Shoppers on Small Business Saturday in Farmington got a head start on the holiday season with breakfast Saturday morning served by the local police chief, the local college president, a state senator and Maine’s attorney general, all of whom were “waiting for a cause.”

Tips generated by the four public figures and 20 percent of the sales at the Greenwood Dining Room will be donated to Western Maine Community Action’s Operation Santa Claus, a yearly program that provides gifts to more than 1,200 children and elderly residents in the area.

Breakfast was served inside the Front Street eatery, a building that once served as a small factory where the original earmuffs by famed local inventor Chester A. Greenwood were made.

“It’s going pretty good. The tips are great,” said Attorney General Janet Mills, a Farmington native, waiting tables with an apron and a note pad. “It’s all for the Santa Claus fund. It’s great. It’s a lot of fun and it’s for a good cause. We hope to give a lot of kids a lot of toys for Christmas.

“The whole town’s here. I should be running for office again.”

Breakfast was a strictly nonpartisan affair with eggs over easy, bagels, Belgian waffles, panini with ham or bacon — and coffee, lots of coffee.

“I think it’s an innovative idea and I hope they sustain it for many years into the future,” said Farmington lawyer Paul Mills, Janet mills’ brother.

Jill Perry and a friend sat down to eat when Farmington police Chief Jack Peck approached the table with a notebook. He was ready to take her order, not write her a ticket.

“I am honored to be waited on by the chief,” Perry said. “I think it’s a wonderful idea to have these celebrities waiting on us.”

Peck was flanked by Marshall Cassidy, one of the restaurant’s regular servers.

“I’m just a helper. I let the professionals take the order. I have Marshall doing all the heavy work for me,” Peck said. “We’re raising money for Operation Santa Claus; I think that’s important.”

University of Maine at Farmington President Kate Foster looked as though she had done all this before, delivering food from a tray while wearing a colorful apron.

“Never,” she said, serving a family of four seated by the window. “I’ve never done this before. I won’t even count my mistakes so far. I’m doing OK. I’m hanging in there. It’s such a good cause; it’s such a wonderful occasion. There are so many people here.”

Paul Brown, of Farmington, and his family said the university president did well despite her lack of training — timely service and no spilled coffee.

Shannon Mitchell, special event coordinator for Western Maine Community Action, which sponsored the celebrity breakfast, said people come out in large numbers when there is a good cause to celebrate.

“When this program is run and you donate to Operation Santa, it goes to your neighbors, directly to them,” Mitchell said. “We provide gifts for children to families in need. We do have some seniors that have requested help, and it’s modest things like cleaning supplies, laundry soap.”

Sen. Tom Saviello, R-Wilton, said he and John Moore, owner of Narrow Gauge Cinemas in Farmington and co-owner of the Greenwood Dining Room, came up with the breakfast idea while brainstorming, as they sometimes do, on a recent Friday afternoon.

“It’s going good, great, much better than I ever expected, unbelievable,” Saviello said between waiting on tables. “It was a good idea and we needed a place to do it, so John stepped up.”

Moore said he was pleased with the turnout Saturday morning.

“We just sat down and said, ‘What could we do for Front Street and bring people here, and at the same time celebrate the holiday and help somebody that really needs help?'” Moore said. “Operation Santa Claus is perfect. We’ve easily broken 100 people.”

For Small Business Saturday In Skowhegan, the welcome mats were set out in front of many of the stores downtown saying “Welcome to the neighborhood — shop small.”

Saturday was the day of the first Passport to Savings program in town, said Kristina Cannon, executive director at Main Street Skowhegan. The passports were booklets with pages from 31 participating businesses in Skowhegan and some in Madison.

The idea was to visit a local business to pick up a passport, then shop around at participating businesses and get your passport stamped with a sticker. The more stickers a shopper has, the better chance that shopper has to win a $100 gift certificate, Cannon said.

“There were quite a few people walking around with ‘Shop Small’ bags,” Cannon said. “The Bankery and Fleuriste were both buzzing when I was in there. The passport idea seemed to be a success, from what I saw this morning.”

At River Roads Artisan Gallery on Water Street, Gretchen Washburn and Jim Albert said Saturday was very busy with shoppers using their passports for discounts.

Maili Bailey, of Skowhegan, said she shopped at the artisans gallery and took the opportunity Saturday to visit stores she had never been in before. She said she used her downtown passport to make a few purchases.

“We had a steady flow of people downtown,” she said. “There were a lot of people out.”

Andrea Ellis, of Solon, said coming to Skowhegan on Saturday was an important way to shop local.

“We wanted to especially come to downtown Skowhegan to participate in Shop Small,” Ellis said. “It was really important to us to spend our money with the small artisans.”

In Waterville, Main Street retailers, businesses and restaurants put posters in their windows to encourage people to shop locally.

At least 15 businesses planned to have extended hours Saturday and offer special deals for the holiday season. Another day of special deals will be offered on Dec. 12, along with horse-drawn carriage rides through downtown that afternoon.

Doug Harlow — 612-2367

dharlow@centralmaine.com

Twitter:@Doug_Harlow

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