The afternoon of the arrival of the North Pole’s world famous residents in Boothbay Harbor was sunny and bright. Children waited on the town dock with their families eager to catch a glimpse of Santa Claus.

Santa, Mrs. Claus and their merry band of elves, the Christmas Tree, Christmas Lobster and the Grinch arrived aboard the Harper Lee, driven by Captain Ryan Casey, with his wife Heather and baby.

The crowd cheered as Santa and Mrs. Claus came into view. As the characters made their way slowly through the waiting crowd, fist bumping, high-fiving and smiling their way throughout, the children smiled broadly. Some little ones’ mouths dropped as they stood wide-eyed looking up at the Clauses, elves, huge lobster and walking Christmas tree.

The line to see Santa stretched through Fisherman’s Wharf Inn’s parking lot. The Clauses took their time, stopping to speak to every child. Sometimes the kids just started telling him what they wished for right there and then. And to every child he vowed “I’ll do the very best I can for you.”

A bench was placed between two lobster trap chairs, at the foot of the Buoy Tree on Pier 1. The bench allowed the children and their parents to decide how close they would get to Santa and Mrs. Claus. Some of the little ones were shy, others quite comfortable sitting next to Santa. One little girl chose to stand in front of them, and talked to both.

One child threw herself in Mrs. Claus’ arms to give her a giant bear hug – and it was returned.

Ponies and elves from Burke Island Farm were on Pier 1 visiting with little and big people who wanted to find out about the ponies and take a photo with them.

Head Town Elf Lisa Walby said over 150 children had visited with the Clauses. “I just felt like I was in a Hallmark movie on Saturday. We were downtown setting up the tables, people were sweeping and getting ready ... everyone was happy. I really did look around a few times for cameras, things went so smoothly.’

Walby was joined by Ben Rankins, Pam O’Connor, Michelle Hahn, Susan Peterson and Paulette Carter.