First Friday event and had a few solo shows at local galleries.

What type of art do you make and what's your preferred medium?
I am a watercolorist. I love wet on wet techniques to create dreamy effects. I paint mostly landscapes and enjoy making northern lights pop off the page. I also paint the illusion of flowers. It’s all an illusion! Simplicity is key to inviting the viewer’s imagination to enjoy the work.

What have you been working on lately? What's been inspiring you?
I have been creating short watercolor tutorials to engage everyone at home right now. They are my inspiration and seems to be helpful to get folks through this time. I have them all on my Facebook page as well as on YouTube.

Tell us whose work you've been admiring lately!
There are some local artists that I admire and love talking to them about their process. Bob Dawson, Clyde Mikkola and Jennifer Slack to name a few.