Issue for December 4, 2025
Waterville’s Parade of Lights kicks off holiday season
The Children’s Discovery Museum once again organized this year’s Parade of Lights, kicking off the holiday season in downtown Waterville with over 30 entries, including three dance troupes, dazzling floats, and brightly lit fire trucks. This year’s Grand Marshal, Ken Walsh, helped lead the beloved annual procession, carrying on a cherished tradition that brings the community together each December. Crowd favorites included a solar-powered Charlie Brown Christmas display and a line of festively decked-out Jeeps, all culminating in Santa’s arrival to light the tree in Castonguay Square… by Mark Huard
Town News
Committee named for emergency services
CHINA – The China select board’s promised discussion of the town’s emergency services brought more than a dozen fire and rescue personnel to the Dec. 1 board meeting and led to the creation of a committee to collect information and make recommendations…
Planners OK after-the-fact subdivision
CHINA – In a half-hour meeting Nov. 25, China’s three remaining planning board members gave after-the-fact approval to a subdivision amendment and continued, briefly, discussion of China ordinances that need updating…
The Remembrance Tree
CENTRAL ME – Help us decorate the tree and at the same time remember loved ones. For only $10 a ball, you can commemorate loved ones who have passed. Mail your donation and the names of your remembered loved ones to: The Town Line, PO Box 89, South China, ME 04358, to place an ornament on the tree. Deadline is Friday, December 12. The completed tree will be published in the December 18 issue. All donations to The Town Line are tax deductible.
Name that film!
Identify the film in which this famous line originated and qualify to win FREE passes to The Maine Film Center, in Waterville: “A toast to my big brother George: The richest man in town!” Email us at townline@townline.org with subject “Name that film!” Deadline for submission is January 7, 2026.
Steve Fotter’s Warming Up For Christmas concert was another great success
WATERVILLE – This year’s warming up for Christmas concert 2025 was once again a huge success and a great night of music with many talented musicians helping in the cause. Approximately 450 people were in the audience and they raised nearly $14,000 for the Operation Hope program led by the Waterville Police Department…
Palermo Community Garden gives back
PALERMO – For more than 12 years, the Palermo Community Garden has provided freshly harvested organic veggies and berries to the Palermo Food Pantry. All of this was planted, tended, and picked by volunteers under the auspices of the Living Communities Foundation…
Winslow Junior High School honor roll students
WINSLOW – List of honor students at Winslow Junior High School…
Vassalboro Community School 8th Grade honor roll students
VASSALBORO – List of honor students at Vassalboro Community School…
Local happenings
EVENTS: Father & Daughter Pottery at Whitefield Library
WHITEFIELD — A creative pottery collaboration between a father and daughter will be on display and for sale at First Friday Art Night, on Friday, December 5, 6 – 8 p.m., at the Whitefield library…
EVENTS: KPAC concert December 6
AUGUSTA — The Kennebec Performing Arts Company (KPAC) will “Celebrate the Season” at its annual holiday concerts on Friday, December 5, 7 p.m., at Winthrop High School and Saturday, December 6, 5 p.m., at Cony High School in Augusta…
EVENTS: Free SeaStrings Concert: An afternoon of enchanting string music celebrating community and volunteerism
VASSALBORO — An afternoon of live music with the SeaStrings, a local group of friends and neighbors from mid-coast Maine, will be performed on Sunday, December 14, at 2 p.m., at the St. Bridget Center in Vassalboro…
EVENTS: Family Festival of Trees coming soon; Santa will be in the house
WATERVILLE — Alfond Youth & Community Center and Mid-Maine Chamber of Commerce, through the Central Maine Community Betterment Collaborative are bringing Festival of Trees this holiday season, continuing a proud tradition…
EVENTS: All aboard the Polar Express
WHITEFIELD — Tickets are FREE but must be obtained in advance due to space limitations. Grab yours at the library. Arrive at the Whitefield Library train depot, 1 Arlington Lane, Sat., December 6, at 3:45 p.m. Wear your PJs and bring your favorite stuffy or blanket. There will be hot cocoa with marshmallows, cookies and every child will get a special gift to take home…
EVENTS: Making music during the month of December
So.CHINA — Do you like to sing? Especially the memorable and special songs of the holidays? South China Community Church invites you to join them during the month of December! They’re providing several opportunities for singing and enjoying carols and music selections of the upcoming holiday season. You don’t have to be a church member or attendee – we just want to share the special music of Christmas with the community…
CALENDAR OF EVENTS: Vassalboro tree lighting slated for December 5
VASSALBORO – The Vassalboro tree lighting will take place on Friday, December 5, 2025, at The Mill, at 6 p.m. Visit with Santa and friends while enjoying crafts, cookies and hot chocolate. …. and many other local events!
Obituaries
SIDNEY – Carolyn Inez Austin Varnerin, 87, of Sidney, passed away at MaineGeneral Medical Center, on Tuesday, November 18, 2025. She was born, in Pittsfield, on March 29, 1938, to Carold Isreal Austin and Dorothy Drew Austin…
Up and Down the Kennebec Valley: Last three Ballard children (new)
CENTRAL ME HISTORY — Last week’s article ended without finishing the story of Martha and Ephraim Ballard’s second son, Jonathan. When interrupted, he was living on his farm in the northern part of Augusta, on the road to Sidney, with his wife, Sarah “Sally” (Pierce), and an increasing number of children… by Mary Grow
Up and Down the Kennebec Valley: Martha’s children
CENTRAL ME HISTORY — This article continuing the Ballard family history will summarize information about three of Martha and Ephraim’s six children who lived to adulthood – space limits postpone the other three, and the end of Jonathan’s story, to next week. As related previously, three Ballard children died young, in a 1769 diphtheria epidemic in Oxford, Massachusetts… by Mary Grow
Up and Down the Kennebec Valley: Women – Part 3
CENTRAL ME HISTORY — Laurel Thatcher Ulrich’s A Midwife’s Tale focused on women’s lives in the Kennebec Valley around 1800, using midwife Martha Ballard’s diary (from 1785 to 1812) as a main source of information. A consistent emphasis was women banding together to help each other, within families and within the community… by Mary Grow
Up and Down the Kennebec Valley: Women: Ballard – Part 2
CENTRAL ME HISTORY — Martha (Moore) Ballard (1735 – 1812), to whom readers were introduced last week, cannot be considered a “typical” housewife, because she was a practicing midwife, out of the house on business much of the time… by Mary Grow
Common Ground: Win a $10 gift certificate!
DEADLINE: Wednesday, December 10, 2025
Identify the people in these three photos, and tell us what they have in common. You could win a $10 gift certificate to Hannaford Supermarket! Email your answer to townline@townline.org or through our Contact page. Include your name and address with your answer. Use “Common Ground” in the subject!
Previous winner: Diana Gardner, Windsor
Town Line Original Columnists
SCORES & OUTDOORS
by Roland D. Hallee | One of my wife’s favorite birds is the northern cardinal. We’ve had a nesting pair hanging around our house for a couple of years now, and we both enjoy watching the brilliant red male go about its business. The northern cardinal is also synonymous with winter, and adorns many a Christmas card…
REVIEW POTPOURRI
by Peter Cates | Some time ago, I wrote about Brooklin Maine’s most famous resident E.B. White (1899-1985). When his Collected Letters and Essays was published during the mid-’70s, Mississippi’s grand lady of literature Eudora Welty (1909-2001) reviewed one of them for the New York Times and commented that one could see and smell the Maine seacoast through the evocative naturalness of his prose…
SMALL SPACE GARDENING
by Melinda Myers | Pot them up, give them a chill and enjoy spring flowering bulbs indoors or outside on a patio, deck or porch. Forcing spring-flowering bulbs like tulips, daffodils, hyacinths, grape hyacinths and crocus is a great way to use those bulbs that didn’t get planted in the garden or were on sale late in the season…
FOR YOUR HEALTH
HEALTH | The holiday season is one of the most anticipated times of the year—and one of the most demanding for maintaining your health…