WATERVILLE — Downtown will be filled with the sights, smells and sounds of the season Saturday.

The Downtown Waterville Holiday Open House on Saturday features free food and family activities, including horse-drawn carriage rides, gift wrapping and a holiday card-making workshop.

“This event is designed to bring the community together in a celebration of the season and in support of our locally owned businesses,” said Shannon Haines, executive director of Waterville Main Street, the organization coordinating the event.

The Waterville Public Library’s open house will include a welcome and dedication of the renovated structure 10-10:30 a.m. The library will also be the site of a history presentation at 11 a.m. and a Waterville Senior High School jazz concert at 2 p.m. Puppet, magic and craft shows will also be held.

Freshwater Arts will host a workshop to make one-of-a-kind holiday cards in the basement of Barrels Market and cookie decorating will take place in Jorgensen’s Cafe.

At 10 a.m., 1 p.m. and 3 p.m., The Children’s Book Cellar will show “The Night Before Christmas.”

Also at 10 a.m., Elmwood Primary Care and MGMC Express Care will advise guests about winter health and have a skin analyzer machine and sunscreen samples available.

REM Living Room will wrap purchases for free from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Snacks will be available at several businesses, including Dress Me Bridal & Catering, which will provide cookies and hot chocolate, Silver Street Tavern will offer hot chocolate and warm apple cider, Barrels Market promises treats from the kitchen to go with live music, Selah Tea Café will have tea and pastry samples, as well as Colby a cappella groups, The Framemakers will have cider and cookies and Maine Made & More will provide samples of Stonewall Kitchen products.

At Castonguay Square, horse-drawn carriages rides will be offered 12-3 p.m., carolers from Winslow Baptist Church will perform 1:30-3 p.m., and Kringleville will be open 12-6 p.m. for visits to Santa.

The Saturday event also features the opening of the exhibit “Painters, Players, and Poets,” a collaboration that celebrates 48 Maine painters, composers, poets and chairmakers, 4-6 p.m. at the Hathaway Creative Center.

The exhibit will also be open 2-6 p.m. Thursday through Saturday, throughout December.

For a complete schedule of holiday open house activities, visit www.watervillemainstreet.org.

For Saturday’s schedule of events at the library, visit www.watervillelibrary.org.