ROCKLAND – The new Maine Lighthouse Museum is almost shipshape.

By Saturday, it will shine.

A three-year effort by scores of volunteers will be complete when Ken Black, known around town as Mr. Lighthouse, snips a 100-foot-long red, white and blue ribbon, officially opening the downtown museum in a 10 a.m. ceremony.

Black, who founded the original museum in the late 1970s, will be surrounded by volunteers who planned, raised money and toiled untold hours to turn the former Courier Publications office building at One Park Drive into Rockland’s newest attraction.

In the past three weeks, volunteers have worked more than 600 hours piecing together some of the extensive and priceless lighthouse items Black has acquired through the years, said Bob Hastings, managing director of the museum and chief executive of the Rockland-Thomaston Area Chamber of Commerce.

Three years ago, the future of the collection looked dim. The city had decided to sell the Grand Army of the Republic Building on Limerock Street, where the Shore Village Museum had housed the lighthouse collection for decades. Black put out a mayday.

On Tuesday, Black said community leaders responded to his call for help in a big way.

“It’s a dream come true,” said Black, who turns 82 on June 29. “I think it’s absolutely great, and the setting is almost unbelievable – right on the waterfront.

“Down in the basement there is a great treasure-trove of things we could not put [on display] at this time,” he said, noting the museum is a work in progress. The target date for completion is October 2006.

In May 2003, Hastings and others launched Gateway Lights Inc., a nonprofit umbrella organization that subsequently subleased from the city the main level of the building on Park Drive. MBNA has been the building’s owner.

The Gateway Center developed from there with the help of city officials and heads of surrounding museums and businesses.

The center became home to the Rockland-Thomaston Area Chamber of Commerce earlier this month. It also will showcase promotional exhibits for the Farnsworth Art Museum, Island Institute, Owls Head Transportation Museum, Maine Lobster Festival and Rockland Historical Society.

In the wake of MBNA’s announcement last week that it has sold some of its midcoast properties, including the former Courier Publications building, Hastings said Monday, some people “felt the lease was extinguished.”

“We are completely confident we are in great shape,” he said. “That’s not an issue for us.” The city’s lease with MBNA has options to renew and to buy the building, he said, adding, “Leases supersede real estate sales.”

When the doors open Saturday, visitors will step into a reception area, where the floor itself is an attraction. Light- and dark-gray tiles depict the coast of Maine. Penny-sized, bronze numbered markers show the location of each of Maine’s 68 lighthouses. Soon, a chart will identify the beacons by number.

Planned is a 1,000-square-foot gift shop stocked by Lighthouse Depot of Wells.

Hastings expects the shop to produce a significant amount of revenue for the museum.

To the starboard side of the reception area are the Chamber offices and the entrance to the “Museum in the Making.” The inaugural exhibit will be displayed in a 10,700-square-foot area, Hastings said, pointing to another 5,000 square feet of floor space designated for expansion.

In one section of the museum will be an artist’s rendition of a future exhibit depicting a lighthouse lens. The rendition will be near two windows made from lighthouse window panels. The architectural rendering is by Chris White of Crownsville, Md. The windows are believed to be spares from Rockland Breakwater Light, said Ted Panayotoff, the museum’s volunteer coordinator.

People can get a glimpse through those windows of pieces of a second-order lens that will be the centerpiece for the exhibit-to-come. The lens, large enough for a small person to step inside, is from Petit Manan Light.

Just off the Lighthouse Depot gift shop is a semicircular deck overlooking Rockland Harbor, with Rockland Breakwater Light visible in the distance.

The center also has a catering kitchen, a 60- to 80-seat meeting room, 22-seat Liberty Room conference chamber and public restrooms.

The Maine Lighthouse Museum, One Park Drive, Rockland, will be open from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday through October. Hours for the rest of the year have not been determined.

BANGOR DAILY NEWS PHOTO BY LEANNE M. ROBICHEAU

Bob Hastings (left), managing director of the Maine Lighthouse Museum, stands on the as-yet unfinished deck on the back side of the museum, which offers a spectacular view of Rockland Harbor.

PULL PHRASE: Penny-sized bronze numbered markers show the location of each of Maine’s 68 lighthouses