Who Puts Up Camden's Holiday Lights? The Star Turns 60 and Christmas by the Sea Turns 40

Camden's first holiday star didn't hang on a mountain. Bill Brawn put it up on the Mechanic Street side of French and Brawn Market Place. It was 12 feet tall on a wooden frame and lit by 100 25-watt bulbs. PenBay Pilot's history of the star explains its one weakness. Because of where it sat, only drivers heading south on Route 1 through downtown could see it. Downtown merchants suggested moving it to the stone tower on Mount Battie, according to town historian Barbara Dyer.

This season Camden marks two anniversaries at once. The Camden Area Business Group presents the 40th annual Christmas by the Sea December 4–6. The group also counts 2026 as the 60th year of the holiday star tradition, which it dates to 1966. Both anniversaries are about lights that volunteers put up by hand, one on top of Mount Battie and one in Harbor Park. The season's calendar follows the work of the people who put them up.

The star is a Lions Club project

The Camden Lions Club eventually took over installing and running the star every year. Raymond Drinkwater built a much larger steel star to replace Brawn's wooden one. Another steel star replaced that one in the 1990s, and PenBay Pilot reported in 2013 that it was still in use, with replacement parts and fresh paint but almost no design changes. The star still used its old light sockets, and volunteers took care not to damage them during installation.

A lot of people don't know who runs it. "Most people don't know that it is a Lions Club project," Lions president Frank Carr told the Bangor Daily News in 2011. That article said the star shines every night from Thanksgiving until New Year's Eve, and in all those years it had been dark for only one night, during a blizzard. A generator on the summit ran it from 3:30 p.m. until about 2 a.m. The work drew more than club members, too. Many people who weren't Lions helped put the star up over the years.

The routine starts before Thanksgiving. According to the 2013 PenBay Pilot account, volunteers usually install the star two Saturdays before Thanksgiving Day. The week before, they take the disassembled star out of storage and check it for wear, broken pieces and missing bolts. Then they haul the steel arms up the mountain. Thanksgiving falls on November 26 this year, so if the crew keeps that pattern, installation day would be Saturday, November 14.

The tree in Harbor Park has its own story

The second light is the community tree in Harbor Park on Atlantic Avenue. For years, Dave Jackson led the effort to get that tree, decorate it and light it, and he was a longtime member of the Christmas by the Sea committee. The town's August select board summary says the 40th festival will honor him. Camden Public Library closed on September 24 to recognize his contributions to the library, the parks and the community, and it invited the public to a gathering in its Amphitheatre that afternoon.

The two lights already share a night. At last year's festival, the Midcoast Villager's Christmas by the Sea schedule listed the Camden Lions Club giving out free cookies, hot cocoa and warm cider at the Harbor Park tree lighting. The same club keeps the star burning on the ridge above town.

The calendar from the ski sale to the book fair

The weeks between now and the festival weekend follow the same pattern. Each event depends on volunteers and community groups, and a couple of them changed this year.

The ski sale moves back to the high school

This year the Camden Ski Sale moves from the Snow Bowl lodge back to Camden Hills Regional High School because of the lodge's window wall project. Proceeds go to the Ragged Mountain Ski Club, the 4th Grade Learn to Ski Program and the Camden Hills ski teams. The project stalled after crews found that the I-beam holding up the window wall was 4½ inches out of plumb. That meant an engineering review and added supports. In its September 29 town news, Camden said it expected the project to take no more than several weeks once the fix was in, and that the project's contingency fund should cover the extra cost.

Sidecountry Sports in Rockland takes drop-offs Monday through Wednesday. The Friday evening window at the high school is the last chance before Saturday's sale. Registering your gear ahead of time is done through the Camden Snow Bowl events page.

The Mount Battie road closes before the festival

Getting a close look at the star gets harder in December. Camden Hills State Park closes the Mount Battie Road for winter on December 1, or sooner if snow blocks it. Until then, the road closes at 4 p.m. every day, just half an hour after the star's historical 3:30 p.m. start time. The park stays open all year from 8 a.m. to sunset, and the state collects its day-use fee year-round. The park's "Get Notified" link sends road updates. After the road closes, the state plows it for people walking up, and it may open to cars now and then if conditions allow.

That makes the last week of November the last regular chance to drive to the tower the star is bolted to. In December, the dependable options are seeing it from town at night or walking up the plowed road in daylight.

Festival weekend

The Camden Area Business Group's outline for the 40th Christmas by the Sea starts Friday evening with the parade and tree lighting, when Santa makes his first appearance. On Saturday morning he arrives by boat in Camden Harbor. The weekend also includes the downtown Nutcracker Search, a visit from the Sugar Plum Fairy at Camden Public Library during Santa's library visit, the new Window Decorating Contest, and Sunday's Holiday Book Fair at the library. Judges score the windows on December 3, and the winners are announced December 4, the same day as the parade.

Last year's layout gives a sense of how the weekend fits together. The 2025 parade stepped off at 6 p.m. and ran north on Route 1 from Union Street to Atlantic Avenue. The carols and tree lighting followed at 6:30 p.m. in Harbor Park. Santa came ashore at the public landing at 9 a.m. Saturday. The 2026 schedule will be posted at camdenmaineexperience.com and on the festival's Facebook page.

Parade entries are still open. Holly Anderson at the town takes participation forms at [email protected], and the deadline is December 4, the day of the parade. The town's August summary also asked downtown businesses to "light up downtown" with outdoor window decorations, which means many storefronts on the walk from the parade route to Harbor Park will be decorated.

Where to warm up between events

Some of Camden's seasonal spots are closed for the winter. Peter Ott's on the Water runs May through October and is done for 2026. These places stay open:

• The Waterfront, 48 Bayview St., opens daily at 11:30 a.m. and runs year-round. Its site lists a closure for annual cleaning from Saturday, October 31, until Thursday, November 5. It also closes on Thanksgiving and Christmas Day and serves until 2:30 p.m. on Christmas Eve.
• Salt Wharf, 3 Wayfarer Drive, serves in its dining room Thursday through Monday, 4 to 8 p.m. The rooftop and patio are closed for the season.
• The Munching Meeple, 43 Mechanic St. in the Knox Mill building, opened in April in the former home of The Jack. It's a family-owned board game bistro and bakehouse.
• Once A Tree on Main Street is open daily year-round.

The Munching Meeple is on Mechanic Street, the same street where Bill Brawn's wooden star first lit up for southbound traffic.

If you'd like to talk about life in Camden through the winter, from Harbor Park to the trails up Mount Battie, I'm glad to share what I know about the town and what's coming up. Reach out to Alonzo Michaud and Let's Connect.