Masked fans watch as Mt. Ararat High School’s Kasey Bergeron (2) draws the offensive foul from Messalonskee High School’s Aiden Doran (0) during a basketball game Thursday at Messalonskee High School in Oakland. Michael G. Seamans/Morning Sentinel

Ben Ireland works on technique while practicing the shot put during indoor track and field team practice at Messalonskee High School in Oakland on Wednesday. Rich Abrahamson/Morning Sentinel

Nordic skiers hit the one trail open Tuesday after a few days of snow-making at Quarry Road Trails in Waterville. Michael G. Seamans/Morning Sentinel

Maila Couture, left, embraces a friend Thursday afternoon after Couture’s dog and cat were recovered following a fire at 58 Main St. in downtown Oakland, where Couture has an apartment. The animals were not injured. Rich Abrahamson/Morning Sentinel

A woman walks by fuel spread by rain Thursday at the parking lot of the Hathaway Creative Center at 10 Water St. in Waterville. Michael G. Seamans/Morning Sentinel

Painter Logan Wilmot, an independent contractor, applies a coat of paint to the facade of Joe’s Smoke Shop and Happy Trails on Main Street in downtown Waterville on Wednesday. Wilmot, who’s been a professional painter for six years, said he uses a paint brush instead of a roller because the front of the century-old building is “very textured and has details.” Rich Abrahamson/Morning Sentinel

Pandora Thing, left, and Ellie Rentas sit outside Best Buy in Augusta at 4:09 a.m. for Black Friday sales. The pair said they’d arrived at 2:40 a.m. Thing said that the crowds this year were smaller than in previous years when stores would open at midnight. Joe Phelan/Kennebec Journal

Ice hockey players from Winthrop practice outdoors Tuesday night at a parking lot in Winthrop. They were rotating through a circuit of different training stations. Head coach Richard Fortin says he and the players had to get creative due to a lack of ice availability. Joe Phelan/Kennebec Journal

Barbara Kaiser, left, and her daughter, Heidi Worthing, share latkes and laughter Sunday, Nov. 28, to mark the start of Hanukkah at the Goldfinch Creamery in Gardiner. Andy Molloy/Kennebec Journal

Everett Howard, 5, right, and his sister, Emily, 2, accompany their grandmother, Rita Howard, on a tractor Sunday, Nov. 28, as they tow evergreen boughs they tipped with their aunt, Christina Howard, at her farm in Monmouth. The children are the fourth generation to make Christmas wreaths from trees at the farm, originally cultivated by their great-grandparents Lillian and Everett Palleschi. Andy Molloy/Kennebec Journal

Spectators wave to Mrs. Claus and Santa Claus at Lincoln School on Saturday, Nov. 27, in Augusta. The procession started at Buker Center and wound through city neighborhoods visiting elementary schools before arriving in downtown Augusta. Joe Phelan/Kennebec Journal

Santa Claus waves Saturday evening to a crowd of about 100 on Main Street in downtown Waterville after the lighting of the Christmas tree at Castonguay Square. Michael G. Seamans/Morning Sentinel