Aaron Scalia, of the Greater Augusta Utilities District, uses an earpiece to listen to double-check that no water is running inside a hydrant that had been winterized earlier by another crew.

City workers set up the walls of an ice skating rink on Wednesday morning in the Calumet Playground in Augusta. The skating rink is located on Northern Avenue near the corner of Monroe Street.

A person walks in the The Olde Federal Building on Wednesday in downtown Augusta. The flowers and red ribbons on the large ornate building at the corner of Water and Winthrop streets were from last weekend’s tree lighting events when it was Santa’s castle.

Tree seller Paul Peaslee ties a Christmas tree on top of a customer’s vehicle on Tuesday afternoon in Farmingdale. Peaslee said he was part of a family business that had been selling trees in the Webber’s Ice Cream parking lot for many years.

Working from a boom truck, Jon McKenney, of McKenney Tree Service, strings lights on a large tree between the City Hall and RE/MAX Capital Chris Vallee Associates on Winthrop Street in Hallowell.

Rachel Soucy knits a hat as she waits for customers at the Spinnakee’s Farm display during the 24th annual Artistree Christmas Open House on Friday morning in Belgrade. The craft show, with about 40 vendors, continues through the weekend at the Belgrade Community Center for All Seasons on Route 27. Hours are 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Sunday.

Lauren Miller, 5 of Winthrop, cranks an apple peeler-slicer on Wednesday afternoon at the Children’s Discovery Museum in Augusta.
She and other children made a crust, prepared apples and covered it all with a crumb topping during the museum’s annual Make, Take and Bake event.

Neil Andersen decorates with berries and evergreens on Tuesday afternoon in the planter boxes on the front of the A1 Diner in Gardiner.
Andersen said that it was the changing of the seasons and that he’d just taken down the pumpkins that had been lining the roof of the diner, built by the Worcester Dining Car Company in 1948, according to the diner’s website.

Raeanna Gormatov wraps colorful tinsel around a pole on Tuesday afternoon inside the front window of Lisa’s Legit Burritos on Water Street in downtown Gardiner.