With cold weather here, it’s the season to come inside and let the party begin. And what better way to kick off the holiday season than with a live band, free hors d’ourves and reason to celebrate?

The Scarborough 350th Committee will host a book launch party Friday at Scarborough Downs, from 5-8 p.m., to celebrate the release of the new book, “Scarborough at 350 – Linking the Past to the Present.” Coos Canyon will provide live music, there will be a cash bar and balloons for children. The whole town is invited. RSVP to Susan Higgins at Scarborough Downs, 883-4331.

The guests of honor will be the many people who contributed to the project. In addition to receiving a special invitation, they we’re also asked to bring their pens. If you’ve already purchased a book, bring it to the book launch party. This will be the place to gather up author autographs. If you haven’t purchased a book yet, you may purchase either a regular copy or a limited-edition copy at the party or at a retail location around town. Artist Deb Merrill will also be there showcasing her recently created masterpiece, Scarborough’s historic map.

I questioned my sanity last spring when I volunteered to help sell 2,000 books. I stopped into see Shirley at Shirley’s Hallmark in June with a prototype. Her enthusiasm for the selling effort gave the project a huge jump start. She suggested we pre-sell in the summer months and others – Len Libby Candies, Nestling Duck, Golden Pheasant and the Breakers Inn – embraced the pre-sell idea, too. By July 4, 125 posters had been placed around town urging people to pre-order their books. To my surprise, other small retailers in town were disappointed not be pre-selling the book. But the posters, donated by Brown Fox Printing, were up. As ridiculous as it may sound, we turned other retailers down on their offer to pre-sell.

The book launch party date was set for Nov. 16, because the books weren’t expected to arrive before Nov. 9. But another lucky break occurred when they landed in Scarborough on Oct. 23. The next day, 420 books were shipped to retailers. Nearly all of the pre-selling locations called for more books within a week of their first delivery. New outlets, including Ace Hardware, Flaherty Family Farm, Nonesuch Books & Cards and Borders, were added, new posters went up and calls for re-orders continue to come in. Back in May, my perfect world vision was to have all 2,000 books sold by the time snow flies. So far, I’ve seen no snow in Maine, so this goal may still be attainable.

The goal of the book launch is to get everyone in town in an historically festive mood in preparation for the big, four-day celebration taking place July 11-14 next year.