Under cloudy skies on Thursday, the day with the most daylight of the year in the Northern Hemisphere, Rose Wilkinson, 4, of Cape Elizabeth, gathers sand and seawater to create make-believe ice cream at Crescent Beach State Park in Cape Elizabeth.

Children enjoy bowls of ice cream at Kettle Cove Creamery and Cafe on Thursday after a mile-long bike ride with their mothers. From left: Emily Wacksman, Hazel Redman, James Redman and Avery Wacksman.

Jared Butler, sternman on the lobster boat Scrimshaw, works on the deck of the boat while tied up at Freeport Town Harbor. Butler and Andy Spalding, the boat owner, put the boat in the water on Thursday and were preparing it for the lobstering season.

Margaret Wagner, of Perth-Andover, New Brunswick, reads a novel that she jokingly described as "trash" at Crescent Beach State Park in Cape Elizabeth.

Josh Saunders, 12, of Raymond, has a tube that serves as a buffer to the bracing water at Crescent Beach State Park in Cape Elizabeth early on summer's first day.

Make Music Portland celebrated the summer solstice with free music throughout the city. Jo Eaton, and her granddaughter Doria Crockett, 7, both of Gorham, took some harmonica lessons and jammed with a crowd at Post Office Plaza.

Annabelle Brockhouse, 5, of Portland, bounds across a bluff alongside her father, Zach Brockhouse, at Kettle Cove State Park on Thursday. For Portland students, the first day of summer vacation coincided with the summer solstice.

Corbin Richter 11, of Cumberland takes advantage of the afternoon sunshine by reading a book on a bench at Post Office Plaza in Portland.

A pair of cyclists ride on Back Cove Trail as the light fades on the day of the longest daylight, June 21, the summer solstice.