The lights are being hung, and garland and wreaths are sprouting up everywhere you turn as we slide past Thanksgiving and are officially into the holiday season. With everyone being so busy this year, I have been very impressed with just how early decorations seem to be going up. It’s almost like we all implicitly agreed without saying a word that everyone needs a little more cheer this year, so we better start early. If you need to catch some holiday cheer, here are some holiday happenings for families as well as a few business events for those who want to stay connected (starting with a Midcoast Tree Festival, thank you):

Midcoast Tree Festival a record-breaker

Before we look forward, a brief look back at the Midcoast Tree Festival, which wrapped up this past weekend and was unquestionably our biggest and best year yet. I’m overwhelmed with how much support we get for this annually and how it continues to grow. We are still coordinating with our winners and tearing down the event space, so we don’t have all of the numbers yet (look for those in an upcoming column), but some of the numbers we know include:

• Most tree spaces ever (50; previous record was 41).
• Most gifts ever in total ($59,000; previous record was $44,000).
• Our first double tree winners — in fact, two lucky people won two trees this year!
• Most sponsors for the event.
• Most ticket sales this year — we don’t have the exact numbers yet, but just looking at the daily sales, even a rough estimate puts us well ahead of last year.
• Most attendees (highly likely); we will confirm later but using even rough estimates it appears we topped the 1,500 families from last year.

I will be writing some year-in-review columns in December, and one of those will have the exact numbers of tickets and attendance in them. We will also include the number of businesses represented at the event (which includes those business for which products or gift cards were represented on a tree), and that number will be well over 100.

Thank you to the our sponsors this year:

• Priority Real Estate (mega tree)
• Fidium Fiber (entertainment and stage)
• Mann Law (children’s craft)
• Maine State Music Theatre (children’s craft)
• Ray Labbe and Sons (T-shirt)
• Sitelines, P.A. (T-shirt)
• SERVPRO of Bath/Brunswick and SERVPRO of Belfast/Camden/Rocklan (T-shirt)
• Hancock Lumber Company (T-shirt)
• Reform Physical Therapy (decoration)
• Wright-Ryan (decoration)
• Ouellet Construction (decoration)

Our sponsor contributions help cover our event expenses so that the money raised during the event goes directly towards the fundraising goal, which is incredible. A huge thank-you also goes out to our 50 tree sponsors, our 10 wreath sponsors, our dozens of volunteers, our entertainers and Santa (for his arrival on Sunday). Lastly, thank you to all of the families who came out to support the event this year — seeing your joy brings us joy.

Burpees for Turkeys at Wilcox Wellness & Fitness, Dec. 2

Food insecurity is a big issue, and for years Wilcox Wellness & Fitness has held a fundraiser involving its trainers in Brunswick and Bangor getting sponsored at $5 per burpee to raise funds to help (with 100% of the proceeds going to the United Way this year). A burpee is an exercise where a standing person goes down to the ground (or parallel to the ground in a plank position) and then gets to their feet again — that cycle is one burpee.

The fundraising goal this year is $10,000, which means 2,000 burpees split between six to eight trainers from both facilities. They will work hard to raise the funds, and if you want more information, check out the Wilcox Wellness & Fitness Facebook page or come by the Bath Road Brunswick location at 11 a.m. Saturday, Dec. 2, to cheer them on (and see a man in a turkey suit).

Zamboni Pull and Family Fun Day at Six Rivers in Topsham, Dec. 3

I mentioned this last week, but a reminder that the Zamboni Pull fundraiser and games for children and families is happening at Six Rivers Youth Sport from 1-3 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 3 (20 Atwood Road, Topsham). The free admission event is to raise funds for the Youth Sports and Community Ice Arena project. The day includes pizza from The Osprey, beer from Moderation Brewing and treats from The Pejepscot. For more information, sixriversyouthsports.org.

Holiday After Hours at Darling’s Brunswick Ford, Dec. 5

Our Chamber After Hours networking events are a monthly time for business leaders to connect in person, and we are very excited for our December version that we dub our Holiday After Hours as it acts as our de facto holiday party. Members and non-members are welcome to attend and mingle as we celebrate 2023 and look forward to 2024. We will have some chamber announcements as well for some of our new programming in 2024 and updates on some current programs.

Darling’s Brunswick Ford are always great hosts, and we have no doubt they will be bringing the cheer they are known for at their location at 262 Bath Road in Brunswick from 5-7 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 5 — intentionally chosen, as we thought a Tuesday may be a night not already booked for other holiday gatherings.

If you are a businessperson, attendance is free with a business card. All guests are asked to RSVP on our chamber website at midcoastmaine.com so we have an accurate head count for food. You will find the event on our homepage and in our community calendar.

12 @ 12 Networking Lunch, Dec. 13

Lastly, our networking lunches are a great way for you to connect with 11 other chamber member businesses and score a free lunch. Our next one is on Dec. 13, and you can email anthony@midcoastmaine.com to secure your seat before they are booked.

Cory King is executive director of the Bath-Brunswick Regional Chamber of Commerce.

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