Mainers help themselves, others

Northern New Englanders celebrated a cool, quiet Thanksgiving Day at home with their families, and also took time to serve traditional meals to the less-fortunate or brave the chill to watch football or run races.

The holiday provided a breather for stressed-out travelers who were part of the wave of nearly 40 million Americans expected to travel long distances by car for the holiday.

Thanksgiving’s temperatures, which stayed in the 20s and 30s in most of the region, were an early Christmas present for ski resorts, which ran their snow guns full-blast to get their trails open and start off the season on a healthy note.

Vermonters were greeted by the real stuff Thanksgiving morning, obliging road crews to hit the highways to clear up a light snowfall across the state. Some of the state’s mountains got 4 inches.

Thanksgiving was a day for traditional football rivalries, like the 89th matchup between Portland and Deering high schools in Maine. Runners raced through Portland’s streets in an annual holiday event.

Volunteers served turkey dinners to homeless in Portland and Lewiston, Maine. Farther north, U.S. Rep. John Baldacci served Thanksgiving dinner to residents at the Bangor Mental Health Institute.

In Manchester, N.H., U.S. Cellular employees volunteered their time to allow homeless people to place free long-distance calls on cellular phones to their families and friends.

And the Salvation Army in Burlington, Vt., got an early start on the holiday, feeding dozens of people Wednesday evening.

Thanksgiving was another workday for some, but Portland firefighter Phil McGouldrick took it in stride.

“It’s one of the few drawbacks of one of the best jobs in the world, having to work holidays and weekends,” McGouldrick said.

Also at work were employees at the Maine State Prison in Thomaston, where more than 400 inmates were treated to three special meals Thursday: a big breakfast of bacon and eggs, steak sandwiches and ice cream at lunch and turkey with all the fixings for dinner.

Traffic on the region’s highways Thursday was but a trickle of what it was on Wednesday, the busiest travel day of the year. But it is certain to pick up Friday, one of the busiest shopping days of the year.

The National Weather Service said clear, cool weather would remain as the Christmas shopping frenzy begins.

Waterville is marking the occasion with its Touch of Country Electric Christmas Parade on Friday night, which will culminate with the lighting of an evergreen glowing with 14,000 lights.

Even though gasoline costs about 30 cents more per gallon than it did at Thanksgiving time a year ago, plenty of cars were on the roads as the holiday weekend began – and are expected to return as it ends.

The Maine Turnpike expects 700,000 vehicles to use the toll highway between Wednesday and Sunday. Turnpike officials said the volume is heavy, but still doesn’t compare with that of summer weekends.

An accident in one of the region’s busiest bottlenecks slowed things down even more Wednesday. A rolled-over propane tanker closed the ramp from the Portsmouth Traffic Circle in New Hampshire to Interstate 95.

Airports were busy too. At Manchester Airport, about 13,000 passengers went through the terminal Wednesday.