• FAIRS/FESTIVALS

FRIDAY

Local Craft and Wares Fair, Bethel Inn Resort. Free. www.bethelmaine.com. 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Festival of Trees, Saco Museum. Free. 283-3861. Tree lighting and ribbon-cutting ceremony, 5 to 7 p.m. Friday. Continues 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, and noon to 5 p.m. Sunday, Tuesday and Wednesday.

Festival of Lights, festivities include Historic Inns Tour, tree lighting, carriage rides and Santa. Various locations, Rockland. www.therealmaine.com. Various times.

Holiday Artisan Fair, Fiddlehead Center for the Arts, Gray. www.fiddleheadcenter.org. 4 to 7 p.m. Friday; 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday.

Winter Holiday Show, handmade crafts, Blueberry Ridge Farm, Pownal. 688-4153. 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Friday to Sunday.

FEZtival of Trees, decorated trees, food court, entertainment, craft fair and pictures with Santa, Kora Shrine Temple, Lewiston. $2; free for children under 12. www.KoraShriners.org. 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Friday; 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday.

Creative Economy Studio Show and Sale, work by local artists, Schwenk Studio, Freeport. www.catschwenk.com. 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Friday; 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.

SATURDAY

Victorian Christmas Open House and Cookie Walk, Phippsburg Historical Society Museum. 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Christmas in New England Craft Show, Augusta Civic Center. 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday; 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday.

Neighborly Craft Fair, North Berwick Primary School. 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Christmas Fair, First Congregational Church, Kennebunkport. 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

WEDNESDAY

Artisans Holiday Market, work by 11 local artists, The Gallery, Boothbay. 633-7187. 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

• SPECIAL EVENTS

FRIDAY

Tree Lighting, watch the Christmas tree light up while listening to music by Rick Charette and His Bubblegum Band. Monument Square, Congress Street, Portland. 5:30 p.m. (music), 6:05 p.m. (tree lighting).

Custom House Wharf Tree Lighting, with music and food and drink specials, Porthole Restaurant, Portland. 774-5554. 6 p.m.

Parade of Lights, begins at the north end of Main Street and ends at Castonguay Square with the lighting of the giant spruce and Santa’s arrival at Kringleville, Main Street, Waterville. www.kringleville.com/parade.ht. 6 p.m.

Holiday Extravaganza, musicians, art exhibits, poets and more, Aarhus Gallery, Belfast. www.aarhusgallery.com. Various times. Through Dec. 24.

“The Twelve Days of Christmas,” tours of the mansion decked out in holiday splendor; tours are self-guided, Victoria Mansion, Portland. $5-$15; free for children under 6; $35 family ticket. www.victoriamansion.org. 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday to Wednesday. Through Jan. 8.

ExTRAINaganza, model train show with special activities, Great Falls Model Railroad Club, Auburn. $2. 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Friday; 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday.

SATURDAY

Antique paper show, postcards, calendars and other paper collectibles, Holiday Inn West, Portland. $4. 828-8065. 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Christmas in Kennebunk, music, tree lighting and more, Downtown Plaza, Kennebunk. www.visit thekennebunks.com. 4:30 p.m.

Lighting of the Nubble, with music, Santa and refreshments, Cape Neddick Lighthouse, York Beach (shuttle from Ellis Park). www.nubblelight.org. 5 p.m.

Rory Raven, mind reader, Lucid Stage, Portland, $12. 899-3993. 8 p.m.

“Christmas with the Longfellows,” mid-19th-century holiday celebration with Longfellow House tours and children’s activities, Wadsworth-Longfellow House, Portland. 774-1822. Music from 1 to 3 p.m. and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. (last tour leaves at 4 p.m.) Saturday; noon to 5 p.m. (last tour leaves at 4 p.m.) Sunday; and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. (last tour leaves at 4 p.m.) Monday to Wednesday.

“Share the Wonder,” seasonal celebration with the Wyeth family features exhibit of holiday art, artifacts and a large model train set, Farnsworth Art Museum, Rockland. 596-6457. Children’s activities from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.

SUNDAY

Tree lighting, with music and local open houses, Town Hall, New Gloucester. 926-3188. 4:30 p.m.

Tree lighting, with holiday music, wagon rides, caroling and story readings, Town Office, Gray. 2:30 p.m. (4:15 p.m. tree lighting).

MONDAY

Parade of Lights, holiday parade begins on Turner Street and proceeds down Mechanics Row to Main Street where Santa will light the Christmas tree at Festival Plaza, then continues to Lewiston’s Dufresne Plaza for a tree and menorah lighting and entertainment. Various locations, Auburn. www.auburnmaine.gov. 6 p.m.

TUESDAY

Knitting Night, knit (or not) while listening to a performance by fiddler Hope Hoffman and her band, Free Grange Music Studio, Bowdoinham. Free. 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. Tuesday and Wednesday. Through Jan. 19.

• BOOKS/AUTHORS 

SATURDAY

Roland Wallace, “Maney the Sneezing Moose,” book signing, Borders Bookstore, Brunswick. Free. 10:30 a.m.

Carol Lambert, “Sea Glass Hunter’s Handbook,” book signing, Nonesuch Books and Cards, Biddeford. 11 a.m. and 2 p.m.

TUESDAY

Wolfgang Kliemann, co-author of “The Dynamics of Control,” presents “Global Behavior of Dynamical Systems, or Where Does Chaos Fit into Mathematics,” Bowdoin College (Searles Science Building), Brunswick. Free. 725-3567. 7 p.m.

Earle Shettleworth Jr., “Victorian Augusta,” author talk/book signing, Belfast Free Library. www.belfast.lib.me.us. 7 p.m.

Brian Czech, author of “Shoveling Fuel for a Runaway Train,” presents “Take a Position: The Need for Steady Statesmanship from the Academic Grassroots,” Colby College (Olin Science Center), Waterville. Free. www.colby.edu. 7 p.m.

WEDNESDAY

Brown Bag Lecture Series with Rosemary Herbert, “Front Page Teaser,” bring your own lunch, Portland Public Library. Free. 871-1710. Noon to 1 p.m.

• PARTICIPANT DANCE

Dancing with DJ John, Maplewood Dance Center, Portland. 878-0584. 7 to 11 p.m. Friday.

Ballroom dancing, American Ballroom Dance Academy, Portland. 879-5761. Argentine tango lesson at 6 p.m., group lesson at 7 p.m., dance 8 to 11 p.m. Saturday. Each lesson session is $10; $15 for both; $5 dance only.

Ballroom dancing, Maplewood Dance Center, Portland. 878-0584. Semi-formal ballroom dance party, 7:30 to 11 p.m. Saturday; 7 to 11 p.m. Wednesday.

• FILMS

Sagadahoc Preservation’s Dreamland Theater film series, Winter Street Center, Bath. “Home for the Holidays” (1995), 7 p.m. today.

“Ride the Divide,” mountain bike documentary, Frontier Cafe, Cinema & Gallery, Brunswick. $10. www.explorefrontier.com. 7 p.m. Saturday.

• PRO SPORTS

Portland Pirates, AHL hockey team, Cumberland County Civic Center, Portland. $11-$17. 828-4665. www.portlandpirates.com. Vs. Springfield, 7 p.m. Friday.

 

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