Acadia National Park Superintendent Kevin Schneider cuts Acadia’s centennial birthday cake at a reception organized by Friends of Acadia and hosted by Sips Cafe in Southwest Harbor last Sunday./Friends of Acadia, Aimee Beal Church

The yearlong celebration of the Acadia National Park Centennial got off to a rousing start with events including the Acadia Centennial Film premiere in January, official recognition of Acadia’s Centennial by the Maine State Legislature in February, and a community read hosted by eight Acadia-area libraries. The month of March will offer Acadia Centennial celebrants a wide variety of new opportunities to celebrate the past and inspire the future of Acadia through new exhibits, arts, lectures, outdoor activities, centennial products, and much more.

“Mud season came early to Maine, but our Acadia Centennial Partners are ready with many events to reward the intrepid!” said Acadia Centennial Task Force Co-Chair Jack Russell.

The following events should be on your calendar—or at least inspire you to browse the online events listings at www.acadiacentennial2016.org/events to plan your own Acadia Centennial celebration.

The first week in March, head to Camp Beech Cliff overlooking Echo Lake for part two of the Acadia Winter Festival, which started last week on the Schoodic Peninsula. No snow? No problem! The festival features a great mix of activities for all ages to match the fickle Maine coast weather. Dog sledding, shelter building, adventure archery, a performance of “Alice in Winterland,” the Winter Boot Bash with Maine-based band Just Teachers, and an art exhibit highlighting winter in Acadia are only some of the activities to choose from.

March is Women’s History Month, and the Southwest Harbor Public Library will host a month-long exhibit of Acadia-themed artworks by women with an artists’ reception on Tuesday, March 8. Can’t get enough Acadia art? March is the last month for the Maine Arts Commission’s Acadia Centennial art show at the Maine State Capitol in Augusta.

If books are your thing, the One Park – One Read series can still inspire you to read the fiction (Spoonhandle by Ruth Moore), nonfiction (The End of Night by Paul Bogard), and young adult (Small as an Elephant by Jennifer Richards Jacobson) titles that everyone is talking about. March events include book discussions at Blue Hill Public Library and a documentary about the filming of the Hollywood movie based on Spoonhandle at Bass Harbor Public Library.

As already noted, coastal Maine weather can be fickle this time of year—if Acadia sees another big snowstorm everybody may want to stay home and curl up in front of the television. The Acadia Channel celebrates the Centennial with six weeks of historic programming nightly from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. Local history, local writers, and local personalities fill this eclectic mix of Acadia-themed viewing.

Looking ahead to the month of April, highlights include:

* April 7: Launch party for Creating Acadia National Park by Ronald H. Epp, the ground-breaking new biography of park founder George B. Dorr

* April 16: Start of the “Centennial Edition” Acadia Quest, an experiential scavenger hunt for kids, teens, and their families—with a “Digital Quest” new in 2016

* April 19, 21, and 26: Three talks on the geology, history, and wildlife of Acadia co-sponsored by Blue Hill Heritage Trust, Blue Hill Public Library, and Downeast Audubon

* April 25 – 30: The Ken Burns documentary series, The National Parks, will be re-broadcast on the Maine Public Broadcasting Network

*April 30: Opening of two new museum exhibits that examine Acadia’s past from different angles: Auto Wars: Then and Now at the Seal Cove Auto Museum and People of the First Light at the Abbe Museum.

New products listings on the centennial website include a silver pendant necklace from New England Nauticals, in four colors and featuring the Acadia Centennial Logo; t-shirts featuring a watercolor map design (from Caroline Bouton) or a classic Bates Cairn (from Waldron’s Wear); a vintage-style wastepaper basket with the Centennial logo and a classic map of Acadia (from Visionary Vessels...from Maine); and a large-format photography book, Under October Skies by Michael Hudson. A portion of the proceeds from all sales of official Acadia Centennial Products will be donated to benefit Acadia National Park—so you can sport your centennial logo with pride!

Friends of Acadia, the organizing entity behind the Acadia Centennial Task Force, thanks the 300-plus Acadia Centennial Partners whose combined contributions to the celebration—including event planning, product offerings, and financial support—are setting the standard for national park centennials. In particular, the Centennial Signature Sponsors have made leadership-level contributions: Bar Harbor Bank & Trust, Darling’s, Downeast Magazine, Eastern Maine Healthcare Systems, The Hinckley Company, The Jackson Laboratory, The Knowles Company, L.L.Bean, The Mount Desert Islander, MPBN, Ocean Properties, Star 97.7, and Wallace Events.

Visit the Acadia Centennial website to see a calendar of 2016 events, browse the centennial product listings, or to apply to become a partner and add your own once-in-a-lifetime contribution to the 2016 Acadia Centennial.