Family Lights Up Trenton RV Park
Free Santa Event Sunday, Holiday Light Display, and Tavern Warm Up Timberland This Winter
TRENTON—Ask Morgan Sanborn if she ever sleeps and she’ll answer honestly. “Haha! Sometimes!”
It’s hard to sleep when you’re a business owner, x-ray technician, mom, wife, and bringing Santa to Trenton for a free event with free presents and a whole lot of fun.
Sometimes doing good takes over the need for sleep, but hopefully, come January Morgan can get a bit of rest.
This busy December, Colton and Morgan Sanborn are bringing Santa to their 100-acre campground. That’s not all though. The Mount Desert Island couple and their two boys are bringing holiday lights and a restaurant and joy to the campground that they’ve owned since 2018.
Firefighters and medical technicians are known for giving back. Colton is active in his family’s construction company, John Goodwin JR and active in the Southwest Harbor Fire Department. Goodwin’s was one of the local companies that volunteered and created a temporary fix for Southwest Harbor’s Seawall Road, which had been devastated by winter storms this past year and is still awaiting a permanent fix from the MaineDOT. Morgan is a medical technician who is going back to the hospital per diem this winter. She took a break while their two children were young.
It may sound busy. It is. Even before you add in the campground.
“During the summer we are at the campground 24/7!” Morgan said.
Morgan grew up in Bangor and Colton grew up in Southwest Harbor.
“I moved down here in 2016 to be with Colton!” she said.
In the fall of 2018 the couple purchased Timberland Acres RV Park, which is 100 acres of instant family every summer as some campers stay for the season (seasonals) and others stay for shorter times.
The former owners Liz and Jimmie Awalt created a campground and then RV park where seasonals mixed with tourists, where some people returned for decades to their RV spots on one of the narrow roads in the campground that extends back from Route 3. Flamingos, decks, golf carts, container gardens sprouted up in those spots as those seasonals made the sites their own.
Though the Awalts didn’t originally intend to make a campground, they eventually cut wood on what they’d just imagined would always be a wood lot, cleared approximately 30 acres, and started welcoming campers. As they retired, their daughter Debbie Ehrlenbach and her husband, Lincoln, performed a lot of the campground’s management. The park’s slogan was “Where the Friendly People Meet.” Next year will be Timberland’s 40th anniversary.
It was a family business when the Awalts had it. That hasn’t changed with the Sanborns. Colton had some familiarity with the business already. His parents owned the White Birches Campground on Seal Cove Road.
“We had the opportunity presented to us from a family friend and worked for a couple years learning the ropes before we were able to work out a deal of a lifetime,” Morgan said. “We love our campground and we feel so fortunate that we were given the opportunity to purchase the campground.”
The sale made the front page of the October 25, 2018 issue of the Ellsworth American.
The 100 acres isn’t all developed and now it isn’t just a seasonal spot for community to gather and memories to be made.
“We had a friend tell us we had the perfect spot to do the drive thru lights and we ran with it,” Morgan said. “This will be our third season doing the lights.”
A couple of years ago, the family started a small snack shack and small ice cream shop with a limited menu, Morgan said. It’s something a lot of campgrounds have.
“Colton has always wanted to own a bar and restaurant,” Morgan said. “We decided to transform our rec hall, that was being used for mainly storage since we bought the campground, into our new tavern!”
Missy Leland, who owned the Beacon, manages The Tavern at Timberland
“We feel so lucky to have her and she even brought along some of her amazing staff from the Beacon!” Morgan said. “We are serving pizzas, fried seafood, sandwiches, quesadillas, cooked lobster in the summer, and so much more!”
That so much more isn’t just confined to the menu. The couple weren’t satisfied with just holiday lights; once it was mentioned that bringing Santa to the campground could help kids and their families, they decided they wanted a full experience for kids and the adults who celebrate with them. Christmas is Morgan’s favorite.
“Especially now that we have two boys, it makes Christmas so special!” she said.
“Candy Martin’s husband works with Colton at Goodwins, Candy approached me and asked if we would host an event where we could have Santa hand out presents to children,” Morgan said. “These presents would be either donated by individuals or businesses, or money was donated and Candy would go shopping. Candy has put in a lot of effort and has even wrapped all of these gifts! We hope we have a great turn out for this event!”
There is no cost to anyone for the Santa meet and greet on Sunday, December 15, which runs from 5-7 p.m.
The light show will be a separate cost that night if people choose to go thru.
Taking care of patients, parenting, firefighting, volunteering, being business owners and Christmas organizers. It’s a lot. They manage by focusing on what they are each good at.
“I do a lot of the up front, customer service side, Colton is definitely more in the background making the big decisions and coming up with new ideas every day. I feel like we have figured out our ‘jobs’ if you will,” Morgan said.
Even with all that work and all that kindness, family is their focus, Morgan said. “Our boys come first and we truly hope they can appreciate our hard work when they grow up.”
LINKS TO LEARN MORE
THE TAVERN AT TIMBERLAND
The Tavern posts its daily specials on The Tavern at Timberland Facebook page. The tavern is open Tuesday-Sunday! The tavern is on Facebook and has its own website.
SANTA EVENT WITH FREE PRESENTS!
Sunday, December 15, from 5-7 p.m.
HOLIDAY LIGHT SHOW
Located at Timberland Acres RV Park in Trenton. Visitors can enjoy a drive-thru light show synced to their favorite Christmas music. You can locate the show at 57 Bar Harbor Road, Trenton, Maine. PURCHASE TICKETS ahead of time or at the gate.
Tickets are $8 an individual and $25 a carload. A season pass is $60.
https://timberlandacresrvpark.ticketspice.com/acadia-holiday-light-show-2025
LINK AND DISCLOSURE
I may be breaking the journalism rules here, but I wrote something about Charlene (who was an Ellsworth librarian and worked at Timberland before she died). She loved it there. The story about Charlene, my dad, and the park is below. Another one is about a woman who came to our site to grieve.
We stayed at the RV park in an ancient RV for two summers when we were renting our home in Bar Harbor and trying to financially survive.
The Bar Harbor Story is generously sponsored by Acadia Brochures of Maine.
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