Families brave the cold for Christmas festival at Riverfront Park
OLD TOWN, Maine — Children bundled in their winter gear squealed with glee as they climbed up a tiny snowbank only to slide right back down and start all over again. Their parents watched them play while standing in front of the bonfire for warmth.
Dozens of families and community members showed up in waves to the Old Town Riverfront Park for the Christmas festival on Friday night.
The Christmas festival, an annual community-wide event, brought people to the park to view the city’s unique kayak tree, warm up by the bonfire, watch an ice carving demonstration and visit with Santa Claus.
The Old Town Booster Club brought in a trailer to offer visitors hot drinks. Local pizza joint, O.T.O Outta the Ordinary, made burgers and hot dogs to give away. Kyle Lemieux, owner of O.T.O, said he wanted to take part in the event because it was a good opportunity for the community to gather and celebrate the holiday.
Lemieux said the city asked him if O.T.O could help out, so he asked his distributor to donate the products for the night and cooked the burgers and hotdogs himself.
“Sysco donated the [food] and I donated my time,” he said.
The final presentation of an ice carving of Olaf the Snowman for the Old Town Christmas Festival on Friday, Dec. 6. (Nina Mahaleris | The Penboscot Times).
Across the park, some children stood inside the gazebo, watching ice carvers design an ice sculpture of a beloved Disney character.
“Our job is to carve away,” said Jay Bluck, owner of SubZero Ice Carvings, based in Brunswick.
Bluck and his colleague Jon Clemons braved the cold for about three hours to entertain the children with live ice carving demonstrations.
“We’ve had nothing but positive responses,” Bluck said.
Bluck and Clemons brought their own materials — some tools and a 300-pound block of ice — which they soon carved into a sculpture of Olaf the snowman from the movie “Frozen.”
Parents took photos of children posed in front of the kayak tree in the center of Riverfront Park, surrounded by 10 more glowing miniature trees. Tasha Crafts from Old Town said her family moved to the city about four years ago, but this is the first year they’ve come to the festival.
“It was nice,” she said, adding that last year they learned about the festival after driving by the park and seeing the kayak tree but didn’t have a chance to stop by.
Santa Claus also made a brief appearance at the start of the evening. He posed with the kids for pictures underneath the gazebo and was around for the tree lighting, but he didn’t stay much longer.
The kayak tree, surrounded by 10 miniature trees were lit up on Friday night for the Old Town Christmas Festival. (Nina Mahaleris | The Penobscot Times).
Between 4:30 and 6 p.m., people entered their names into a raffle for a chance to win a kayak from Old Town Canoe and a certificate for a tree from Carpenter’s Christmas Tree Farm.
As a final event for the night, city officials read the winning names over the public address system. In a surprising turn, a father and son took home both the coveted prizes of the night while people gathered by the bonfire.
Some people brought out their red Santa hats for the occasion, while others dressed in warm clothing and simply clutched their hot drinks as children returned to their snowbank adventures.