Pasty Central began in 1996 as a fund-raising project for Still Waters Assisted Living Community in Calumet.  Online pasty sales grew from pictures of our elderly residents in one of their favorite activities: "peeling veggies" to help the cooks prepare the U.P. style pasties, which have now become a national favorite.  In the early years, we added occasional pictures of Copper Country people and places, until committing to a photo a day in 1998.  Original visual content was provided by Jonathan Hopper, with editing by his dad and pasty.com's webmaster Charlie Hopper.

The longest running daily feature in Upper Michigan, the "Pasty Cam" soon became a popular destination for displaced Yoopers around the world, curious to see "a glimpse of life in the U.P."  Within the first month, guest photos began to appear.  Over the years, along with a growing number of amateur photographers, several accomplished professionals have also joined in as contributors.  By 2003 the resulting collection of over 5,000 photos, commentary and discussion reached an average of more than 5 million hits per month. By the end of 2006 the number of photos approached 50,000 and the site was receiving over 11 million monthly hits.

Assistance provided through this project helped extend the life of Still Waters for 5 years beyond the time it might otherwise have closed, due to changes in State regulation and funding for this level of care. With the closing of the Home in 2006, this project shifted its support to other elder care activities, including Little Brothers Friends of the Elderly. The pasty baking operation was expanded and relocated to its current facility adjacent to the Hut Inn Family Restaurant in Kearsarge, a mile north of Calumet on US-41.

In addition to the daily pictures, contributed photos on pasty.com have appeared in Wallpaper of the Week, annual color calendars, screen saver CD's, greeting cards, posters, newspaper articles, public presentations, etc.  The mission of the website remains committed to the supporting care for the elderly in the area where this project was born.  Contributing photographers do not receive monetary compensation, though we always strive to give proper credits for each original work which is published in any form.

Images submitted to Pasty Central are accepted for consideration under the following terms:

1.  You retain ownership of any image you contribute which is your original work.  Images sent from third parties should only be by permission of the organization or individual who owns it, who also must agree to this submission policy.

2.  You understand that submitted images may or may not appear on the Pasty Cam and its related forms of publication, now or in the future.  Each week many more images are received than space allotted for publication.

3.  By submitting any image, you are granting to Pasty Central the unrestricted, non-exclusive right to use it now and in the future.  This includes modifying the original image dimensions, brightness, contrast, etc., retouching or removal of any visible time stamps or lettering, and adding the customary framing and pasty.com watermark.

4.  Images used become a permanent part of this website and its product offerings (calendars, screen savers, etc.)  By virtue of appearance on the web, such images also become a permanent part of search engine caching libraries (such as google.com) and online archiving organizations (such as archive.org).

5.  Images not immediately used become a permanent part of Pasty Central's library of unpublished files, for possible future use.  In some cases, contributed images have appeared up to 3 years after the date they were originally received.

6.  The Guest Gallery may link to external sites, which are not necessarily endorsed by Pasty Central. The Gallery itself is not intended for commercial use (shopping cart sales, etc.)

7.  This Gallery is intended to be an extension of The Pasty Cam, "A daily visual journal in Michigan's Upper Peninsula." While albums dealing with other subjects and geographical areas may be acceptable, Pasty Central reserves the right at its own discretion to limit or discontinue Gallery albums which appear substantially unrelated to the primary focus and purpose of this website.

8.  By submitting any image, you are indicating you have read and understood this policy and agree to its terms.

On behalf of the Pasty Central staff and Pasty Cam viewers everywhere who enjoy this daily virtual tour of Upper Michigan, thank you for your participation in this project