January 07, 2025
BANGOR DAILY NEWS (BANGOR, MAINE

Let there be lights> Annual Rockland festival to feature seasonal delights

Been to Rockland lately?

If the answer to that question is no, the city’s business community and its official boosters believe the annual Festival of Lights, which began Nov. 24, is the perfect excuse to visit this Penobscot Bay harbor city to witness the changes that have come in the last few years.

Rockland has always been a gritty, working-waterfront town, its smokestack industries the prominent feature jutting out into the harbor full of lobster boats. But at the same time, Rockland has always drawn tourists to see its breakwater, lighthouse and the Farnsworth Art Museum, and to stay in its hotels as a base for exploring the midcoast.

In the last few years, the city’s Main Street has become its calling card. Almost a dozen art galleries have opened, featuring the best in local painting and sculpture, augmenting the established antique stores and fine restaurants. The Farnsworth has doubled in size, adding the Wyeth Center, which shows off Maine’s first family of painting.

And though the Festival of Lights, the city’s annual Christmas celebration, is designed to lure locals and those from outside the area to come to the business district to browse in the many new shops, it is also an opportunity for the city to show off its new look. Rocklanders clearly are proud of their vibrant downtown.

The festival has taken on new meaning this year, said Susan MacMillan, director of the Rockland-Thomaston Area Chamber of Commerce.

“It’s really a communitywide effort,” she said. This year, the Chamber, the merchants and even downtown residents have pitched in to plan the event, which has activities running through Dec. 23.

MBNA, Rockland’s newest corporate citizen, which will open a large, new office on the waterfront next year, has sent volunteers to town to put up lights along Main Street, MacMillan said. A family from neighboring Owls Head has donated a tree to serve as the centerpiece, and the Downeast Carolers singing group has agreed to stroll around the downtown, bringing musical cheer for free.

“Everybody has all pitched in together,” MacMillan said.

On Friday, the festival kicks off with the arrival of Santa — by lobter boat, of course – at Harbor Park on the city’s public landing. (Santa will also be in his shop Saturdays through Dec. 16 to hear children’s gift wishes.) A parade will take place at 11:15 a.m. on Main Street. From 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. and from 6 to 8 p.m., free horse-drawn carriage rides will be offered. Santa’s workshop will be open noon-3 p.m., and at 6:30 p.m. the tree-lighting ceremony ends the day at Chapman Park, at the corner of Main and Park streets.

Barbara Palacios, former Miss Venezuela, Miss South America, Miss Universe and current Cover Girl and Revlon model, will join Mayor James Raye in lighting the tree. Music and free hot cocoa will round out the tree-lighting ceremony. Palacios is visiting Rockland over the Thanksgiving weekend to promote her jewelry line which will be featured at Que’ Pasa on Main. Sally Treibel, co-owner of Que’ Pasa on Main, is an old friend of Palacios.

“Barbara is a beautiful person in every way,” Treibel said. “We invite everyone from around the midcoast area to stop in and meet Barbara and enjoy refreshments on Monday, Nov. 27, 4 to 8 p.m., at the store.”

On Saturday, the Chamber will host its annual Holiday Craft Market at the Samoset Resort, featuring the work of area artisans. Free horse-drawn carriage rides will again be available from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. downtown. On Sunday, downtown stores begin holiday hours, opening from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

On Sunday, Dec. 3, the St. John Youth Choir will perform at the Farnsworth Art Museum.

On Friday, Dec. 8, the downtown galleries will host Gallery Night, staying open until 8 p.m. and serving light refreshments. Participating galleries include: Light Impressions, Caldbeck Gallery, Gallery at 357 Main St., Huston-Tuttle Gallery, Lyn Snow Watercolors, Archipelago, Gallery 407, Anne Kilham Gallery, Sparrow Framing, Harbor Square Gallery, and Elements.

Anne Kilham, a noted Rockport artist, is known for her watercolor Maine scenes. At the gallery, prints and reproductions from $20 to $300 are available, along with unique gift items from the Anne Kilham Design collection, which includes calendars, light switch plates, coasters, wastebaskets, mouse pads, ice buckets, oval buckets, trays and place mats, all faturing images from Kilham’s paintings.

“Anne’s art is very affordable,” said Betty Plimpton, who helps runs the gallery.

The other galleries also will feature work that could provide the perfect, personal touch of art for a Christmas gift.

The festival spirit will continue from 2 to 4 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 9, when several of Rockland’s inns will open their doors to the public for a holiday open house. Each inn will be fully decorated for the season and will provide tours. Unique and delicious refreshments will be served.

Cheryl Michaelsen, who with her husband, Michael LaPosta, runs the Berry Manor Inn on Talbot Avenue, is looking forward to the open house. “My husband and I look at it as an opportunity to share the home with the community,” she said.

The couple had a busy summer in this, their second year running the inn, as people from the Southwest visited to escape the heat, along with many international visitors. In the fall, the guests tend to be from New England, Michaelsen said, and even from the immediate area, as local couples look for romantic getaways.

Other inns participating in the open house Dec. 9 are: Beech Street Guest House, 41 Beech St., between Union and Lincoln streets; Captain Lindsey House Inn, 5 Lindsey St., between Main and Union streets; and Old Granite Inn, 546 Main St., across from the ferry terminal.

Carolers will again stroll around Main Street that day, free horse-drawn carriage rides will again be available, and Santa’s Workshop will be open.

The grand finale for the Festival of Lights will come at 6 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 16, with the Parade of Lights. Lighted floats created by businesses and families will travel Park, Main and Union streets. Floats will be judged the second time around Main Street when viewers will place donations of canned goods or new toys on the float of their choice, with all items being donated to the Salvation Army.

At 3 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 17, the Farnsworth will feature “Father Christmas – a Victorian Santa.”

The event will conclude Saturday, Dec. 23, with free carriage rides and Santa’s Workshop.

For information and a complete schedule of the Rockland Festival of Lights, visit the Rockland-Thomaston Area Chamber of Commerce Web site at www.midcoast.com/~rtacc, call the Chamber at 596-0376, or stop by the Chamber building at the public landing, Harbor Park, Rockland.


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