Small Towns, Big-Hearted Communities
Photos and videos of some holiday events throughout MDI this weekend
The Bar Harbor Story is generously sponsored by Swan Agency Real Estate.
MANSET AND MOUNT DESERT ISLAND—There is magic in the air during the holiday season. A good part of that magic? It comes from story, from connection, of having someone take you under their wing and share a precious bit of their story or maybe a hug, or maybe just a laugh.
Nora Roberts once wrote, “Magic exists. Who can doubt it, when there are rainbows and wildflowers, the music of the wind and the silence of the stars?”
And who can doubt it when there are women giving you a tour of Victorian Christmas displays at the Southwest Harbor Historical Society’s Manset Meeting House, telling you stories of their $5 wedding dress, the Ralph Stanley boat, the figurines that came from down the street and others that came from other continents.
And who can doubt it when an Islander reporter chooses to be a participant in Southwest Harbor’s Harbor House chili festival rather than covering it. Sometimes it’s the right time to participate in an event instead of report on it.
And who can doubt it when Santa hops off the fire truck in Southwest Harbor to come light the tree and a young fellow who has been standing in the dark, waiting yells out his very important question: Santa, is he on the naughty list?
“You’re on there twice,” Santa bellowed with a mischievous ho-ho-ho. But not to worry . . . not to worry . . . Christmas will still come.
And who can doubt it when the Bar Harbor Congregational Church volunteers step out onto church steps above the darkness of Mount Desert Street and bring with them music and a living nativity full of light. Volunteers stood and sung and embodied the story in the cold night.
And finally, who can doubt it when the YWCA of Mount Desert Island brought in volunteers and presents and helped 100 children both learn the great joy and responsibility of picking out presents for their family members, but also the agency to do that themselves, with the help of a shopper. It’s the fortieth year the YWCA has done this for area children, supported by local businesses.
“We’ve been offering this event to the community for over forty years,” Abby Robinson said. “We’re pleased to be able to, thanks to local community members and businesses who help with gifts.”
“Children see magic because they look for it,” Christopher Moore once wrote. The thing is that at events like these, adults can look for it, too.
In Manset, amid all the stories and ornaments, the business signs of the past and the origami cranes that hope for a peaceful future is a tree for memories. Guests are invited to fill out an ornament with the name of someone no longer physically here with them.
The Meetinghouse in Manset is Mount Desert Island’s oldest church. It was once down on the old Bass Harbor Road. The road’s location changed. The building was taken down piece by piece and rebuilt piece by piece in 1828.
The townspeople paid for it via taxation and selling its pews.
The Southwest Harbor Historical Society’s website reads, “The settlers wanted a church and everybody united in building one.”
As W.B. Yeats wrote, “The world is full of magic things, patiently waiting for our senses to grow sharper.”
The magic, too, can be in the memories held in objects and moments created on purpose by kind people in organizations or just happen in the moment a child sees a giant Snoopy and reaches out for a hug.
Or, it can happen in moments far away from the holidays when a community gets together to make a building where they can gather—like the Manset Meetinghouse—and then when it gets together to raise funds to make that same place a home for a historical society. Much like that meeting house, community is built and rebuilt, piece by piece, moment by moment, story by story, action by action.
HARBOR HOUSE AND SOUTHWEST HARBOR’S CELEBRATION
NATIVITY AT BAR HARBOR CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH
CRITERION THEATRE AT THE VILLAGE GREEN
WITHAM FAMILY CHARITABLE CHRISTMAS
We have a much larger story with photos about this here.
YWCA CHILDREN’S BAZAAR
MANSET MEETING HOUSE
Photos and videos: Carrie Jones/Shaun Farrar/Bar Harbor Story
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