Phippsburg’s Lynda Doughty knew exactly what she wanted when she got up for the Wiscasset Early Bird Sale on Saturday morning.

With a Dunkin’ Donuts coffee in her hand, and without the friend who didn’t wake up in time, Doughty shopped for pocket knives. “There are choices,” she said when she saw the selection. She planned on buying two as presents, one for her father, the other for her brother.

The two men receive knives every year. ”It’s kind of a family joke. They’re like, could it be, a knife?”

Doughty wasn’t sure if she would hit other businesses taking part the annual, early morning sale. She came to town to go to Ames, but she might, she said.

Nearby, Lewis Savage of Wiscasset was getting eggs from a refrigerated case. Wife Katharine Martin-Savage was already at one of the checkout counters, with a full cart of items.

“She does the Early Bird and drags me along,” he said.

The Wiscasset Newspaper met Connie Brewer of Wiscasset at Ames and then further north on Route 1, at Big Al’s. She was just starting to look there. Asked if she’d found anything yet, she said: “I found the bathroom.”

Another woman told fellow shoppers, she thought the doughnut hole she just had was a pumpkin one.

Earlier, downtown at DebraElizabeth’s on Main Street, sleepwear was the order of the predawn, first half-hour of the sale at 5:30 a.m. That’s when the morning’s deepest discounts went to the pajama-clad.

“It wasn’t easy to get up, but it’s always a festive time,” employee Cheri Kavanagh said.

Judie Commeau of Bath had penguins on her pajamas and a Margaret Winter sweater on her arm. “I love her sweaters. I get one every year,” Commeau said.

Pattie Coombs, also of Bath, had picked out gloves and a scarf, so far. “I’m still shopping,” she said, smiling.

“Absolutely. This is the best time to do it,” the store’s owner, Deb Schaffer, said.

Wiscasset mother and daughter Marita and Marguerita Fairfield, 11, were out shopping Saturday also; Marita, in the Early Bird sale at DebraElizabeth’s, while her daughter popped into The Old Salt Gifts & Books.

“I love going shopping around town because there’s so many cool stores, and I just like going places with my mother, and Christmas shopping. It’s so much fun,” the Wiscasset Elementary School sixth grader said.

She got up about 4:30 a.m for the shopping trip.

Sarah’s Cafe employee of six years Joshua Pottle of Wiscasset got up at 3:45 a.m. The restaurant opened at 6 a.m. with a $3 brunch offer.

“It’s not my normal,” Pottle said about the early start to his day for Early Bird. “But I do know how important this is to most places,” he said.

For a complete gallery of photos, visit www.wiscassetnewspaper.com.

Participating advertisers in the Wiscasset Early Bird Sale were Ames Supply, Big Al’s Store and Fireworks, Carl Larrabee Insurance, DebraElizabeth’s, Miss Wiscasset Diner, Rock Paper Scissors, Sarah’s Cafe and Treats.