A kayaker paddles, past colorful fall foliage, along Mill Stream on Friday afternoon near the Route 27 bridge in Belgrade Lakes. Leaves are beginning to reach their peak fall colors in many parts of central Maine.

Laura Whatley, of Whatley Farm in Topsham, left, holds a bag open for customer Selma Holden, of Hallowell, to load up with golden beets on Wednesday afternoon at the Gardiner Farmers Market Wednesday afternoon on the Gardiner Common. The market is held there every Wednesday from 2 to 6 p.m.

Rannon Rines, 3 of Greene, turns the handle on a cider press during Applefest events on Saturday morning at The Monmouth Museum. The events included fresh apples and apple pie for sale and a 5K road race earlier in the morning.

A  thistle flower sparkles in the sunshine on a thorny branch recently in Belgrade. The purple flower will eventually yield white, downy seeds that will disperse in the wind.

Adrian Beaudoin, of the Winthrop Utilities District, aims the blasts of water coming from a hydrant on Wednesday morning in downtown Winthrop. He said that it was part of the district’s annual flushing of their water lines.

Joe Farina, left, and Mark Hoffman look under the hood of Hoffman’s 1929 Model A, that he and his father Kenneth Hoffman fixed up, on Wednesday morning at Mulligan’s in Manchester.

Meredith Wurpel is reflected in the water-covered concrete as she sprays down the recently poured pad at Alumni Field on Wednesday evening in Augusta.

Drivers exercise their horses as Ryan Brann paints the small hexagonal building inside the track at Windsor Fairgrounds on Tuesday in Windsor. Brann and other workers are getting the fairgrounds ready for this year’s annual Windsor Fair, which starts Sunday, Aug. 26.

Dave Austin, of Augusta, loads fish into a bag to be weighed at the end of the Augusta Fest bass fishing tournament on Saturday at the East Side Boat Landing.