And it still does.

Carrie Jones

Dec 24, 2025

This story was originally published in 2022. It’s been updated.

THE NORTH POLE AND BAR HARBOR—In 1920, Dr. J.B. Ells came back from World War I and he returned to Bar Harbor. One of his first greeters when he arrived home was a 15-year-old boy who had been paralyzed.

While the doctor was away at war, he became the boy’s hero. And also while the doctor was away, the boy’s family became overwhelmed with doctors’ bills because of his medical condition.

Christmas wouldn’t be visiting that boy’s home that year. There wasn’t any money for any presents at all.

But that young man was more worried about other kids in Bar Harbor who might not have Christmas. That plight—the possibility that some Bar Harbor kids might not have presents on Christmas—upset Dr. Ells. He wanted children to have a Christmas no matter what.

So, he decided to do something about it.

Dr. Ells began to work in secret. He sent toys and gifts to local kids year after year. And then it grew bigger.

After eleven years, according to a 1931 Bangor Daily News article,

“520 boys and girls and Bar Harbor know that there is a Santa Claus. They know he lives. They know he answers their letters and sends them just what they ask for. They know that when Santa Claus comes, he brings them nice new things, new coats, new suits, new dresses, new underclothes, boots, shoes, overshoes, rubbers, and brand new toys.…”

Dr. Ells didn’t work alone. Teams of local knitters would make mittens. The Red Cross would help. The YMCA would transform into Santa’s exhibition hall with tables piled with gifts. The American Legion and its auxiliary would help, too. Local merchants would donate thousands of dollars in gifts and money to purchase gifts.

It seems a fantastical tale, nostalgic, from a time of good will toward humans, young and old.

But the towns and people of Mount Desert Island and Trenton still hold this community spirit, it’s just not quite as lauded or creates as much news as so many other, more controversial, things.

It might not be the hottest of news, but the MDI YWCA still hosts a Christmas event where tons of MDI kids go out and “buy” their family members presents.

The Bar Harbor Chamber of Commerce still hosts a Village Christmas event, supported by the MDI YMCA and the Jesup Memorial Library.

The Neighborhood House in Northeast Harbor has a beautiful Santa’s workshop where kids “buy” their family members presents, too.

The Witham Family Charitable Christmas embraces joy and hundreds of families with a massive event that also brings toys and warm coats to those who need them. It mixes magic and community and heart every single year.

The Harbor House hosts Santa, a craft fair, and a chili fest. The schools, PTOs, and fire departments and ambulance services collect toys, make cookies, raise money. A new wood bank works hard to keep our neighbors warm. Food pantries and Open Table MDI and backpack programs for kids (where food is put into backpacks for the weekend) help keep each other fed. Restaurants and shops do, too. Some take turns staying open in winter. Hotels, this year gave and raised so much money to help their employees and their employees’ families after a catastrophic hurricane hit Jamaica. Others stepped up because SNAP benefits were impacted.

All of this kindness, all of this giving, happens because local people and visitors and summer residents and workers make it happen. They volunteer. They knit all year. They plan and anticipate all year and sometimes on the spot. They become jolly old elves getting ready to spread help and spread joy.

Christmas isn’t fleeting here. It’s a constant.

It’s even smaller than that, too. One local man, who wished to remain anonymous, heard a developmentally challenged man as he was walking down the road two weeks before Christmas, happily talking to himself about his Christmas list and Santa and what he really wanted for Christmas. With no fanfare, with no hoopla, the man bought that present, wrapped it, and brought it to the man’s group home. He checked with staff first to make sure that it was okay.

This isn’t abnormal. It’s normal. We just don’t know about all the moments—these tiny, beautiful moments—of goodness.

This year, a woman made peanut butter balls and turtle candies and dropped them off across the island at people’s homes spreading cheer.

This year, others opened their homes, gave away food, found people shelter, helped people clear trees that had fallen in storms, rebuilding each others lives, one act after another.

This year, a woman sang “Walking in the Air” from The Snowman, under the Eagle Lake bridge and captured not just her voice, but that of a barred owl. She shared the moment with others, because beauty and magic is meant to be shared.

This year, once again, all year long, Pat Foster made 400 bows for the children’s presents at the Neighborhood House event.

This year, giant Christmas trees erected by volunteers fell down and were righted again. Christmas concerts lifted voices in schools and churches. The high school show choir brought the music to Hannaford, the Bar Harbor Fire Department, and so many places. Community theater, school theater, and puppet shows and libraries, historical societies and Birch Bay brought community and activities in so many ways. Kids Corner celebrated its 35th year caring for the youngest of Islanders and hosted its free event at a revived Criterion Theatre.

Here’s the thing: Santa can be Santa, hanging out at the North Pole most of the year, but he can also be something that lives inside us, no matter whether we have beards or not. He can be an organization or a community member, an act of kindness or a bit of hug. He can be a hope, a wish, a present, a donation, an act of service, a kind word, and a thought.

That is what Mount Desert Island and the region all around it is about. That’s what community is about.

It’s what Christmas is about, too. And it is very much still here despite all the bad news. It’s real and alive, an honor and a testament to the spirit and legacy of both Dr. Ells and Santa Claus and all of our neighbors.

As that old Bangor Daily News article reads, “Dr. Ells’ brand of enthusiasm is contagious, and this contagion has prompted the doing of many fine things for Bar Harbor.”

It still does, but that contagion is not just for one island town. It’s for all of them.

It’s easy, the article says, to feel like you know a place in the summer. But in the winter? That’s when the true spirit—oftentimes the holiday spirit—of a community takes hold.

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A Quick Note: We celebrate Christmas and Boxing Day (complicated family), so the Bar Harbor Story is going to be a bit thin on news for the next few days as we try to find a work/sickness/life/family/Bar Harbor Story balance. If you celebrate, we hope you have an amazing holiday. Similarly, we hope that your Hanukkah or Solstice was lovely if you celebrated.

Thank you for being here with us in this really special community. And for forgiving us our typos.

All photos: Carrie Jones and Shaun Farrar/Bar Harbor Story.