Phantasm continues to grow Alger County residents taking larger part in festival The Fall Phantasm, a live art and performance festival, continued to grow for its third straight year, with people from all over the region enjoying the event held at Lakenenland on Saturday, Oct. 7.

“Our first year, we had about 300 people and last year was about 1,200,” said Taylor Sirard, Production Director for Marquette Fringe, the group organizing the Phantasm. “This year, we’re expecting over 2,000 people altogether.”

The festival had over a dozen events with various performances, activity booths and vendors, but organizers had to adjust on the fly due to heavy winds and rain earlier in the day. A fire performance that helped string together the themes and motifs of the event from year to year had to be canceled completely with the hopes it could be shown at another art event in Marquette later in the year.

Even with the changes, most of the drum circles, puppeteering performances and a horse decorated as a pegasus were able to continue. The event as a whole focuses on magic, fairies and both real and mythical woodland creatures, so most of the festival goers will attend in costume.

Phantasm goers came from as far away as San Francisco with many performers coming from downstate or the Madison, Wisc. area, but many were from the Alger County area. Many families from the western part of the county attended the event while others coordinated with relatives to visit when the festival was going on.

“I’m really enjoying this event,” said Betty Jo Swajanen, a Michigan Tech student who is visiting her home in Eben over the weekend. “It shows that we have a lot more diversity here and not just the same five families doing the same thing over and over again.”

Locals also took on a more active role in the event. Rolling Smoke food truck out of Limestone was the first food vendor to sell out at the event. Others got involved in volunteering with Marquette Fringe for fundraising and at the event.

Some like Katie Fink of Sundell became a vendor this year. Selling a number of old costumes from her photography studio in Marquette, her shop was set up across the walkway from her son Wyatt’s booth, selling animal bones that are used in various art projects.

“This event is an incredible celebration of artistic expression in all forms and is a wonderful way to bring the local communities together and celebrate the season through activities, food, laughter and performances,” she said. “I’m always blown away by the creativity and dedication of everyone performing, attending and vending.”

Despite being a Marquette Fringe event, held in Marquette County, the group’s desire is to be as inclusive as possible. Sirard says that mythos of the event itself includes a portal connecting groups from worlds apart, meaning that any people heading west from Alger County is more than welcome to join all of the artistic possibilities possible from Phantasm.

“I can understand how some might think this is just a Marquette event, but we have people coming in from all directions. We’re excited to have more people get involved, volunteer and just enjoy everything this event has to offer,” Sirard said.