Reid State Park in Georgetown, part of Con Fullam’s perfect day. Brianna Soukup/Staff Photographer

Con Fullam is a songwriter, musician and producer. He wrote “The Maine Christmas Song” in 1986, and it has been played on radio stations and performed live around the state ever since. He is also the founder and director of Pihcintu, a Portland-based chorus made up of young women who are immigrants and refugees from more than 20 different countries. 

The Windham Chamber Singers will perform “The Maine Christmas Song” as part of their “An American Family Holiday” shows, 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Saturday, at Windham Performing Arts Center.

Con Fullam Photo by Reginald Groff

My perfect day in Maine would begin with leaving my home in Windham and traveling to Reid State Park (in Georgetown), with a stop in Brunswick to pick up an Italian sandwich from Amato’s. Then on to the park where I would plant my feet in the sand, read a good book, eat my Italian and then walk the beach, end to end, looking for interesting pieces of driftwood.

Once I had worked up a good sweat, I would jump in the water and do a little body surfing. From Reid State Park, I would travel to Portland and catch a ferry to Peaks Island where I would watch the sunset from the deck of the Jones Landing restaurant while dining on steamers, followed by a plate of fried scallops. And then back on the ferry and back to Portland where I would visit the latest exhibits at the Portland Museum of Art.

Then back in the car, heading to Stone Mountain Arts Center in Brownfield where I would be treated to a great concert by my friends the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band. I would then motor back to the Portland Jetport where a plane would be waiting to fly me to Millinocket, where I would find a cozy place to rest my head in anticipation of an early awakening, so that I could watch the sunrise from the top of Mount Katahdin.

What’s on view at The Portland Museum of Art? Con Fullam’s perfect day would allow him to find out. Ben McCanna/Staff Photographer

Now that would be a very full day to say the very least but, I have been told that there really is no time or place limitations to this essay and so let me go on. In my magic time capsule, I would travel to Red’s Eats in Wiscasset, a place I have passed a thousand times but was always deterred by the lines. I would buy not one but two lobster rolls.

Then onto Boothbay, where I would spend hours in the Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens, a truly magical place filled with tulips, trolls, butterflies and berries. Then on to Camden where I would hop on a schooner that has set sail for the Maritimes making sure to bring my guitar so as to sing an evening of sea shanties while sipping a bit of high seas grog and spinning a tale or two as the evening progressed. And then, as this never-ending day finally comes to a close, I would hop back into my trusty time capsule and fly back to my own little piece of heaven, Collins Pond, where I would take one last dip before retiring for the night.

A Miyabe willow tunnel at Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens. Derek Davis/Staff Photographer