Wiscasset Holiday Marketfest welcomes the winter holidays with three days of seasonal festivities. Truly a shopping destination, Marketfest also invites shoppers and revelers to enjoy family-friendly, affordable or free, and wonderful things-to-do on Friday, Dec. 5 through Sunday, Dec. 7, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. each day.

Wiscasset Village sets the scene with lighted garlands and wreaths, festive storefronts, and sparkly candy canes at participating doorways. Visitors can shop for the perfect gift with help from on-site shop owners or visit the artisan shop in the old barn behind the historic Nickels-Sortwell House at the corner of Main and Federal streets. The grand home’s first floor will be decorated in seasonal splendor and open for tours during Marketfest weekend. 

Santa arrives on Friday evening with quite a flourish as he’s escorted to his workshop by a cavalcade of merry and brightly decorated cars and trucks. After waving to Santa from the parade route, families are invited to Santa’s Block Party at Scout Hall, 7 Lincoln St., for cocoa and candy canes, holiday crafts, food truck, and spiked drinks for the adults in tow. There’ll be sheep to pet and ooey-gooey s’mores to enjoy fresh off the fire pit. 

Marketfest weekend inspires a hand-made Christmas with a selection of seasonally themed workshops: Learn to make greeting cards, gift bows, ornaments for the home, or a Solstice Star for hanging. Home bakers compete in the Christmas Cookie Challenge and, after the judges are done, onlookers get to take some home. The Nickels-Sortwell barn, chock full of artisan wares for gift-giving, exhibits wreaths decorated by local businesses; at the end of Marketfest weekend, the wreaths are given to our neighbors in need of holiday cheer.

Music, children’s shopping at the public library, the lighting of the town’s tree, a free raffle for local dining, horse-drawn wagon rides, ice carving . . . Wiscasset Holiday Marketfest inaugurates the holiday season with warmth, welcome, and lots of good cheer!

For all the details, see the Calendar on www.WiscassetHolidayMarketfest.com. Wiscasset Holiday Marketfest is a partnership between Wiscasset Creative Alliance and Wiscasset Area Chamber of Commerce.