November News: New Hotel, Culinary Film Series

November 2, 2026

Gardiner’s New Boutique Hotel

The riverside city of Gardiner, Maine, has a new boutique hotel. At One Lincoln Ave, a renovated 1930s Tudor-style building features eight private suites, original granite and oak, restored fireplaces, local art, and contemporary design. Located across the street from Gardiner Common, it’s a short walk to the riverfront park and cafés, restaurants, and shops on downtown Water Street. It’s also ideally situated for performances at Johnson Hall, the state’s oldest opera house, which welcomes national touring artists. Located about a 15-minute drive from Augusta, it’s a perfect base for exploring Central Maine.

New Bountiful Plate Series Savors Less-Explored Stories of Maine’s Culinary Scene

Maine’s culinary experiences celebrate authentic foodways forged by the land, by the sea, and by the people. In this new Bountiful Plate film series by the Maine Office of Tourism, meet the people and places who turn seasonal freshness and honorable harvesting practices into memorable and meaningful experiences at the table. Cinematic storytelling follows the craft of local producers, chefs, harvesters, and tradition bearers across the coastal and inland bounties of Maine.

Watch the series’ five chapters – The Harvest, The Makers, The Fire, The Table, and The Tradition – at VisitMaine.Com/The-Bountiful-Plate. Images and source contacts are available upon request.

Maine Huts & Trails Opens for Winter Season Bookings

Maine Huts & Trails is the gateway to Maine’s backcountry and the state’s original winter hut-to-hut system. Designed for those who love exploring the winter woods on cross-country skis, snowshoes, and fat bikes, it offers 20 miles of groomed trails connecting three wood-heated lodges: Stratton Brook, Poplar Stream, and Flagstaff Lake. You can spend the night at a single hut or go hut to hut for a longer backcountry adventure. Trails connect to miles of additional snowshoe and fat-biking routes stewarded by partners such as CRNEMBA, the Town of Carrabassett Valley, Sugarloaf, Bigelow Preserve, the Appalachian Trail, and the Eastern Divide Trail.

Hotel Celebrations Statewide

Maine gets festive during the holidays, with celebrations big and small statewide. It kicks off early, on November 14, 2026, with Maine’s best-known holiday celebration, Gardens Aglow, the annual festival of lights at the Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens in Boothbay. Popular holiday celebrations also take place in Freeport, Kennebunkport, and Rockland.

But the state also has plenty of lesser-known festivities worth checking out. In Southern Maine, York’s 2026 Gateway Holiday Market runs on Saturdays from November 21 to December 19, and Christmas by the Sea in Ogunquit continues the coastal Christmas charm in mid-December. Bath celebrates the 25th anniversary of An Old Fashioned Christmas in Bath, which starts November 27 and offers events through New Year’s Eve. Celebrate heritage holiday traditions in northern Maine with Victorian Christmas at the Estey, held December 12-13. December 13 also marks the celebration of St. Lucia Day in Caribou, home to one of Maine’s largest Scandinavian communities.

On Deck in 2027

Camden Toboggan Championships

Every winter, thrill-seekers and daredevils come to the coastal town of Camden, dress up in elaborate costumes, and race toboggans down an icy, 400-foot-long wooden run with a vertical drop of over 70 feet. A winter classic for more than three decades, the 36th annual U.S. National Toboggan Championships will take place February 5-7, 2027, at the Camden Snowbowl. These toboggan teams can rocket down the mountain at speeds of up to 40 mph before hitting frozen Hosmer Pond. The competition is open to two-, three-, and four-person teams, and the Championships have become a major winter event, with more than 400 teams competing and drawing upwards of 5,000 spectators.

Skijor Skowhegan: Northeast Equestrian Skijoring Regionals

Skijoring, a sport where a horse pulls a rider on skis, originated in Scandinavia and debuted as a demonstration event at the 1928 Olympics in St. Moritz, Switzerland. The competition continues today at Skijor Skowhegan, Maine’s first equestrian skijoring competition which is now joined by two other competitions in Bangor and Topsham. In this team time-trial race, a horse and rider pull a snowboarder or alpine skier down a 1,000-foot track of gates and jumps. Competitors will compete for cash prizes, swag, and bragging rights. This year’s Skijoring races are on Saturday, February 20, 2027, at the Skowhegan State Fairgrounds.