LEWISTON – The public is invited to join in the fun at 5:30 p.m. Thursday as Sisters of Charity offers its annual Festival of Lights celebration at the corner of Sabattus Street and Campus Avenue.

Santa and Mrs. Claus will arrive by sleigh, the Merrimanders from Bates College will sing carols, and there will be hot cocoa and Dunkin’ Donuts Munchkins outside Lepage Conference Center at 99 Campus Ave. on the St. Mary Regional Medical Center campus.

Santa, along with the Gagnon family, which donated the living tree years ago, will flip the switch to light the beautiful holiday tree. Visits and a picture with Santa will cost $1 and visits to Santa’s Workshop inside the Lepage Conference Center will cost $3 per child.

Craft making will include decorating cookies, making a reindeer ornament and other fun items. All the activity stations, games and prizes are free.

Proceeds from the festival benefit the children of Renaissance and Genesis Houses and the Adolescent and Child Behavioral inpatient units at St. Mary’s Regional Medical Center. The programs provide a safe, healthy, and structured environment for adolescents and children and give them hope for a productive future.

The medical center provides the therapeutic services these children need, but the money received from this event provides the extras that make a difference during the year: birthday and holiday gifts, community outings, summer camping in Acadia and sometimes, a warm winter coat.

Sponsors are Liberty Mutual, Dunkin’ Donuts, DeBlois Electric and Lighting Concepts, Dominion Retail, Fred Hall Sr., Androscoggin Bank, The Medicine Shoppe, Crystal Spring Water, United Ambulance, Northeast Bank, Ste. Croix Regional Federal Credit Union and Rainbow Federal Credit Union.