Community Calendar

Space Express Tours⁠—the first tour company in deep space⁠—offers a variety of adventures including its most popular trip, Destination Solar System.

November 15, 2025 through January 3, 2026
All Day Event
November 15–January 3, Thursday–Sunday, plus select dates
from 4–9 p.m.

(Closed Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, New Years Eve, and New Years Day)

The planning for our next Gardens Aglow is well underway, and we can’t wait to see you there! Experience this year’s theme, Nature in Motion, and see the Gardens come alive after dark. See the landscape transformed into a glowing journey through scenes depicting the flora and fauna of Maine’s forests, shorelines, and meadows—and don’t miss some fun new surprises in this year’s display!

Tickets should be purchased online or over the phone, 207-633-8000.

New England's largest walk-through light show. 1 mile trail, over 2 million lights and trees wrapped heights of over 90 feet.

Note: our schedule varies and does not operate daily. It is on our website. Thanks!

Ring in the New Year with Winter Harbor Music Community Opera offering 2 performances at their 4th annual New Year’s Eve Celebration, featuring Johann Strauss II’s sparkling comic opera, Die Fledermaus (The Bat) with the Downeast Chamber Orchestra. The story takes place at a Viennese New Year’s party where Dr. Falke has plotted a comical revenge. Many years earlier Gabriel von Eisenstein had abandoned Falke at a costume party, drunk in a Bat costume, to be the laughingstock of the evening. Now at the eccentric prince Orlofsky’s New Year’s party, Dr. Falke will take his revenge by orchestrating Eisenstein into similarly embarrassing situations. The action of Act II at Orlofsky’s ball will take place in the house where audience members will interact with the characters of the opera. Dress attire is encouraged but not required and attendees will be able to sing with the chorus.
Performers include Andy Boggs as Alfred, Brenna McFarland as Rosalinda, Isabel Silva as Adele, Theodore Dumas as Blind, Joshua Gurwitz as Eisenstein, Deiran Manning as Frank, Henry Horstmann as Falke, Cassandra Petrie as Orlofsky, Roland Dube as Frosch, Sonia Berghoff as Ida, and many more local artists.
The production will be directed by Winter Harbor Music Festival’s Executive Director Deiran Manning. Since the inception of the WHMF Community Opera program, Deiran has produced, directed and coached 5 operas in the region, including a fully socially distanced outdoor production of La Serva Padrona in August of 2020. His directing draws on experience working with noted directors such as Atlanta Opera Artistic Director Tomer Zvulun and noted directors Candace Evans and Garnett Bruce. His experience as a vocal coach, singer and director gives him a unique perspective into the inner workings of opera.
The Downeast Chamber Orchestra will be conducted by Michael Haigler. Mr. Haigler is a conductor of operatic, orchestral, and choral music, as well as a pianist, organist, published author and composer, and teacher. He holds a Magna cum Laude performance degree from the Eastman School of Music where he studied conducting with David Effron and Donald Hunsberger and is an alumnus of the Interlochen Center for the Arts, and the International Fine Arts Institute in Moscow.
He currently serves as Music Director at Christ Church in Oyster Bay, Long Island, home to the Christ Church Festival Orchestra with which he has conducted requiems by Mozart, Fauré, Brahms, and Rutter, and symphonies such as Mendelssohn’s Italian, Beethoven’s Ninth, and Mahler’s Resurrection (complete). Mr. Haigler also holds positions as Artistic Director of the Hudson Valley Chorale, Assistant Conductor and Chorus Master at the Bronx Opera, and co-director of Pianos on the Point, a new summer workshop in Vermont.
Don’t forget to toast to the New Year, enjoy the annual paper mache lobster drop and celebrate with the performers.

Falmouth Memorial Library is pleased to announce that Illustration Institute's The Great State of Illustration in Maine will be on display at the Library from November 8, 2025, through January 31, 2026. This exhibition celebrates the rich, diverse cultural heritage of over 80 Maine-connected illustrators such as Ashley Bryan, Barbara Cooney, Dahlov Ipcar, Melissa Sweet, Chris Van Dusen, N.C. Wyeth, and more. The Great State of Illustration in Maine will showcase illustration as an art form in the very place where books are easily and publicly accessed. "We are thrilled to welcome Illustration Institute to Falmouth Memorial Library and offer an exhibition of this depth and breadth to our community. We hope visitors from around our State will come enjoy this collection of incredible illustrations, and take advantage of exciting, related programming over the next three months," commented Jenna Mayotte, Library Director.

“Now and Then,” a show of paintings by Camden resident Nina Holland, will be on exhibit in the upper and lower levels of the Rockport Public Library Dec. 2, 2025 - Jan. 29, 2026. The display is a retrospective of Holland’s work, spanning her 65-year career as an artist.

Trained as a painter, Holland is also known as an accomplished weaver and craftsperson. Her work has been exhibited country-wide, including five venues in New York City. She has won several awards in juried shows including a purchase prize and alcove show at New Mexico State Art Museum in Santa Fe.

In the 1970s, she published numerous articles and three books – two about weaving and one about quilting. She taught at Evansville University and North Country Community College.

Nina Holland plans to donate all proceeds from the sales of her artwork in the Rockport Library show to International Rescue Committee, rated a four-star charity on Charity Navigator.

Celebrate the new year with a special indoor seaside celebration! Meet real sea creatures such as sea stars and anemones, create a sea star wand in MakerSpace, and stop by the snack shack for a treat. Then, countdown to 2026 with a special interactive performance and Sea Star Drop in CMTM’s Maddy’s Theatre!

Book your two-hour party timeslot today!

Tickets and information: https://www.kitetails.org/newyearseve

EVENT DETAILS

DATE/TIME: Wednesday, December 31, 10 am - 12 pm & 11 am - 1 pm. Play Your Way, 9 am - 10 am. No snow date is provided at this time. CMTM will remain open after the event from 1 pm - 4 pm.

LOCATION: Children’s Museum & Theatre of Maine, 250 Thompson’s Point Road, Portland, ME 04102

WHO SHOULD ATTEND: Activities are recommended for children and their families. Adults must be accompanied by a child.

TICKETS: Reservations are required to guarantee admission. General admission is $22, and all parking at Thompson’s Point requires payment. Snacks are included in admission. This is a block-out date for CMTM members. For more information about block-out dates, visit kitetails.org/family-memberships.

MEMBER TICKETING: Member tickets are just $18 for this event! Scholarship and All Access or Celebration Pass members can contact the Front Desk at 207-828-1234 or boxoffice@kitetails.org in advance of the date to reserve their complimentary tickets, pending availability. For more information about block-out dates, visit our membership page.

Thank you to H.P. Hood for their generous support of this event!

Wear your PJ's and ring in the new year with KindKids Music at MePowered Pastries!

Event Schedule:

✨10:30 AM – Snacks + Craft Time

✨11:00 AM – KindKids Music Concert

✨12:00 PM – Noon Year’s Countdown!

Make the new year an event to remember for your family this year!

10:45A black light class, 11:45A champagne toast - top hits of 2025 - wear your white or neon because we’ll have black light in the studio for you to flow to with all the best hits of 2025 playing. Stay after the last class of the day to ring in the new year a little early with a champagne toast (for those 21+) or a glass of NA bubbly. this blackout flow will be followed by a candlelight restore class.

A little yellow star travels through the galaxy in search of planets that will give it its special name. During his journey, this star learns about the many types of stars that live in the galaxy.