Ben Garbacz/Daily Mining Gazette Searra Liggett displays her art at the 37th Annual Art in the Park at Donny Kilpela Memorial Park in Copper Harbor.

COPPER HARBOR — The Copper Harbor Improvement Association held its 37th Annual Art in the Park at Donny Kilpela Memorial Park over the weekend.

The fair showcased various artists and their crafts with live music playing and the Copper Harbor Fire Department serving food. The art fair is the largest fundraiser of the year for CHIA, which supports the businesses and services of the Copper Harbor community.

Event coordinator Johanna Davis led the fair for the 22nd year in a row and provided the opportunity for about 60 artists from all over the country to display and sell their artwork. Davis is the owner of the Spirit of the North Massage and Wellness, and her family runs another business within the town. She has an understanding of what it takes for the businesses to find success at the end of the Keweenaw Peninsula, and the art fair acts as a way to not only fundraise but bring in tourists for the weekend to bring revenue for the other businesses, hotels, restaurants and bars.

“It means a lot to Copper Harbor,” Davis said. “We are always grateful for the amount of people that come to the northern most town in Michigan. Our community up here is focused on the outdoors and the arts so we have a lot of local artists in the area here.”

The mediums of artwork were diverse with plenty of woodworking, painting, photography, copper artistry and many more to be found. Amongst the photographers was Searra Liggett, a resident from south of Houghton who was selling a multitude of images she had taken throughout the Keweenaw and downstate Michigan. She approaches her pictures with trying to capture vibrant colors and unique perspectives of popular points of interest especially in the Keweenaw.

The unique perspectives she refers to are shooting the picture through or around an object. Several pictures will have out of focus leaves, branches, or something else standing by or circling around the main subject of the picture in perfect focus such as a lighthouse. This is intended to draw one’s eye directly to the subject of the picture.

“We’re very outdoorsy folks and we’ve only lived here for the past three years,” Davis said. “To be able to connect to nature is amazing and I like to showcase that through my art.”

Davis then said that she was very impressed by the hospitality of the Copper Harbor residents and the kindness displayed by the tourists.

Another artist partaking in the Art in the Park was Synthia Marsh of Superior Northwoods Studio. She is a jeweler who makes a variety of Michigan themed jewelry with stones and minerals that can mostly be found within the state. Marsh took up the craft when looking for an activity to preoccupy her time when her daughter moved out and went to college. She was intrigued by the craft when she realized that it required extreme tools to form the pieces.

“The whole idea of soldering with a torch and fire just sounded magical to me,” Marsh said. “I just wanted to use fire and that’s how I got started.”

And that fire goes into making various pieces such as Isle Royale themed jewelry which utilizes greenstones, a gem that is found on the island. Marsh however uses greenstones found on the Keweenaw Peninsula since the taking of stones is prohibited on Isle Royale. Even the greenstone pieces that are not Isle Royale themed are very popular with her customers, and she has plenty more to offer with U.P. and Lake Superior themed items whether they are necklaces, bracelets or rings.