Thimbleberry jam, cream cheese, vinaigrette and baked goods were on offer at the Downtown Houghton Farmers Market on Tuesday, Aug. 18, as the Keweenaw Thimbleberry Festival kicked off its run across the Copper Country.
The festival, organized by the From the Ground Farmers Market Collective and Visit Keweenaw, celebrates a berry so tied to the Upper Peninsula that the event honoring it dates to the 1970s. After years of on-and-off gatherings, organizers brought the festival back last year and expanded it into a multi-community celebration running through Saturday, Aug. 22.
"It has cropped up in various different ways, but they all do the same thing," Amanda Makela, Visit Keweenaw's content and social media manager, told WLUC. "They all loop together markets, artisans, (and) musicians for a few days of just fun around the area."
At the Houghton market, Copper Shores Community Health Foundation offered samples of a thimbleberry vinaigrette. North Harvest Farm co-owner Jake Tenharmsel brought special thimbleberry baked goods, drawing on a bush that has grown on his property since 2013. He said the plants mostly tend themselves.
The celebration continued with a guided thimbleberry hike Wednesday evening at Gardener's Creek Trail in Calumet, led by "the Thimbleberry Lady," a local thimbleberry and outdoor recreation enthusiast, and with Thursday's Hancock Farmers Market at Quincy Green.
The thimbleberry grows along shaded, forested edges and old homestead clearings across the Keweenaw, thriving in the area's cool, moist climate shaped by Lake Superior, according to Visit Keweenaw. The Mining Gazette described the fruit as "a part of the Keweenaw for centuries."
Two more events remain on the schedule for residents who want to take part:
- Friday, Aug. 21 — Lake Linden Farmers Market, 3-6 p.m.
- Saturday, Aug. 22 — Calumet Farmers Market near Agassiz Park, 10 a.m.-2 p.m., followed by the Big Annie Statue Unveiling in the Calumet Green Space
Makela encouraged residents to attend the remaining events even though thimbleberries are out of season, calling it a chance to get together and get to know the area.
The full festival schedule is posted at visitkeweenaw.com/thimbleberry-festival/festival-schedule.
