Santa’s Glasses May Have Fogged Up, but MDI’s Holiday Spirit Shone Brightly This Weekend
Santa and Mrs. Claus Visits Light Up MDI With Hot Cocoa, Harbor Cheers, and Handmade Holiday Magic
The Bar Harbor Story is generously sponsored by The Witham Family Hotels Charitable Fund.
MOUNT DESERT ISLAND—Santa Claus and Mrs. Claus came to town this weekend as the jolly old elf first visited the Bar Harbor Village Green and read “‘Twas the Night Before Christmas” from the town’s gazebo to a gaggle of enthused listeners.
There was a bit of a hitch: Santa’s glasses fogged up and Mrs. Claus had to take over reading duties for a moment, while Santa’s reading spectacles were taken care of.
Fortunately, when Santa and Mrs. Claus arrived on the Maine Seacoast Mission’s Sunbeam the next day in Northeast Harbor, he’d switched out his glasses, proving that he was not just a jolly old elf, but a wise one, too.
The poem, written in the early 1800s by either Clement Clarke Moor or Henry Livingston Jr (it’s disputed) first appeared in the Troy Sentinel, a paper in New York. At that time (and for the following 14 years) it was not attributed.
Santa also helped light the town’s tree at the same Bar Harbor location, Friday night.
While waiting for Santa’s arrival, kids played or hunkered by parents, cups of hot chocolate warmed bellies and cookie crumbs scattered about the village green. Kids gallivanted around chatting groups of parents and grandparents and some of the more adventurous climbed trees or raced in circles around the tree standing in front of the village bandstand.
The same level of cartwheeling, unbridled joy continued in Northeast Harbor on Saturday.
On Main Street, down the at the harbor park, in F.T. Brown’s, at the Maine Seacoast Mission, at the Neighborhood House, people met each other for the first time, bundled up and reached out to shake hands.
“I’m Sam.”
“Sam, hi. I’m Noah.”
“Good to meet you, Noah.”
Moms and dads rushed children out of SUVS to arrive on time to see Santa and Mrs. Claus come into the harbor, cheering them on. Fishermen and firefighters did their work quietly nearby. Other families strolled down Sea Street and into the park. Santa switched out his glasses for a pair that fogged up a bit less.
The Mount Desert Chamber and Bar Harbor Chamber of Commerce both led the separate celebrations in their towns with significant help from businesses and volunteers. The Asticou Hotel cosponsored the Northeast Harbor event.
Both the MDI YMCA and Neighborhood House hosted a great deal of children and events and joy. The Neighborhood House’s Santa’s Workshop saw Santa’s helpers bringing joy to little shoppers. Pat Foster, always a kind force, created by hand 400 bows to decorate the presents.
“It’s my therapy,” she said, smiling. She creates the bows all year long at her real estate office in town.
In Bar Harbor, Friday night, the Bar Harbor Congregational Church hosted its living nativity, which it has held for over 50 years.
The streets were mostly dark with only an occasional car rumbling by or lone person hurrying down the concrete sidewalk of Mount Desert Street, hat pulled over their ears, wind billowing against their parka.
But the Bar Harbor Congregational Church’s white façade is lit up, and about twelve people congregated in the darkness on the sidewalk, waiting.
Then came the people and the music and the nativity, a huge moon in the cold Maine sky for those who swung their views that way.
“It’s always been understood and presented as a gift to the community,” Reverend Rob Benson has said of the annual living nativity scene outside the church.
A December 16, 1973 issue of the Bangor Daily News includes a news brief which reads, “To honor the Christmas season and help put Christ back into the meaning of Christmas, a living nativity will be displayed by the Bar Harbor Congregational Church in their churchyard.” The clip also echoes Benson’s message of the event being a gift to the community.
All across Mount Desert Island, the weekend felt stitched together by small acts of generosity. There were bows made by hand, stories shared across craft-fair tables, children racing toward a bearded man waving from a boat or hopping off a firetruck.
Whether gathered around Bar Harbor’s bright gazebo or waiting on the cold docks of Northeast Harbor, neighbors met, hands shook, and laughter rose into the early winter air. These moments, spread across churches, greens, workshops, and waterfronts, reminded many of exactly how this island shows up for one another, year after year, weaving connection, support, good work, and kindness into the heart of the holiday season.
All weekend long, the craft fair helped holiday shoppers at the Atlantic Oceanside Hotel. But it’s more than that, too.
Sharon Stanger sat at a table with her original designs in metal and hot glass. The moment she talked, stories unfolded. She supplements her income with her work at the Goose Cove Studio. She’s worked for the Elliot family for fifty years.
That doesn’t seem possible.
It is, she explains, as she stabs a felting needle into a round shape, creating even as she works, working even as she creates. She’s over 75. She’s full of light and energy and brains and story. So much story.
Like a lot of the artisans here, she’s a woman who doesn’t stop. She makes friends, creates art, works somewhere else, too, all the time.
Heather Ingraham, the co-founder of Earth Harbor Jewelry, brought just less than 100 sterling silver pieces with locally sourced materials for the fair.
It’s the art association’s fiftieth year bringing locally made goods, art, and crafts to the area. The Island Arts Association makes 50 look really good, the same way that Sharon makes 70-something look like 50-something.
According to its website, “The Island Arts Association was formed in 1975 by a group of Mount Desert Island artisans, with the idea of promoting individual local craftspeople by hosting group shows. Many artists work alone in their studios, and these shows provide camaraderie, marketing ideas and exposure to new customers. Fair fees are kept low to encourage those just starting out. The IAA is hosted by the YWCA of MDI, whose mission includes empowering women through business opportunities.”
The fair lasted three days and raises money for the YWCA. Money raised covers the costs to have multiple fairs throughout the year. The rest of the money goes to the YWCA, which then uses it for programming and to provide housing.
The next Island Arts Association fair will be at Bar Harbor Village Green, May 23 to May 24, 2026.
Unless otherwise specified, photos by Shaun Farrar and Carrie Jones/Bar Harbor Story. There are a lot more photos on our Facebook, which is here.
For a list of upcoming holiday happenings, check here.