Make new holiday memories at Seashore Trolley Museum

Open for Kennebunkport’s 38th annual Christmas Prelude and Seashore Trolley Museum welcomes guests from Dec. 6-15 for rides on heated, decked out trolleys on their private heritage railroad. Tickets are $10/person and include warm, chocolate chip cookies and hot chocolate. Tickets are available at the door, and children 2 and under are admitted free.

Prelude Trolley Rides will be offered every 30 minutes on the following dates and times:

Friday, Dec. 6 to Sunday, Dec. 8: 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.

Tuesday, Dec. 10 and Thursday, Dec. 12: 10 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. (admission is only $7, festive craft and story for all ages included — opportunity for a group activity.

Friday, Dec. 13 to Sunday, Dec. 15: 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.

The Seashore Trolley Museum is also hosting special limited seating holiday events. Book today at www.trolleymuseum.org/events or by calling 967-2800, ext. 111. Seats are still available for the following events:

Family Sleigh Ride (new event), Saturday/Sunday Dec. 7-8, noon and 4 p.m. Make memories with loved ones with a ride on the Golden Chariot, the museum’s open trolley and very own sleigh, singing carols. At the end of the ride warm up with hot chocolate and S’Mores. Tickets are $15/person.

Santa’s on the Trolley, Wednesday, Dec. 11 and Saturday, Dec. 14, 4 p.m. and 5 p.m. Enjoy a short story and sing-along when upon arrival at the Visitors Center. Board the trolley with a jingle bell and a covered cup of hot chocolate for this after-dark ride in a heated trolley car.  Tickets are $25/person and include a bag filled with goodies to take home.

Golden Chariot Ride and Cocktail Party, Friday, Dec. 13, 5 p,.m. The Golden Chariot, a completely open trolley, will whisk riders down the tracks with only the glow of the festive lights on the trolley illuminating the way. Tickets are $30/person and include two signature cocktails and appetizers at the Visitors Center after the ride.

Located at 195 Log Cabin Road in Kennebunkport, the Seashore Trolley Museum is the world’s oldest and largest electric railway and transit museum. The museum is dog-friendly, with plenty of parking. For more information, visit www.trolleymuseum.org or call, 967-2800, ext. 111 or email director@neerhs.org.

Tri City Community Chorus presents Holiday Concert

The Tri City Community Chorus, with Music Director Wesley Raines, presents its Holiday Concert, Songs of Good Cheer, Sunday, Dec. 8, at 3:30 p.m. at the First Parish Church, 12 Beach St., Saco. Among seasonal favorites, the chorus will be performing Daniel Pinkham’s “A Christmas Cantata,” “I’ll Be Home for Christmas” and “Carol of the Bells.”

Tickets may be purchased at the door or from chorus members; Community Pharmacy, 244 Main St., Saco; and Hannaford, 299 Elm St., Biddeford. Tickets: adults $10 in advance, $12 at the door; seniors/students $8 in advance, $10 at the door; children (6-12) $5; age 5 and under, free. Sponsoring the chorus for the 2019-2020 season is Saco & Biddeford Savings Institution, Supporting the Arts in our Community.

Free shuttle to Prelude festivities

Free shuttle service will run this weekend between the Chamber of Commerce on Water Street in Kennebunk and Village Marketplace in Lower Village for Prelude festivities both weekends.

Shuttle hours are 4 to 9 p.m. Friday, Dec. 6, and 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 7. Kennebunk Rec buses will run between the two stops on a 30-minute loop, picking up and dropping off on the top and bottom of every hour. The annual service offered by Kennebunk Rec and the Kennebunk, Kennebunkport and Arundel Chamber of Commerce is free, thanks to sponsors Kennebunk Savings Bank and Alisson’s Restaurant, and in lieu of fares donations will be collected for Ben’s Fight, which supports local families affected by cancer.

Shuttle hours for Prelude’s second weekend, Dec. 13-14, will be 4 to 9 p.m. Friday and Saturday.

For shuttle information, visit GoKennebunks.com. For Prelude calendar of events, visit ChristmasPrelude.com.

It’s Secret Santa time

Secret Santa of the Kennebunks is an organization that has been helping families fulfill children’s Christmas wishes since it began over 30 years ago. The organization has received gift requests for children from families experiencing financial difficulties in Kennebunk, Kennebunkport and Arundel. The Secret Santa trees, bearing gift request tags, will be out in the community from Nov. 25 through Dec. 9.

Each tag on the trees represents the Christmas wish of a local child whose family is struggling financially and cannot afford to buy gifts this year. Secret Santa Trees and tags can be found in all three town halls, Louis T. Graves Memorial Library, Kennebunk Free Library, local branches of the Kennebunk Savings Bank and Quest Fitness Center.

Participants can take a tag from the tree and purchase the specific requested gift. Return the gift with the tag to any tree location, unwrapped. Secret Santa sees that the gifts are delivered to each family in time for Christmas. Return the gift and tag to any participating location by 4 p.m. on Friday, Dec. 13. The deadline is necessary to give the Secret Santa elves time to fulfill all the gifts on tags and purchase any gift that has either not been taken or not been returned. Gifts received after Dec. 13 are likely to duplicate gifts that have already been purchased by volunteers and will be unusable.

Secret Santa also gratefully accepts monetary contributions. These enable volunteers to shop for the gifts not donated by the community but requested by a child. To make a donation please make checks payable to: Secret Santa P.O. Box 301, Kennebunk, ME 04043.

Secret Santa relies on the assistance and generosity of caring people and businesses in our community. To help make a local child’s Christmas wish come true, please take a tag and buy a gift. Be a Secret Santa.

MWA plans annual art show

Maine Women in the Arts will usher in the holiday season with its annual show in conjunction with Kennebunkport’s Prelude festivities. The show features a variety of original fine art including paintings, sculpture, photography, and ceramics. In addition, the show offers a selection of handmade crafts made by these artists including jewelry, ornaments, cards, home décor, wood carvings, prints, books authored and illustrated by members, and much more.

The show, scheduled for Dec. 5-8, is held at the Masonic Lodge, 10 North St., Kennebunkport and admission is free.The show offers the annual MWA raffle to support its scholarship. Each of the participating artists offers an item to create a basketful of handcrafted items for a lucky winner to enjoy.

There is a special opening reception on Thursday, Dec. 5, 5 to 7 p.m. with live music and refreshments. This is an opportunity to have first choice of the beautiful artwork and handmade crafts. The show continues Friday, Dec. 6, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., Saturday, Dec. 7, 9:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Sunday, Dec. 8, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

The objective of Maine Women in the Arts is to promote and give exposure to Maine artists and their work in all media. Maine Women in the Arts is a statewide, nonprofit organization, founded in 1977, by and for individuals in the fine and performing arts. The aim is to promote and give exposure to artists’ work in all media – visual arts, music, theater, poetry, literature and dance. It is open to both men and women.

For more information, visit www.mainewomenarts.com.

Church on the Cape to host concert, carol sing

As part of the Kennebunkport Prelude festivities, Church on the Cape in Cape Porpoise will present its annual Sounds of Christmas Concert and Carol Sing on Saturday, Dec. 14 at 2:30 p.m.

The one-hour program is a seasonal favorite, with a chance for participants to sing their best-loved Christmas carols, as well as to enjoy the music of the Senior Choir, Trinity Trio (Nancy Chamberlin, piano; Susan LaVerriere, violin; Janice Stover, organ) and the Song Sisters Trio.

This year there will be a special quest soloist, soprano Kelley Hollis. Hollis recently returned from London where she recorded Arnold Rosner’s “Requiem” with the London Philharmonic Orchestra at Abbey Road Studios. In 2014, Hollis was a finalist for Lyric Opera of Chicago’s Ryan Opera Center and in 2011 Kelley received an encouragement award at the district level from the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions.

The concert is free to the public. The church is located at 3 Langsford Road in Cape Porpoise and is handicapped accessible. Parking is on the street or in the far end of the Bradbury Market parking lot, behind the church. For more information, visit www.churchonthecape.org.

Library announces Tech Time dates

Kennebunk Free Library will host its Tech Time program 10 a.m. until noon to provide assistance to people who have questions regarding technology. The December Tech Time dates are Dec. 6, 13, 20 and 27. For more information, call 985-2173.

Libray plans Earthquake Engineering

Science experiments can often be messy, gross, and funny, but they are always amazing. Visit Kennebunk Free Library on Monday Dec. 9 at 4 p.m. to experiment with Earthquake Engineering. The kids will attempt to design and build a tower that could survive an earthquake. The program is open to kids ages 5 and up, registration is required.

The event is free and wheelchair accessible. Kennebunk Free Library is located at 112 Main St., Kennebunk. For more information and to register, call 985-2173 or visit the www.KennebunkLibrary.org.

Dog licenses available in Kennebunkport

Dog licenses for 2020 are available in the Kennebunkport town clerk’s office. By law, all dogs must be licensed by Jan. 1 of each year. Be sure to bring the dog’s current rabies certificate. A neutered/spayed dog license fee is $6; otherwise it is $11. Residents may register dogs in person, online or through the mail. Call the town Clerk’s office at 967-1610 with any questions or visit our www.kennebunkportme.gov/town-clerk/pages/dog-licenses.

Beginning Feb. 1, 2020, there will be a late fee of $25 per dog assessed when the dog is licensed. The town clerk’s office encourages residents to register early to avoid waiting in line.

Kennebunk planning bicentennial celebration

The Kennebunk Bicentennial Committee has reserved town facilities for June 27 for Kennebunk’s Bicentennial Celebration.

Individuals or organizations that have a project or event that they’d like to take place to coincide with the bicentennial event, should submit the Kennebunk Bicentennial Application for Endorsement form to the town clerk for consideration. Only those events endorsed by the Kennebunk Bicentennial Committee will be allowed to occur on that date.

Benefits of endorsement: Kennebunk Bicentennial Committee endorsed projects or events receive the following: Permission to use the official bicentennial logo, letter of endorsement from the Kennebunk Bicentennial Committee, eligibility for inclusion in bicentennial promotional materials, including newsletters, social media, and on the Kennebunk Bicentennial Committee website.

Endorsement criteria: The applicant must show that the proposed project or event meets the following required criteria and at least one of the recommended goals or characteristics outlined below. Priority will be given to projects that meet multiple goals. All requests for endorsement must be submitted using the official Kennebunk Bicentennial Application for Endorsement form.

Projects must: Be relevant to the Kennebunk Bicentennial Committee’s mission, open, accessible and inclusive, achievable and executable without committee staff support, not occur between the hours of 2 and 7 p.m. on the night of June 27, 2020.

Projects should: Commemorate Kennebunk’s history, culture or natural environment, be engaging and inspiring to people of all ages, create a legacy for the future.

Exclusion clause: The Kennebunk Bicentennial Committee reserves the right to reject or revoke an endorsement for any reason.

For more information, visit www.kennebunkmaine.us/bicentennial.

Library reveals December’s featured exhibit

Kennebunk Free Library announced its exhibit for December 2019, A Time Remembered: Pictures and Drawings of the Past the works of Gerald and Linda Stone. The public is invited to view the exhibit Dec. 3 to 30 at 112 Main St., Kennebunk, during regular library hours when the gallery is not in use for library programs.

Gerald was born in Dover, New Hampshire. Thanks to his father, Gerald’s art education started with discipline: work on art before going outside to play ball. You have to keep at it to improve. Through high school he loved drawing sports figures. University of New Hampshire mechanical drawing classes led to working as a draftsman for architectural and engineering firms. Later in life, Gerald owned The Stone Sign Shop, designing and building signs, hand lettering vehicles and working in gold leaf. Many of the signs are still in use. This work was enjoyable, but he has returned to the freedom of pastel, watercolor and pen and ink.

“Living in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, where you are surrounded by history, planes, ships, submarines, beautiful beaches and ocean give me so many subjects to draw and paint,” Gerald Stone said.

Linda’s art education started with her father, too. He was a carpenter who became blind but continued working with wood. Linda helped him by cutting wood with a band saw.

“That began my love for wood and creating,” Linda Stone said. “In 1990 I began designing primitive art. I didn’t start painting until retirement in 2012. I love the beauty and lines of automobiles. I also love antiques. It was an easy choice to paint these old cars and trucks abandoned in the fields and beside old barns. After visiting the automobile museum in Boothbay Harbor, I decided to add antique auto accessories like oil cans, gas pumps and garage signs to my art objects.”

Together Linda and Gerald inspire each other to put in the time and improve. Whatever they paint, they find peace in comfort in it, encouraging each other to “dare to share” their work with others.

The public is invited to an artist’s reception on Friday, Dec. 6 from 3 to 5 p.m. at the library.

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