Saturday, Dec. 3 marked the 31st annual Harbor Lights Festival in Boothbay Harbor.

A treat for young and old, this festival embodies the spirit and magic of the holiday season with a craft fair, wagon rides, readings and crafts, open houses, and a visit by Santa and Mrs. Claus with their North Pole entourage of elves, a Christmas moose, a Christmas lobster or two, Christmas tree ... and often some surprise guests ... arriving with a Coast Guard escort to the Town Landing.

Children followed Santa and Company to the Boothbay Harbor Memorial Library where they waited patiently to tell Old Saint Nick what they are wishing for most under their Christmas tree this year and a visit with Mrs. Claus! 

The festival included the tree-lighting on the Boothbay Harbor Memorial Library lawn, caroling with the Boothbay Community Band, a trek to a live nativity at Our Lady Queen of Peace escorted by Three Wise Men and the festival’s big finish: a dazzling lighted boat parade.

How the festival began

The region’s holiday celebration began as The Scottish Christmas Walk with bagpipers playing highland marches and slow airs filling the streets of the downtown. It was a three-day event, Dec. 6-8, 1985, sponsored by the Boothbay Harbor Region Chamber of Commerce — still is. There was a parade, Christmas craft fair at the YMCA, an open house at the Boothbay Region Historical Society displaying china, furniture and other wares previously owned by many of the original Scot settlers of the region. Local merchants and restaurants offered special promotions and discounts and lodging owners were encouraged to offer weekend packages.

Santa was brought to the Town Landing aboard one of Eliot Winslow’s tugs. After disembarking, Santa was greeted by Town Crier Brud Pierce and a group of pipers to a Boothbay Harbor fire truck to lead the Christmas parade that culminated in a piping event at the high school fields on Townsend Avenue.

A 20-foot Christmas tree was donated by Irving and Jane Conley and decorated to reflect coastal and Scot themes — red lights and ribbons with large scallop shells created by Bill Harris of the Boothbay Register. There was a tree-lighting with Santa accompanied by the Carousel Theatre Singers to lead the caroling!

For more of the history of this beloved festival, which now includes the enchanting Festival of Trees, visit www.boothbayregister.com’s Fall Into the Holidays page! This page will tell the story of the 2016 Harbor Lights Festival in photos ... here come the memories!